George "Tic" Price (born November 29, 1955) 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 ...
coach. He last coached the
Lamar Cardinals men's basketball team. From 2002 to 2007, he served as head coach at
McNeese State
McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. ...
. Prior to that, he served as head coach of
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
and
. Price’s daughter is Sports Illustrated model Chanel Iman, who married NFL wide receiver Sterling Shepard in 2017. He is married to the former Jamie Lynn Simms, and the couple has two children - son, Ryan, a college basketball coach who played for his father at McNeese, and daughter, Chanel. He has three grandaughters - Bella Grace Price, Cali Clay Shepard and Cassie Snow Shepard.
Currently, Price works as an analyst on ESPN+ college basketball broadcasts for the Southland Conference and the University of New Orleans. He is also releasing a book focusing on his life and coaching career titled
Locker Room Talk in 2022.
Coaching career
University of New Orleans
Price went to New Orleans as an assistant coach under
Tommy Joe Eagles
Tommy Joe Eagles (April 3, 1949 – July 30, 1994) was the head basketball coach of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs from 1985 to 1989 and the Auburn Tigers from 1989 to 1994. He was head coach of the University of New Orleans men's basketball tea ...
in 1994, but was named head coach after Eagles' unexpected death in July 1994. After a 20-win inaugural season, Price led the Privateers to a mark of 21–9 in 1995–96, claiming the
Sun Belt Conference championship with a 57–56 victory over
Arkansas–Little Rock and received a bid to the
NCAA tournament where the team lost to
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
. In 1996–97, the Privateers posted a record of 22–7 and participated in the
National Invitation Tournament. Price became the first coach to win 20 or more games in three consecutive seasons at New Orleans, while setting the Sun Belt Conference career record for winning percentage in league games (.759) and collecting a record 22 consecutive conference home wins.
University of Memphis
Price became Memphis's 14th head coach on March 27, 1997. In his first year at the helm, Price and the Tigers exceeded all expectations by going 17–12, winning the National Division of
Conference USA and advancing to the
NIT. His second season was a disappointment as a young but talented Tiger team posted a 13–15 record. He was forced to resign days before the start of what would have been his third season because of an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student.
McNeese State University
Price was hired as an assistant at McNeese State in 2000. Prior to the 2001–02 season, Price took over the McNeese State program following
Ron Everheart leaving to coach
Northeastern University. In his first season, he guided the Cowboys to the nation's largest turnaround, posting a 22-9 record, capturing a Southland Conference regular season title, and securing a berth in the
NCAA tournament. Price went 74–68 in his five seasons with McNeese State. His contract was not renewed following the 2006 season.
North Texas
Price spent one season as an assistant at
North Texas
North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...
in 2007–08.
Lamar University
Price served as an assistant coach at Lamar from 2008 to 2011. He remained at Lamar as associate vice president of student engagement thereafter. However, on February 16, 2014—with five games to go in the
2013-14 season—Lamar president Kenneth Evans fired head coach
Pat Knight
Patrick Clair Knight (born September 21, 1970) is an American basketball coach and scout. He is a scout for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Knight assumed his position on July 1, 2014, and is the Pacers' colleg ...
and named Price interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Price initially said he had no desire to ever coach again, but Evans told him that it wasn't an offer, but an order. Under Price, the Cardinals finished the 2013–14 season with a 1–4 record. On March 18, 2014, Lamar removed the "interim" tag from Price's title and formally named him as its 11th head coach. Price's
first full season ended with an overall record of 15–15 and a conference record of 9–9. In
2018–19, Lamar finished tied for third place in the
Southland Conference
The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...
with a 20–13, 12–6 record finishing out the season with 9 wins in its final 10 games and eleven wins of its final 13 games. The 20 win season was the first one for the Cardinals since 2011–12 after missing the 20 win mark by one game the previous two seasons. It was Price's fifth 20 win season as a head coach.
Head coaching record
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Tic
1955 births
Living people
American men's basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
Auburn Tigers men's basketball coaches
Basketball coaches from Virginia
Basketball players from Virginia
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Lamar Cardinals basketball coaches
McNeese Cowboys basketball coaches
Memphis Tigers men's basketball coaches
New Orleans Privateers men's basketball coaches
North Texas Mean Green men's basketball coaches
Old Dominion Monarchs men's basketball coaches
Roanoke Maroons men's basketball coaches
Small forwards
Sportspeople from Danville, Virginia
VCU Rams men's basketball players
Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball coaches
Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball players