Murray State University Athletics
Cross Named Women's Basketball Head Coach
3/31/2008 8:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
It didn't take long for Murray State to find its next women's basketball head coach. Just five days after former head coach Jody Adams announced her resignation from Murray State, MSU director of athletics Allen Ward announced that former assistant coach Rob Cross would take the reins of the program.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE NEWS CONFERENCE
Cross, a 1991 graduate of Murray State, has been an assistant coach with the women's program for the last 13 years, serving under three different head coaches: Eddie Fields, Joi Williams Felton and Jody Adams. His recruits have included Joi Scott and Ashley Nichole Hayes -- who have won back-to-back Kodak/WBCA All-American honors as well as back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year awards -- and 2002 OVC Freshman of the Year Rebecca Remington.
As a recruiter, Cross signed 23 All-OVC honorees, some of whom contributed to Murray State's back-to-back 20-win seasons. Six of his recruits have gone on to play professionally, including Scott and Stacy Holmes, the first Racer to play professionally in the United States. Cross also served as the academic coordinator for the Racers, and his signees included five OVC Medal of Honor winners (the highest grade-point average in the conference in a sport) and 45 OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll members, helping maintain a 95-percent graduation rate for players who finish their playing careers at MSU.
Cross takes over a team that set school records last year with 24 wins, 13 home wins and 32 games, and tied the MSU women's mark of 15 OVC wins. The Racers (24-8) won their first-ever OVC Tournament last season, and took part in their first-ever NCAA Tournament. That team returns nine players to next year's squad -- including OVC Player of the Year Ashley Hayes and OVC Tournament MVP Amber Guffey -- along with incoming signees Rachael Isom, Jana Roney and Mallory Schwab.
Ward addressed a well-attended press conference in the Regional Special Events Center to announce the hiring of Cross.
"It is really too bad that nobody in this community or on this campus likes Rob Cross," Ward joked, in reference to the crowd in attendance.
"When we found out that (former head coach) Jody Adams was leaving, the most important thing -- the thing that I couldn't stop thinking about -- was the impact on our team and what we needed to do to provide some stability, some continuity, and hire somebody who really didn't miss a beat -- somebody who could get out on the recruiting trail who would make sure we didn't lose a recruiting class, and somebody who could come in and give these young ladies the opportunity to defend their OVC championship.
"The more I thought about that...there's just one name that kept popping up in my mind, and that was Rob Cross. There is nobody who is more loyal, who loves this university and loves this program more than Rob Cross. I am completely confident in his ability to take this program where we've experienced two years of success, winning the OVC championship and going to the NCAA Tournament, taking it and providing that stability, that continuity that we need for this program and continuing on that successful path."
"I want to thank (university president) Dr. Randy Dunn and Allen Ward for giving me this opportunity and entrusting me to lead these fine young women for the next several years, as long as he'll have me," Cross said when introduced by Ward. "There is no secret -- most people here and in this community know me -- there is no secret that I love this university. I came back here 13 years ago, and I'd like to thank (former MSU women's basketball head coach) Eddie Fields for hiring me 13 years ago. He told me we had a lot of work to do; I just didn't realize it would take quite as long as it did to get the program as successful as this university deserves it to be. (Laughs) I'm happy that we're at that point, and we plan on working harder to go past that point where we stand right now.
"I've got to thank Joi Felton for deciding to keep me on staff. Very rarely does it happen in collegiate coaching at the Division I level where an assistant gets to stay with the program through one coaching change. I had a conversation with Tom Collen, who was the coach at Louisville at the time, and he called me to congratulate me on being able to stay at Murray State, and he let me know how lucky I was, because he had the same opportunity at Purdue many years ago. We ended up scheduling a game out of that conversation.
"I was lucky enough when Jody Adams was hired through the support of the community, the administration, the student-athletes, that she decided to offer me a job to stay on staff," Cross said. "I had a decision to make: Do I go take a head coaching opportunity at another university, or do I stay here and finish the job that I came here to do when I first came back to Murray? The only reason for coming back was to try to help the women's program get to the championship level that the men's program has been at for all these years. So, I decided to stay here. It really wasn't a tough decision when it came down to it, for family reasons, and by 'family,' I'm also including my wife and son and also these young ladies sitting here (the team).
"So, I made the decision to stay here, we finally got that championship, and I'm looking forward to hanging that banner next year. Now, to finally get this opportunity, I can't tell you how thrilled I am. I'm looking forward to getting back in the gym -- we've had a week off, and now, it's time to get back to work."
