3/24/2009 Ray takes new role at MSU, continues as Director of GolfVacates men's basketball post after two successful six-year stints Vacates men's basketball post after two successful six-year stints 
Midwestern State coach Jeff Ray stepped away as men's basketball coach after posting programs two best tenures. He will continue as Director of Men's and Women's Golf. (Photo by Jeremy Enlow) |
WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Jeff Ray has engraved his mark on Midwestern State Athletics for much of the last 27 years. He has served the university as a student-athlete, a coach and an athletic director and will continue to leave his indelible impression on the program as the Director of Men's and Women's Golf and will also serve as the Life Skills Coordinator. Ray will also vacate his post as head men's basketball coach after completing the program's two most successful coaching tenures while leading the Mustangs to four Lone Star Conference championships and four trips to the NCAA Division II national tournament. "I have known Jeff Ray as a student-athlete, a coach, an athletic director and as a friend," MSU President Jesse W. Rogers said. "He is a man of deliberate action, a man who knows his own mind." The decision came long before Ray led the Mustangs on an impressive run through the Lone Star Conference this season as the team rattled off winning streaks of 10 and eight games on its way to a 25-7 record before closing its season in the South Central Regional semifinals in Warrensburg, Mo. "Jeff and I have been discussing this direction since last spring, and it has been with mixed emotions that we make this move for him," MSU Athletics Director Charlie Carr said. "It will be a daunting task to replace Jeff Ray as our basketball coach. In the two seasons I've watched Midwestern basketball, I enjoyed one of the best coaches I've known in his approach to the game, his values, his work ethic and his genuine love for our players." Ray upheld the legacy of MSU basketball posting a combined 230 wins which rates behind the legendary Gerald Stockton and Dennis Vinzant for the third most coaching wins in program history. Ray owns the best winning percentage in MSU men's basketball history having won better than 65 percent of his games. In his first stint at the helm of the MSU men’s program, Ray posted a remarkable 118-60 (.663) mark which included postseason trips in five of six seasons. After leading the team to the NAIA playoffs in each of his first three seasons, Ray and the Indians didn’t take long to adapt to NCAA Division II competition as Midwestern raced to the South Central Region semifinals with a 27-5 mark in 1998-99. MSU followed with another postseason run in 1999-00 when the team fell a win shy of the Elite Eight and finished with a 27-7 mark. Ray then accepted an assistant coaching position at the University of North Texas for a season before returning to his alma mater on Jan. 8, 2002 when he was named Athletics Director - a position he would hold until returning to coaching basketball full time in August of 2005 when Ray also assumed coaching duties of the newly created men's golf program. In his most recent six-year stint at the helm of the men's basketball program, he posted a 112-60 (.651) record, never finished below .500 and claimed two more LSC championships and returned to the NCAA Division II South Central Regionals in 2007 and 2009. "While Jeff's departure from Midwestern men's basketball may be disconcerting to those of us who feel comfortable when the world continues as before, Jeff, himself looks forward to the new assignment," Rogers said. "He'll still be coaching how to play the ball, only now the ball will be a small white one. I know he'll keep the ball in the center of the fairway and continue to bring distinction to MSU Athletics. That's Jeff Ray." Ray has proven his prowess for mentoring on the links where he helped the Mustangs to an NCAA Division II Super Regional appearance in just their first year of existence in 2007. Now, he will get the chance to build another program from the ground up. "This is something that is good for me and my family," Ray said. "It's a chance for me to change directions and put more time into golf. The timing is just right to stay in Wichita Falls and coach golf." He will also move into a position to touch the lives of many more student athletes. "Jeff will oversee and become the director of our Live Skills program, a most important component of a Model Division II program," Carr said. "I could not tailor this job to a better fit, as we seek to give growth and development opportunities to our student athletes in many important areas away from the competition field. I'm saddened to lose a fine basketball coach, but thrilled for our entire program to gain a person who can affect so many more of our student-athletes in these new roles." Ray, who played for MSU during the 1982-83 and '83-84 seasons, returned to campus in 1988 as a full-time assistant coach with the men's program. Ray maintained that post through the 1993-94 season, and he accepted an additional role as head coach of the women's squad during the 1992-93 and '93-94 seasons. An advisory committee will be formed Wednesday and the search for Midwestern's next men's basketball coach begins immediately. Complete PDF release Complete statement from Dr. Jesse W. Rogers, MSU President Complete statement from MSU Athletics Director Charlie Carr | 
