Richard Lee Stansbury (born December 23, 1959), is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

and the current head coach of the

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team is the men's basketball team that represents Western Kentucky University (WKU) in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Hilltoppers currently compete in Conference USA. The team's most recent appeara ...

team. He was previously the head coach at

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

. He was hired as the WKU head coach on March 28, 2016. He is a member of the

Campbellsville University Campbellsville University (CU) is a private Christian university in Campbellsville, Kentucky. It was founded as Russell Creek Academy and enrolls more than 12,000 students. The university offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees. In 2 ...

Athletics Hall of Fame."Tiger Tracks", ''The Campbellsvillian'', Vol. 12, No. 2 (Summer 2014), p. 25

Early life

Born in Battletown, Kentucky, Stansbury played high school basketball for Meade County High School in

Brandenburg, Kentucky Brandenburg is a home rule-class city on the Ohio River in Meade County, Kentucky, in the United States. The city is southwest of Louisville. It is the seat of its county. The population was 2,643 at the 2010 census. History Brandenburg w ...

from which he graduated in 1977. From 1977 to 1981, he played college basketball at Campbellsville College (now

) in

Campbellsville, Kentucky Campbellsville is a city in central Kentucky founded in 1817 by Andrew Campbell. It is known for Campbellsville University, Taylor Regional Hospital health care system, its historic downtown, and the proximity to Green River Lake State Park. C ...

. He led the team to the NAIA Tournament in his senior season.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Stansbury began his coaching career at his alma mater as a student assistant (1982–83). Following his stint at Campbellsville, he served as a graduate assistant at Cumberland College (now

University of the Cumberlands The University of the Cumberlands is a private Christian university in Williamsburg, Kentucky. About 18,000 students are enrolled at the university. History University of the Cumberlands, first called Williamsburg Institute, was founded on Janu ...

) in

Williamsburg, Kentucky Williamsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Whitley County, on the southeastern border of Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,245 at the 2010 census. Developed along the Cumberland River, the city was founded in 18 ...

(1983–84). There, he helped to lead the team to a 31–5 mark and a second round appearance in the NAIA Tournament. In 1984, Stansbury moved to Austin Peay State University in

Clarksville, Tennessee Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 202 ...

, where he served a six-year term as an assistant, helping guide that team to three consecutive winning seasons, beginning with a conference tournament championship and a subsequent NCAA tournament second round berth during the 1986–87 season, while the Governors posted a mark of 20–12.

Mississippi State

After leaving Austin Peay, Stansbury served as an assistant coach at

under Richard Williams from 1990 to 1994. He became Williams' associate head coach and top recruiter in 1994 and remained in that position until 1998. During those eight seasons, the Bulldogs won the Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular season championship (1991), twice won the SEC West crown (1995 and 1996), won the SEC tournament championship (1996); advanced to the Sweet 16 in back to back years (

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and 1996) and reached the Final Four in 1996.http://www.mstateathletics.com/doc_lib/mbk_0607mg_history.pdf Taking over the helm as the Bulldogs head coach in 1998, Stansbury led his team to postseason tournament play 11 times in 14 seasons (six NCAA and five NIT tournaments), with five consecutive post-season tournament appearances, the first MSU basketball coach in history to accomplish this feat. His 2001–02 MSU team compiled the most wins in a single season in school history (27). Also achieved the highest national ranking in school history in 2003–04, No. 2 in the country (finished 26–4). Stansbury also owns MSU's record for consecutive 20-win seasons with four from 2001 to 2005 and again from 2006 to 2010. From his days as an MSU assistant until 2012, Stansbury was part of over 15 postseason tournament appearances. Prior to his arrival at Mississippi State, MSU had two post-seasons in 27 years (both NIT). He was also 21–8 vs conference in-state rival, the

Ole Miss Rebels The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893. Originally known as th ...

. During the 2007–08 season, Stansbury passed Williams as the all-time most successful basketball coach at Mississippi State, with 192 wins, but was never able to match Williams's run in the NCAA tourney as he failed to get past the 2nd Round. Stansbury retired with 293 wins, ranking 9th in the history of the SEC. Stansbury announced his retirement on March 15, 2012; he cited a desire to spend more time with his family.

Texas A&M

In May 2014, he was back into coaching as an assistant at

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

under

Billy Kennedy Billy Kennedy may refer to: *Billy Kennedy (basketball) (born 1964), former head men's basketball coach at Texas A&M University * Billy Kennedy (''Neighbours''), a character in the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'' * Billy Kennedy (loyalist), se ...

. Stansbury helped the Aggie coaching staff sign a consensus top-10 recruiting class which was regarded as one of the most heralded groups in school history. On April 10, 2015 Stansbury was promoted to Associate Head Coach.

Western Kentucky

On March 28, 2016, Stansbury was hired as head coach at

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...

, replacing Ray Harper who resigned March 17, 2016.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stansbury, Rick 1959 births Living people American men's basketball players Austin Peay Governors basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Kentucky Basketball players from Kentucky Campbellsville Tigers men's basketball coaches Campbellsville Tigers men's basketball players Cumberlands Patriots men's basketball coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball coaches People from Clarksville, Tennessee People from Meade County, Kentucky Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball coaches Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball coaches