Coastal Carolina hires Justin Gray as next head men’s basketball coach

Coastal Carolina announced on Monday the hiring of Justin Gray as the Chanticleers’ next head men’s basketball coach. Gray has been the head coach at Western Carolina for the last three seasons, going 51-47 overall and building the program up from 11-21 in his first year to 22-10 in 2024.

“We are excited to welcome Justin Gray as our head men’s basketball coach,” said AD Matt Hogue. “He is a talented basketball mind who has won at every level of the sport. He has strong connections to the region and is considered one of the finest young coaches in the sport. Justin has a clear vision for Chanticleer basketball and we are thrilled to welcome him and his family to Conway!”

An up-and-comer in the coaching world, Gray was hired at WCU in 2021 with just two seasons of college assistant coaching experience, both on Pat Kelsey‘s staff at Winthrop (2019-21). Like Kelsey, Gray is a member of the Skip Prosser coaching tree, having played for him at Wake Forest. He was a teammate of Chris Paul’s at Wake and went to three NCAA Tournaments and one NIT over his playing career.

Gray replaces interim head coach Benny Moss, who went 5-16 after Cliff Ellis’ retirement in December. Ellis had been at the helm since 2007, leading Chants to ten postseason appearances, including two NCAA Tournament and two NITs. The program has been on a downswing, however, since the pandemic and their last NCAA appearance was in 2015.

credit to Coastal Carolina Athletics for the image