Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andy Rathnow/Alestle New SIUE Men's Basketball Head Coach Lennox Forrester talks with the media during a press conference at the Vadalabene Center Monday.

SIUE Athletics Director Brad Hewitt announced Monday that Lennox Forrester will be the new head coach of the SIUE men's basketball team.

Forrester, an assistant at Bradley University for the last six seasons, became SIUE's seventh head coach, agreeing to a six-year contract with the university. He replaced Marty Simmons, who resigned March 15 to return to his alma mater and guide the University of Evansville Purple Aces.

"It's a great day for Cougar basketball. It's a great day for me," Forrester said. "I get to coach SIU Edwardsville.

"It's going to be exciting because now it's going to be a start of something new," Forrester said. "A start of getting to a competitive Division I program. It's going to take a lot of time. It's going to take some patience on my part, but I know we can get it done."

SIUE received more than 120 applications for the position in a 24-day span.

"It's the culmination of that process and to have Lennox Forrester as our next basketball coach, I'm extremely excited and extremely proud to be at SIUE," Hewitt said.

Forrester, who spent 10 years at Evansville, is the second longest active coach in the Missouri Valley Conference with 15 years of experience in the MVC. Only Southern Illinois University Carbondale assistant coach Rodney Watson, a 19-year veteran for the Salukis, has a longer streak. Watson was also a finalist for the coaching position.

"Every person we asked about Lennox Forrester said that this is a man of quality, this is a man of values, this is a man of knowledge," SIUE Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift said. "Basketball world, look out. SIUE is on the move and we've got a coach that's going to move us there."

In his first season at Bradley, Forrester helped improve the Braves' team scoring, which jumped from 60.7 points per game to 73.5. Forrester also helped lead the Braves to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2006.

Forrester, 38, is a former NJCAA Division II All-American, having played at Parkland College in Champaign before transferring to play for the Purple Aces in 1989. He attended Evanston High School in Evanston, has a wife, Aretha, and a daughter, Calaya.

SIUE bumps up to NCAA Division I status for the 2008-09 season. The Cougars finished 15-12 last season and are one year removed from advancing to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament.

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