Keith McCray rounds out women's basketball staff
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Former Radford assistant coach Keith McCray joins UNCG's women's basketball staff as an assistant coach, head coach Wendy Palmer announced Tuesday.
McCray rounds out Palmer's inaugural staff, joining assistant coaches Kristeena Alexander and Gayle Coats and director of basketball operations Jamey Givens for the 2011-12 campaign.
"I think Keith is a great addition to our staff," Palmer said. "He's excited, he's energetic. He's a player's coach, so he can connect well with the players. He works hard and he's passionate about women's basketball and player development. He's also a good recruiter.
"In putting together a staff, I look for pieces of a puzzle, and I think he complements the other pieces well."
McCray spent the 2010-11 season on Big South Coach of the Year Tajama Abraham Ngongba's staff at Radford, helping the Highlanders to a second-place regular-season finish in the Big South standings and their best Big South record (11-5) since the 1993-94 campaign. During his tenure, sophomore Da'Naira Erwin Spencer earned first-team all-conference honors.
Prior to his stint at Radford, McCray spent three seasons as an assistant at Hampton University. In McCray's three years there, the Pirates had a pair of All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference selections, three Big South All-Rookie picks and contributed to Hampton's winning the Mary McLeod-Bethune MEAC Women's All-Sport Award all three years.
In 2008-09, McCray's final season with the Pirates, Hampton reached the MEAC tournament title game.
McCray has worked camps at traditional women's basketball powers Virginia, Tennessee, Rutgers and Old Dominion and worked with the Boo Williams AAU basketball organization. From 1992-2005, he was a girls basketball coach in the Chesapeake Public School system. He also coached football and track and field.
Before beginning his coaching career, McCray spent 23 years in the military, retiring honorably from the United States Naval Reserves in 2006.
McCray earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from Belford University in 2005.
McCray has two daughters, Laquana, a special education teacher in New Jersey, and Kelli, a second-year student at Virginia State.
"I'm excited to join the UNCG family," McCray said. "I'm looking forward to working with coach Palmer and the rest of the staff to return UNCG to the top of the Southern Conference."
He assumed his duties at UNCG on July 1.
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