STARKVILLE – One of Ben Howland’s first promises when he took the job as men’s basketball coach at Mississippi State was that he would “assemble one of the best coaching staffs in the country.”
That staff, Howland’s first at MSU, was finalized on Friday. Rowland’s coaching staff will feature one holdover from previous coach Rick Ray in George Brooks, and also feature a pair of assistants reuniting with Howland after serving on his staff at UCLA.
Brooks, who has been at MSU for five seasons and now spans three separate coaches, will be joined by former UCLA assistants Korey McCray, who coached with Howland in 2012, and Ernie Ziegler, who parlayed his time on the UCLA staff into becoming head coach at Central Michigan in 2006.
Brooks, who played for the Bulldogs from 1992 until 1994, returned to MSU in 2010 after an 11-year tenure as coach at Meridian Community College.
In 1996, he was a student-assistant coach for the MSU team that advanced to the Final Four.
“I am so excited for this opportunity,” said Brooks. “It’s great that I get to stay with my Mississippi State family. I look forward to working for one of the most well-respected coaches in America and I’m excited about the vision he has for Mississippi State basketball.”
Brooks is listed as the lead recruiter for MSU in its quest to sign 5-star shooting guard Malik Newman of Jackson Callaway, the top-ranked guard in the country.
Zeigler comes to Mississippi State after spending the past two years as an assistant at the University of Detroit Mercy. Before his time at Detroit, he was the head coach at Central Michigan for six years.
During that time, he led the Chippewas to two Mid-American Conference West Division titles, while having eight All-MAC selections, including six that went on to play professionally.
Zeigler was an assistant with Howland at both Pittsburgh and UCLA.
“I am very excited to be back with one of the top coaches in the country in Ben Howland,” said Ziegler. “He’s been a mentor as well as a friend. More than anything, he’s been a great person to both myself and my family. Having the opportunity to help him for a third time pursue and compete at the highest level of college basketball is very intriguing to me. I’m looking forward to this privilege of being a Mississippi State Bulldog.”
McCray spent two years on Howland’s staff at UCLA in 2012 and 2013, where he helped the Bruins land the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in 2012 and win the 2013 Pac-12 regular-season championship.
In 2013-14, he was on Johnny Jones’ staff at LSU.
Before being hired at UCLA by Howland, McCray worked as a skill development trainer based in Atlanta. In that capacity, he worked with and created tailor-made offseason training programs for NBA talents such as Dwight Howard, John Wall, Anthony Morrow, Jarrett Jack, Jarvis Hayes, Von Wafer, Mario West and Damien Wilkins, among others.
McCray has also spent time as an assistant at Mercer University, his alma mater, for the 2007-08 campaign and Chipola Junior college in 2004-05. His lone season at Chipola JC saw the team advance to the semifinals of the National Junior College Championships.
“I am excited about being here at Mississippi State, and I am excited about the new opportunity to work with Coach Howland again,” McCray said. “I’m looking forward to doing great things here and winning. I know we will do historical things here at Mississippi State.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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