Coastal Carolina moved swiftly to fill its men’s basketball opening. Just three days after the Chanticleers’ season ended at the Sun Belt Conference tournament, the university officially announced the hiring of Western Carolina head coach Justin Gray.
Gray, who will be introduced at a 3 p.m. press conference on Thursday, replaces legendary head coach Cliff Ellis at CCU. Ellis retired from the program on December 6th, after seventeen seasons with the Chanticleers. He led CCU to 297 victories, the second-most in program history, and 10 postseason tournament appearances. Associate head coach Benny Moss guided the team for the remainder of the season before the campaign ended last Thursday with an 80-66 loss to Louisiana in the second round of the conference tournament. The Chanticleers finished the year at 9-22 overall.
Gray comes to Conway after a successful three-year stint as the head coach at Western Carolina, where he led the Catamounts to the Southern Conference Tournament semifinals and the College Basketball Invitational in 2023. This year’s team just completed a 22-10 campaign with a 79-76 OT loss to Furman in the SoCon quarterfinals.
CCU Media Release on Gray:
“We are excited to welcome Justin Gray as our head men’s basketball coach,” Matt Hogue, CCU’s Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics and University Recreation said. “He is a talented basketball mind who has won at every level of the sport. He has strong connections to the region and is considered one of the finest young coaches in the sport. Justin has a clear vision for Chanticleer basketball, and we are thrilled to welcome him and his family to Conway!”
“Coach Justin Gray’s record speaks for itself: he graduates players, he wins games and does things the right way, and he’s been involved in every community where he’s coached,” said CCU President Michael T. Benson. “We are very excited to welcome him and his family to Coastal Carolina University and look forward to the next chapter of CCU basketball.”
Gray rebuilt the Catamount program, winning 51 games and guiding Western Carolina to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in 13 years. WCU won 40 games over Gray’s final two seasons in Cullowhee, going 21-15 (.583) in SoCon play. The Catamounts finished fourth in the conference in consecutive seasons, the first time Western Carolina had finished in the top-four of the SoCon in back-to-back years since 2010-11.
The 2022-23 Catamounts earned the school’s fourth postseason berth all-time – and the first since 2016 – as the squad played in the 2023 College Basketball Invitational
Gray came to Western Carolina after two seasons on Pat Kelsey’s staff at Winthrop. With Gray on the staff, the Eagles won two Big South Tournament championships, posting a combined record of 47-12 and earning a No. 12 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
With Gray helping coordinate the offense, Winthrop led the Big South with a 78.9 point per game average with a league-best 15.0 assists per game and 8.4 made 3-pointers per contest. Gray helped develop DJ Burns, who earned Big South Freshman of the Year honors in 2019-20 and was named Big South Player of the Year in 2020-21.
Before joining the staff at Winthrop, Gray worked as the Director of Basketball Development at Wake Forest.
A three-time All-ACC selection in his playing career at Wake Forest (2002-06), Gray left Winston-Salem as one of the program’s most prolific three-point shooters. He scored 1,946 career points over 120 career games for the Demon Deacons, finishing his career ranked eighth in program history in scoring while average 16.2 points per game.
In his sophomore season, Gray and eventual first-round NBA draft pick Chris Paul teamed up to become one of the best backcourts in the ACC as Gray averaged 17.0 points per game on his way to All-ACC First Team honors. In 2002-03, Gray played a role in helping the Demon Deacons to an ACC Regular Season Championship with a 13-3 league mark.
His collegiate career plaudits also include being named to the ACC All-Freshman team, as well as a three-time USBWA All-District Team and two-time NABC All-District Team selection.
During his 12-year professional career overseas, Gray played for various teams from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Ukraine, China, Germany, France, Turkey, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Romania, and Belarus. He also had a couple of stints in the NBA Summer League. Gray won three Belarusian League Championships and three Belarusian Cup Championships. He also guided teams to a Czech Republic League and Cup championship as well as participating in the VTB United League All-Star Game in 2016.
Gray competed in the highest level of European competitions: Euroleague, EuroCup, and FIBA Europe Cup.
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