Scott Nagy hired as next head men’s basketball coach at Southern Illinois

Southern Illinois announced on Thursday the hiring of Scott Nagy as the Salukis’ next head men’s basketball coach. Nagy has been at Wright State for the last eight years and was the head coach at South Dakota State for 21 seasons before that, compiling 577 career victories.

“I’m extremely excited to welcome Coach Nagy to Saluki Nation,” AD Tim Leonard said. “His record speaks for itself. He is a winner in every sense of the word and will be a perfect fit for our program, the campus community and the region.”

Nagy has been to the D-I NCAA Tournament five times, most recently with the Raiders in 2022, and has won nine conference titles (five D-I and four D-II) during his head coaching career. He is originally from Champaign, Illinois where his dad, Dick Nagy, was an assistant with the Fighting Illini under Lou Henson. The younger Nagy would later get his start as a graduate assistant at Illinois, and he later spent two seasons as an assistant at SIU Edwardsville before getting the SDSU job in 1995.

He replaces Bryan Mullins, who was let go earlier this month despite winning 23 and 19 games in the last two seasons, respectively. The Salukis have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2007, when they made a run to the Sweet Sixteen.

credit to Southern Illinois Athletics for the image