Austin Peay hires South Carolina assistant Matt Figger

By AP
Published

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Austin Peay is hiring South Carolina assistant Matt Figger as its next men's basketball coach.

School officials announced Monday that Figger would be introduced at a Thursday news conference. Figger replaces Dave Loos, who retired last month.

Figger was part of a South Carolina staff that got the Gamecocks to the Final Four this year, a stunning postseason run for a program that hadn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 1973. Figger worked for Gamecocks coach Frank Martin at Kansas State before following him to South Carolina in 2012.

Austin Peay athletic director Ryan Ivey said in a statement that ''we couldn't be more ecstatic to have him leading our program.''

Loos retired as the Ohio Valley Conference's all-time leader in wins after coaching 27 seasons at Austin Peay.

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