The Jeff Price era for West Virginia Wesleyan men’s basketball has officially begun. Price comes to Wesleyan after serving as a college scout for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the past year. As a member of the Clippers organization, his primary responsibility was to scout talent in the Atlantic Coast (ACC) and Southeastern (SEC) conferences.

Price brings 28 years of coaching experience including 16 years as a head coach. He has an overall record of 272-177 that includes seven postseason appearances. Prior to becoming an NBA scout, Price spent 10 seasons from 1999-2009 at NCAA Division I Georgia Southern University.

During his tenure at Georgia Southern, Price’s teams accumulated an overall record of 138-133 including three Southern Conference South Division championships and one NIT appearance. The NIT appearance came following a 20-10 season in 2005-06. It was the school’s first postseason bid in 14 years and only the sixth in the school’s Division I history.

In his first season at Georgia Southern, Price guided the team to a 16-12 record which was the school’s first winning season in seven years. Just two years later in 2001-02, Georgia Southern won their first Southern Conference championship in school history. Then in 2003-04, the team won 21 games which marked the most victories since the 1991-92 campaign.

Price’s teams were known for their scoring ability, finishing in the top 25 in the nation in scoring four times. The 2004-05 squad led the way with a sixth place finish in the nation in scoring at 80.8 points per game. Overall, his teams finished first or second in the conference in scoring in seven of his 10 seasons at the school. His teams also excelled on the defensive end, finishing among the Top 50 nationally five times in steals.

Price was named the Southern Conference “Coach of the Year” in 1999-2000 and was named the “Georgia Coach of the Year” in 2007-08 by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club. Eleven players from Price’s tenure at Georgia Southern went on to play professional basketball. Overall, 12 different players accounted for 32 all-league or all-freshman team citations. Elton Nesbitt earned the most recognition by being named Southern Conference “Player of the Year” in 2005-06.

While Price has spent much of the past 11 seasons at the NBA or professional level, coaching at the Division II level is not a new experience. Before taking over as the head coach at Georgia Southern, Price held the same role at NCAA Division II Lynn University (FL).

Named the first basketball coach in school history in 1993, Price led the team to a 23-7 record at the NAIA level in the school’s first season in 1993-94. That season included a Northeast Region Championship and an appearance in the NAIA national tournament. In honor of his team’s success, Price was named the NAIA Northeast Region Coach of the Year.

After two more NAIA tournament appearances, Lynn made the move to the Division II level beginning in 1996-97. In the first season as a Division II member, Lynn posted an incredible 28-3 record and became the first school to advance to the Elite Eight in its first year of Division II eligibility, eventually reaching the Final Four. Over the course of the 1996-97 campaign, Price’s team compiled a 20 game winning streak which was the longest at all divisions of basketball. Following the season, Price was named the Division II National Coach of the Year.

Overall, Price compiled a record of 134-44 during his tenure at Lynn. His teams won 20 or more games in five of his sixth seasons and earned a postseason berth every year, with a 9-6 record in NAIA/NCAA tournament play. Price also coached two All-Americans and one Academic All-American during his time at Lynn.

Price’s assistant coaching stops include stints at NCAA Division I South Alabama, Washington and Georgia Southern along with Union College and Pikeville College. As an assistant, he helped navigate four NCAA tournament appearances, two with Georgia Southern and one apiece with South Alabama and Washington. South Alabama also won the Sun Belt Conference championship in 1991.

“Today is truly a great day to be a Bobcat,” Wesleyan Director of Athletics Ken Tyler said. “We have the right guy in Coach Price to take us to the top of the West Virginia Conference, the region and beyond.”

Price graduated from Pikeville College (KY) in 1981 with a degree in business administration. Originally from Columbus, OH, Price comes to Wesleyan with his wife Jody, a native of Fairmont. The couple has two children, son Jaxson and daughter Abby.

“I am extremely excited about this opportunity,” Coach Price said. “I cannot give you the time, the exact date, and the exact situation when it will happen but we will be really, really good. It is going to take some work, but I can promise that we will get there.”