Rick Stansbury hired as new Western Kentucky head coach

Rick Stansbury has been hired by Western Kentucky to be the Hilltoppers’ new head coach. Stansbury, who has spent the last two seasons on Billy Kennedy‘s staff at Texas A&M, was the head coach at Mississippi State from 1998-2012. The Bulldogs went to the NCAA Tournament six times during Stansbury’s tenure, though they never made it past the first weekend.

WKU hired Stansbury to replace Ray Harper, who resigned after five seasons. Since joining Conference USA in 2014, the Toppers have not made it to the NCAA Tournament and getting Stansbury shows that the WKU athletic department is serious about competing in basketball.

Rick Stansbury is a Battletown, Kentucky-native and actually has a great uncle, Edgar B. Stansbury, in the WKU Athletics Hall of Fame.