Jerry Green Joins Mens Basketball Staff

NORMAN, Okla. Following a four-year retirement, longtime coach Jerry Green has decided to return to college basketball and has been hired as the director of basketball operations on Kelvin Sampson's Oklahoma staff.

Green, who most recently coached at Tennessee for four seasons and led the Volunteers to four NCAA Tournaments, compiled an 89-36 record at Knoxville and all four of his squads won at least 20 games. His 1999-00 team set a school record for wins (26) and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. The 2000-01 season was his last.

According to Sampson, Green will be the basketball staff's chief liaison to the athletics department administrative staff. Green's duties will be administrative in nature, including the areas of compliance and event management, and he will be in charge of scheduling and travel, among other matters.

“Retiring at 57 was a good idea,” said the 61-year-old Green, “but playing golf and boating and fishing got a little old after a while. If I was going to get back into basketball, I wanted to go be with somebody I knew. I've known Kelvin since he was a player at Pembroke (N.C.) State when I was a coach at UNC Asheville. And then I coached against him when he was at Washington State and I was at Oregon. I respected the job that he did, the way that his teams performed and the attitude and approach he had.

“It got to be a deal where you respect somebody and know somebody, and that made it a lot easier,” added Green about his decision to work for OU. “So now I'm going to do this and hopefully help the Oklahoma program.”

Said Sampson, who is entering his 12th year at OU, “I think the time to get better as a program is when your program is already doing well. Jerry will bring a wealth of knowledge, wisdom and experience to every aspect of our program. He will help our total program our players will benefit, our coaching staff will benefit and, ultimately, our athletics department will benefit.

“The things that have always impressed me about Jerry are his character, integrity and honesty. First and foremost, he's a great human being. He has a lot to offer us and I'm really looking forward to working with him.”

Prior to his stint at Tennessee, Green was the head coach at Oregon for five seasons (1992-93 through '96-97) where he amassed a 72-70 mark. The Ducks posted winning records in each of Green's last three seasons and went 52-33 during the span. He led Oregon to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 34 years during the 1994-95 season, as well as its first national ranking since 1977.

Before accepting the Oregon position, Green spent four seasons (1988-89 through '91-92) on Roy Williams' Kansas staff as an assistant coach. He helped the Jayhawks to a 103-30 record and to the 1991 national title game.

Green began his college coaching career at UNC Asheville as an assistant coach for three years before being hired as the program's head coach in 1979. Green guided Asheville through two major changes in the last three years of his tenure. The Bulldogs made the move up from the NAIA level to the ranks of Division II, and then became a Division I program for his final two seasons there. His teams posted a combined 150-108 record.

Green played collegiately at Spartanburg (S.C.) Methodist College for two years where he was the team's most valuable player and captain. He completed his athletic eligibility at Asheville-Biltmore College (now UNC Asheville) and then completed his degree in physical education at Appalachian State in 1968. He finished his master's in education at East Tennessee State in 1971 after serving two years in the U.S. Army.

A native of Greenville, S.C., Green and his wife, Nancy, have a 30-year-old son, Travis.

Green replaces Joshua Prock, who served the last three seasons as OU's director of basketball operations. Prock was hired as an assistant coach at Kentucky Wesleyan earlier this summer.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Jerry Green Joins Mens Basketball Staff

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