 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1955-11-29)November 29, 1955 (age 69) Danville, Virginia, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1974–1976 | VCU |
| 1976–1979 | Virginia Tech |
| Position | Small forward |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1980–1984 | Roanoke (assistant) |
| 1984–1989 | Chattanooga (assistant) |
| 1989–1991 | Virginia Tech (assistant) |
| 1991–1993 | Old Dominion (assistant) |
| 1993–1994 | Auburn (assistant) |
| 1994–1997 | New Orleans |
| 1997–1999 | Memphis |
| 2000–2001 | McNeese State (assistant) |
| 2001–2006 | McNeese State |
| 2007–2008 | North Texas (assistant) |
| 2008–2011 | Lamar (assistant) |
| 2014–2021 | Lamar |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 279–235 (.543) |
| Tournaments | 0–2 (NCAA Division I) 1–2 (NIT) 0–2 (CIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Sun Belt tournament (1996) 2×Sun Belt regular season (1996, 1997) C-USA National Division (1998) Southland tournament (2002) Southland regular season (2002) | |
| Awards | |
| 4x NABC District 8 Coach of the Year (1995, 1996, 1997, 2002) 3× LABC Coach of the Year (1996, 1997, 2002) 3x Louisiana Sports Writers Association Coach of the Year (1996, 1997, 2002) Sun Belt Coach of the Year (1997) Southland Coach of the Year (2002) | |
George "Tic"Price (born November 29, 1955) is an Americancollege basketball coach with four decades of experience. He last coached theLamar Cardinals men's basketball team. From 2002 to 2007, he served as head coach atMcNeese State. Prior to that, he served as head coach ofMemphis andNew Orleans.
In addition to his work on the court, Price has also served as a television analyst for ESPN+, the Southland Sports Network and the UNO Privateer Network. In 2022, Price released a book titledLocker Room Talk and now currently serves as the General Manager of Basketball for the Southland Conference.
Price's coaching career spanned 38 years, with the majority of that coming at the NCAA Division I level. During his career, he won more than 200 games and helped coach 13 different squads to the NCAA Championships, NIT or CollegeInsider.com Tournament as either a head or assistant coach.
Price's players reaped the benefits of his guidance. Nine players were named to the All-Southland teams, including three first-team selections. He also coached one SLC Newcomer of the Year to go along with two all-district selections.
During his time as head coach, Price won 10 different coaching honors including SLC Coach of the Year, Sun Belt Coach of the Year, Louisiana Sports Writers Association Collegiate Coach of the Year and NABC District 8 Coach of the Year. Additionally, he has mentored more than a dozen players who went on to successful professional careers both in the NBA and USA Basketball, including Chauncey Billups, Earl Boykin, Bimbo Coles, Austin Croshere, Andre Miller, Brad Miller, Brevin Knight, Wesley Person and Paul Pierce.
Price is married to Jamie Lynn Price, and the couple has two children - son, Ryan, a college basketball coach who played for his father at McNeese, and daughter, Chanel, and four granddaughters – Bella, Cali, Cassie and Capri.
Price's son, Ryan is married to Kali, and daughter, Chanel, is a Sports Illustrated model, who married NFL defensive tackle Davon Godchaux.
Price went to New Orleans as an assistant coach underTommy Joe Eagles in 1994, but was named head coach after Eagles' unexpected death in July 1994. After a 20-win inaugural season, Price led the Privateers to a mark of 21-9 in 1995-96, claiming theSun Belt Conference championship with a 57-56 victory overArkansas-Little Rock and received a bid to theNCAA tournament where the team lost toNorth Carolina. In 1996-97, the Privateers posted a record of 22-7 and participated in theNational Invitation Tournament (NIT). Price became the first coach to win 20 or more games in three consecutive seasons at New Orleans, while setting the Sun Belt Conference career record for winning percentage in league games (.759) and collecting a record 22 consecutive conference home wins.
Price became Memphis' 14th head coach on March 27, 1997. In his first year at the helm, Price and the Tigers exceeded all expectations by going 17-12, winning the National Division ofConference USA and advancing to theNIT. His second season was a disappointment as a young but talented Tiger team posted a 13-15 record. He was forced to resign days before the start of what would have been his third season.
