Chattanooga Mocs head ball coach Matt McCall had one addition remaining for his 2016-17 coaching staff. McCall offered and Kevin Easley accepted the second-year head coach announced late Wednesday afternoon.
“When you have turnover, the biggest thing for me is staff chemistry,” McCall shared. “I believe staff chemistry bleeds directly into your team.
“Kevin has a tremendous amount of experience. He’s from the state of Tennessee, so he’s got an enormous amount of recruiting ties.
His ability to relate to our players was a big key for me. They were my biggest concern with the turnover in our staff.”
Easley spent the last three seasons at UNCW as the director of basketball operations, the last two under Kevin Keatts. The Seahawks won back-to-back CAA Regular Season Championships and captured the tourney title this past season earning an NCAA automatic bid, the first for the program since 2006.
The Trenton, Tenn., native spent a season as an assistant coach at UNC Asheville prior to moving to Wilmington. His assistant coaching experience also includes two campaigns at High Point (2009-11), three at UNCG (2006-09), where he was lauded for his work with four-time All-SoCon post Kyle Hines, and two at UT Martin (2004-06).
Easley coached Team Loaded AAU’s 16-under team to a 40-7 record and No. 10 in Five-Star Basketball’s final poll in 2011-12. He played for Dave Loos at Austin Peay from 1998-2001 after starring at Peabody High School in Trent where he was a finalist for Tennessee’s Class A Mr. Basketball leading the Golden Tide to a 26-1 mark as a senior.
“Kevin is a high-character individual who’s coached in our league, played in the state and he’ll bring vast array of strong qualities to our staff.”
He earned his Bachelor’s in Mass Communication from Austin Peay in 2002, and Master’s in Education from UT Martin in 2006. Easley and his wife Erin have two children, Sebastian and Peyton. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.