As the saying goes, sometimes the answer you seek is right in front of you.
Southern Illinois Carbondale athletics director Tim Leonard found that to be true in recent days as he searched for a new men’s basketball coach.
Leonard was speaking with Wright State head coach Scott Nagy, who served as a reference for several other potential hires.
“I’m talking to him (about other coaches) and I know this sounds crazy,†Leonard said Friday at a press conference, “but I just kind of sensed in his voice, ‘Why aren’t you talking to me?’â€
Leonard was looking for a proven winner, someone who had won multiple conference titles and been to multiple NCAA Tournaments.
Nagy checked those boxes, and things quickly advanced from there. The 57-year-old was formally introduced Friday as the 15th head coach in school history.
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The Salukis' new coach has been at just two schools in the past 29 years, South Dakota State and Wright State. He took his teams to five NCAA Tournaments, not counting the Division II NCAA berths at South Dakota State early in his tenure before the Jackrabbits moved up to Division I.
Nagy, with a 577-332 career record, ranks 18th in wins among active Division I head coaches.
He replaces Saluki Hall of Famer Brian Mullins, who went 86-68 in five seasons as a first-time head coach. He struggled to compete with the league’s top teams and did not lead the Salukis to any postseason appearances.
SIU hasn’t made an NCAA Tournament since 2007, when Mullins was the starting point guard.
“I know I’m following a coach that’s very beloved for a lot of reasons as a coach and a man as a player,†Nagy said.
For Nagy, returning to Illinois has been a longtime goal. When he was a student at Champaign Centennial High School, he even played in the same building he’ll be coaching in.
was a longtime assistant at Illinois under Lou Henson from 1979 until Henson’s retirement in 1996.
Nagy coached alongside his father in Champaign, spending two seasons there early in his career, including the famed 1989 “Flyin’ Illini†season.
He also spent two years as an assistant coach at SIU Edwardsville from 1993-95 before earning his first head coaching position at South Dakota State.
“For the past 29 years, we’ve been trying to get back to Illinois,†Nagy said. “I have such a good base here really because of what coach Henson and (longtime Illini assistant) Jimmy Collins and my dad did and the relationships they built.â€
Nagy’s teams are known for an up-tempo style.
“The way we play is not hard to sell at all,†he said. “If we’re scoring 85 points a game, kids like that. If you’re a good offensive player, you’re going to have freedom. … We play pretty quickly … and kids like that.â€
At Wright State, Nagy’s teams won the regular-season or conference tournament title in five of his eight years there, earning two NCAA Tournament berths.
His 167 wins at Wright State are the second-most in program history. He was 94-40 in Horizon League play with the Raiders and was named the league’s coach of the year three times.
Before heading to Wright State, Nagy spent 21 seasons at South Dakota State, tallying a 410-240 record. The Jackrabbits went from Division II to Division I during his time there.
Since joining the Summit League in 2007, Nagy’s Jackrabbits teams went 175-119 with three NCAA Tournament berths and an NIT berth.
At SIU, he has a lot of building to do. The cupboard looks barren after numerous players entered the transfer portal, though most have not yet committed to a new school.
“My guess is we can convince some of them to stay, if we can talk about how we play, what our plans are for them,†Nagy said. “Then from there we have to figure out who we need.â€
In the new name, image and likeness era of college basketball, Nagy prefers a more old-school approach.
“I’m interested in relationships,†Nagy said. “I understand that the money’s important and we want to do the very best we can to take care of those needs, but there still has to be relationships. It just can’t be transactional.â€