The search is over.
Three weeks after Bryan Mullins was let go, the Southern Illinois Salukis have officially hired Scott Nagy.
The 57-year-old will be SIU’s 15th head coach in program history.
Nagy started his career at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a graduate assistant for Lou Henson’s 1988-1989 "Flyin Illini" alongside his father Dick Nagy. During the early 90’s, Nagy would be an assistant coach at both South Dakota State and SIU Edwardsville.
He would get his first head coaching job at South Dakota State in 1995. During his tenure, the Jackrabbits made the difficult transition from Division II to Division I, not seeing much success until the 2010’s. Nagy would end his run at South Dakota State with three Summit League regular-season championships and three NCAA tournament appearances.
Nagy took over as Wright State’s head coach in 2016 where the Raiders would have four straight 20-win seasons. They would make two NCAA tournament appearances in 2017 and 2022 and won the Horizon League regular-season title three of his first five seasons.
In his 30 years as a head coach, Nagy has accumulated a 577-331 record. Nagy played basketball at Delta State University where he currently holds the records for most games played and most assists.
Nagy replaces Bryan Mullins, who was let go earlier this month after an 84-82 double overtime loss in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament to the UIC Flames. Nagy will have to find players to fill out the SIU roster after nine players entered the transfer portal.
