July 9, 2013

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Head coaches John Calipari of the University of Kentucky, Cy Alexander of North Carolina A&T University and Rick Cooper of West Texas A&M University have been elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

Calipari guided Kentucky to the NCAA championship in 2012 and the Wildcats have reached the NCAA Final Four in two of his four seasons in Lexington. He is one of only two coaches to lead three different programs to a Final Four, having done it with UMass in 1996 and with Memphis in 2008 in addition to his record at Kentucky. He left the college ranks to become head coach of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets for three seasons from 1996-99.

Alexander, in his first season as head coach at North Carolina A&T in 2012-2013, led the Aggies to an NCAA tournament berth, losing to eventual champion Louisville. He is a three-time Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference coach of the year, having earned those awards when he was the head coach at South Carolina State for 16 seasons. Alexander was also the head coach at Tennessee State for six seasons and has a career coaching record of 364-326 in 23 seasons.

Cooper just completed his 20th season as head coach at West Texas A&M and is the winningest coach in the Buffaloes’ history with a 387-191 record. His teams have reached the NCAA Division II tournament 10 times, including five in the last nine seasons. In 1997-98, Cooper guided the Buffs to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight for the first time. He coached previously at his alma mater, Wayland Baptist University, for six seasons and has an overall won-lost record of 539-298.