A familiar name will be seen on the bench at the Jack Stephens Center this season.
Wes Flanigan is returning to UALR to serve as associate head coach for new UALR men's basketball Coach Chris Beard, the school announced Monday.
Flanigan, a Little Rock native who was an assistant at UALR in 2004-2008 and has also served as an assistant at Alabama-Birmingham, Nebraska and Mississippi State, will be joined by assistants Brian Burg and Mark Adams and director of player development Ted Crass.
"I'm excited about this group of coaches we have been able to assemble," Beard said in a news release. "I believe our coaching staff will excel in the areas of recruiting, player development, coaching and academic support, and will also be a positive group of mentors for our players."
Flanigan, whose father Al is the longtime coach at Little Rock Parkview, returns to his hometown after spending the last three seasons at Mississippi State. Rick Ray was fired following this season after a 37-60 record in three seasons.
Flanigan brings to UALR a track record of recruiting Arkansas players. At Mississippi State, he helped recruit point guard I.J. Ready, a Parkview graduate, and Hall graduate David Rivers signed with Nebraska during Flanigan's tenure under then-coach Doc Sadler.
"Little Rock is home to us," Flanigan said in a statement. "At this time, because of the solid foundation already set, with the support of our fans, it is the perfect time for Little Rock's team to reach new heights."
Burg spent the last two seasons at North Carolina Central, helping the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament and NIT. Burg was at Campbell University the four seasons before that.
Adams has 23 seasons of head-coaching experience and spent the last two seasons as director of basketball operations at Texas Tech. He was head coach at Clarendon College (1981-1982), Wayland Baptist (1983-197), West Texas A&M (1987-1992), Texas-Pan American (1992-1997) and Howard College in Big Spring, Texas (2004-2013), while compiling a 554-244 record.
Crass spent last season as an assistant coach for Steve Shields, the year before as director of basketball operations and has also been a student managerand player in seven seasons at UALR.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.