Price was hired as an assistant at McNeese State in 2000. Prior to the 2001-02 season, Price took over the McNeese program followingRon Everheart leaving to coachNortheastern University. In his first season, he guided the Cowboys to the nation's largest turnaround, posting a 22-9 record, capturing a Southland Conference regular season title, and securing a berth in theNCAA tournament. Price went 74–68 in his five seasons with the Cowboys. His contract was not renewed following the 2006 season.[1]
Price spent one season as an assistant atNorth Texas in 2007-08.[2]
Price served as an assistant coach at Lamar from 2008 to 2011. He remained at Lamar as associate vice president of student engagement thereafter. However, on February 16, 2014—with five games to go in the2013-14 season—Lamar president Kenneth Evans fired head coachPat Knight and named Price interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Price initially said he had no desire to ever coach again, but Evans told him that it wasn't an offer, but an order. Under Price, the Cardinals finished the 2013-14 season with a 1-4 record (for a team that had won just three games prior to Price taking over).[3] On March 18, 2014, Lamar removed the "interim" tag from Price's title and formally named him as the program's 11th head coach.[4][5] Price'sfirst full season ended with an overall record of 15-15 and a conference record of 9–9.[6] While not great numbers to the average fan, in just one season under Price the Cardinals more than doubled their overall and conference win totals from the previous two years combined and posted one of the top single-season turnarounds in the country. In2018-19, Lamar finished tied for third place in theSouthland Conference with a 20-13 overall, and 12-6 conference record finishing out the season with nine wins in its final 10 games and 11 wins of its final 13. The 20-win season was the first one for the Cardinals since 2011-12 after missing the 20-win mark by one game the previous two seasons. It was Price's fifth 20-win season as a head coach.[7] The Cardinals nine-game win streak that season was the program's longest since 2007-08 season and the 2018-19 campaign marked the program's third-straight 19-win season - the program's best run of success since winning at least 19 games from the 1982-83 season through 1984-85.
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orleans Privateers(Sun Belt Conference)(1994–1997) | |||||||||
| 1994–95 | New Orleans | 20–11 | 13–5 | 2nd | |||||
| 1995–96 | New Orleans | 21–9 | 14–4 | T–1st | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 1996–97 | New Orleans | 22–7 | 14–4 | T–1st | NIT First Round | ||||
| New Orleans: | 63–27 (.700) | 41–13 (.759) | |||||||
| Memphis Tigers(Conference USA)(1997–1999) | |||||||||
| 1997–98 | Memphis | 17–12 | 12–4 | 1st(National) | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 1998–99 | Memphis | 13–15 | 6–10 | T–2nd(National) | |||||
| Memphis: | 30–27 (.526) | 18–14 (.563) | |||||||
| McNeese State Cowboys(Southland Conference)(2001–2006) | |||||||||
| 2001–02 | McNeese State | 21–9 | 17–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 2002–03 | McNeese State | 15–14 | 10–10 | 5th | |||||
| 2003–04 | McNeese State | 11–16 | 7–9 | 9th | |||||
| 2004–05 | McNeese State | 13–15 | 8–8 | 6th | |||||
| 2005–06 | McNeese State | 14–14 | 9–7 | 4th | |||||
| McNeese State: | 74–68 (.521) | 41–37 (.526) | |||||||
| Lamar Cardinals(Southland Conference)(2014–2021) | |||||||||
| 2013–14 | Lamar | 1–4 | 1–4 | ||||||
| 2014–15 | Lamar | 15–15 | 9–9 | 6th | |||||
| 2015–16 | Lamar | 11–19 | 3–15 | 13th | |||||
| 2016–17 | Lamar | 19–15 | 10–8 | T–5th | CIT First Round | ||||
| 2017–18 | Lamar | 19–14 | 11–7 | T–5th | CIT First Round | ||||
| 2018–19 | Lamar | 20–13 | 12–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| 2019–20 | Lamar | 17–15 | 10–10 | T–6th | |||||
| 2020–21 | Lamar | 10–18 | 6–10 | 7th | |||||
| Lamar: | 112–113 (.498) | 62–69 (.473) | |||||||
| Total: | 279–235 (.543) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||