Kennesaw State names Al Skinner men's hoops coach

Apr 26, 2015 - 8:26 PM Kennesaw, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Kennesaw State has named Al Skinner its new men's basketball coach.

Skinner has 22 years of collegiate experience as a head coach at Rhode Island and Boston College, and spent the past two seasons as an associate coach at Bryant University. He has a career head coaching record of 385-291 with nine NCAA Tournament appearances.

"My lifelong passion has been basketball," said Skinner. "I am passionate about coaching young men to be successful team members on winning basketball teams. With the assistance of the alumni, student body, faculty, President Dan Papp, Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams and Owl fans, we will work tirelessly to build a basketball program Kennesaw State will be proud of. I appreciate the opportunity I have been given to coach the KSU basketball team."

Kennesaw State needed a replacement for the fired Jimmy Lallathin. The Owls were just 10-22 this past season.

"It is a great compliment to the university and department of athletics to attract someone of Al's stature and record of accomplishments," Williams said on Sunday. "He has distinguished himself at the highest level of college basketball as evident by his nine NCAA Tournament appearances. He also has a stellar history of graduating his players as every men's basketball player who stayed four years at Boston College graduated.

"We look forward to Al bringing those attributes to Kennesaw State and building a men's basketball program that regularly challenges for Atlantic Sun Conference titles and NCAA Tournament appearances, while at the same time instilling into our student-athletes those characteristics and values that are essential to being successful."

Skinner left Boston College in March 2010 as the winningest coach in school history, directing the Eagles to a mark of 247-165 in 13 seasons. He took BC to the NCAA Tournament seven times, but only once did the squad reach the regional semifinals, and two of his last three teams had losing records.