The Southwest Mississippi Community College Board of Trustees has approved the hiring of Andrew J. Farrell as the new men's basketball assistant coach. Farrell comes to Southwest from Longwood University, an NCAA Division I school in the Big South Conference, where he served as an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator for the Lancers during the 2013-14 season.
A native of Dayton, OH, Farrell graduated magna cum laude from the University of Dayton School of Business in 2007 (majoring in finance and economics). In 2009, he received a Master's degree in Sport Leadership/Coaching from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Education. His career includes stops at the University of Dayton, VCU, Clemson University and DePaul University.
In 2010, Farrell was a co-founder of Rising Coaches Elite, an organization for men's college basketball support staff. They hold their annual conference in Las Vegas. In 2014, he helped co-found Rising AD's for athletic administrators' support staff.
Director of Athletics Dr. Bill Ashley said of Farrell, "Coach Farrell is a young, up and coming basketball coach with a wide variety of experience prior to coming to Southwest. We look forward to him being a part of the Bear Nation."
Southwest head coach Thomas Gray said the school was very fortunate to be able to hire Farrell. "He has an extensive background at the highest level of college basketball," Gray said. "He brings a wealth of basketball knowledge both on the court and how to carry out the daily functions of a college basketball program."
Gray said Farrell's "relationships throughout the country are some we are going to call on in terms of recruiting and accessing the top available talent at the junior college level. It's a blessing and an honor to have him here. He's going to be a guy who the kids are going to love."
Gray said that an NCAA coach Farrell worked for recently said he felt Farrell would be an NCAA Division I head coach in less than 10 years. "That's how highly recommended he comes as an assistant and as a coach in general," Gray said. "His work ethic is going to help Southwest and I think he's going to do an absolutely wonderful job here."
Farrell said "Coach Gray is the reason I accepted the position" when it was offered to him. "He's an unbelievable man of character. Obviously what he's done as an assistant coach with this program was something that was very appealing to me and the leadership be brings forth" made it impossible to turn down the job.
Farrell said another reason he chose to take the position is that "I love the community, how they really stick behind the program." He also said "the success that we've had in the past and the opportunity to continue to grow that success" was another reason for taking the job. He said with this past season's NJCAA men's national champions coming from the MACJC proved that it is possible "to be on the pedestal as one of the top programs in the entire country. With Coach Gray's leadership, I think we have the formula to do that."
Asked what he brought to the program that would help it, Farrell said one of his strengths is his relationships (with other coaches in the country) and being able to "dip into their wealth of knowledge, their experience and the people that they know."
He also spoke of his relationships with players. "Anytime you are able to get a kid to run through a wall for you, you really have an opportunity to be successful on the court and in the classroom."
Farrell also said he would be able to help with recruiting. "In the past, at all the programs I've been at, we've had pretty successful recruiting classes and that had to do with relationships. The kids have got to know that you care for them and (the kids' coaches) parents have got to know you'll be taking care of them, not just on the court (and) in the classroom, but in life as well. Because we are educators, we are leaders. We've got to make the players not just better players, but better young men as well."
