Special to the Item
The Picayune Item
TULSA, Okla. — Pearl River Community College basketball coach Richard Mathis has been named the MACJC Men’s Coach of the Year for the 2009-2010 season.
Mathis, who just completed his 19th season with the Wildcats, guided this past season’s team to the MACJC state championship, marking the fifth such title the school has won since he arrived on the Poplarville campus. He has won a total of seven Juco state championships in Mississippi, including a men’s title at Northeast Mississippi and a women’s at East Mississippi.
PRCC also won men’s championships under Mathis in 1995, 1998, 2003, and 2004; as well as runners-up finishes in 1997. In addition, the Wildcats finished second in the Region 23 Tournament in 1998 and 2006.
The Wildcats defeated host East Mississippi 61-58 for the MACJC title Feb. 25 in Scooba, but ended their season at 24-5 overall in second-round action of the regionals.
East Miss went on to win the Region 23 title and copped a berth in next week’s NJCAA National Tournament to be played in Hutchinson, Kan.
All told, Mathis, who also serves as Pearl River’s athletic director, is 346-190 at The River and boasts a career win-loss mark of 682-294 (including high school and senior college).
