Wright State men’s basketball coach leaves; he’s taking over Southern Illinois program

Scott Nagy, Wright State University men’s basketball coach, is to be named the 15th men’s basketball head coach at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on Friday afternoon.

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SIU will introduce Nagy to the public in the Charles Helleny Pavilion of the Banterra Center on the Carbondale campus, SIUSalukis.com reported Thursday afternoon.

“I’m extremely excited to welcome Coach Nagy to Saluki Nation,” Athletics Director Tim Leonard said. “His record speaks for itself. He is a winner in every sense of the word and will be a perfect fit for our program, the campus community and the region.”

Nagy, in eight years at Wright State, was named Horizon League Coach of the Year three times, led the Raiders to 20-plus wins in five seasons, and 18 wins in the shortened 2021 campaign. He guided the Raiders to three league regular-season championships, two league tournament championships, a pair of NCAA Tournament berths, and one NIT bid.

In his first season at WSU in 2017, he led the program to its first 20-win season since 2008. Building on that success in his second season, Nagy took the Raiders to their first NCAA Tournament in a decade and earned his first Horizon League Coach of the Year Honor, according to SIUSalukis.com.

Nagy repeated as coach of the year in year three, taking the Raiders to the NIT after tying for the league’s regular season title.

In 2019, he won a school-record 25 games on his way to WSU’s first outright league title in program history, while earning his third-consecutive Horizon League Coach of the Year award.

He led Wright State to a Horizon League tournament championship in 2022 – with wins over No. 1-seeded Cleveland State and No. 3 Northern Kentucky. The Raiders won their First Four game in Dayton over Bryant before falling to No. 1 Arizona. The win over Bryant marked the first NCAA Tournament win for WSU in the history of the program.

“Scott Nagy is a home run hire at SIU,” college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman said. “Any coach around the country will tell you he’s one of the best mid-major coaches in the country. He’s done it at South Dakota State and Wright State. Scott is the least self-promoting head coach I’ve ever met, and that’s probably why more fans don’t understand how good he is. This was a terrific get by Tim Leonard and Southern Illinois.”

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports calls Nagy “a proven winner. He did great things at Wright State and I have no doubt that he will replicate that success at Southern Illinois.”

Southern Illinois University announced on March 8 that it parted ways with fifth-year head coach Bryan Mullins, who in five seasons at his alma mater recorded an 86-68 record, including a 19-13 mark this season. Mullins finished third in the voting for league Coach of the Year.