Valley gets two new coaches

Sports

June 20, 2012

Valley gets two new coaches

By Curtis Rockwell, Sports Editor The Picayune Item Picayune Item Wed Jun 20, 2012, 03:44 PM CDT

ITTA BENA — Mississippi Valley State University removed the interim tag from men's basketball head coach Chico Potts' title on Tuesday when Potts was named the permanent head coach for the Delta Devils.

Potts served as an assistant coach for the Delta Devils for the past four years under Sean Woods, who left last month to become the head coach at Morehead State where he replaced Donnie Tyndall, who became the new head coach at Southern Mississippi after Larry Eustachy left for Colorado State.

Potts was also an assistant at Delta State from 2006-08. He will now have the interim tag removed from his name after signing a multiyear deal with MVSU. He is the ninth head men’s basketball coach in school history. Potts was one of three finalists for the job after Woods left. The school was expected to hire former Valley player and assistant coach George Ivory, but Ivory announced last week that he was staying on as head coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

“He presented himself well during the interview process,” MVSU interim director of athletics Donald Sims said, of Potts. “He also has a plan for our men’s basketball program for them to excel academically and athletically, which is very important.”

Potts, an Indianola native who played at LSU and Delta State, was the primary assistant coach on last year’s squad that racked up a SWAC regular season and tournament title along with an NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Delta Devils also once held the nation’s second-longest win streak (17 games) during the 2011-12 season.

Potts got his start as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Delta State, in 2001 before he made stops at Greenville-Weston (2002-03) and Tupelo High School (2003-06). He was an assistant coach under Jason Conner from 2006-08 at DSU before joining Woods at MVSU in 2008. Valley also named a new head women's basketball coach as well.

Elvis Robinson was hired Monday to take over the women’s basketball program, marking the first head coach position for the former Alcorn State and Jackson State assistant. Robinson, a 2004 graduate of MVSU, takes over for Nate Kilbert, who recently left for the same position at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. “We did a thorough search, and Robinson presented himself as a top candidate,” Sims said. “We have faith that he will keep the program going in the right direction.”

Robinson, most recently an assistant at JSU, played for the Delta Devils from 2000-04 and was a member of the 2003-04 regular season SWAC championship squad. He went on to become a graduate assistant for the Alcorn State women’s basketball team from 2004-06. The Lady Braves won the 2004-05 SWAC championship.

He then served as an assistant coach at Alcorn from 2006-08 before heading to Jackson State in 2008. At JSU, he served in multiple capacities including assistant coach, assistant head coach and interim head coach. Robinson earned his master’s of secondary education from Alcorn in 2007 Cardinale

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