LSU men’s basketball head coach Will Wade announced on Tuesday that Rick Stansbury, a former long-time head coach, would join his team as associate head coach.
Stansbury is most known for his time as head coach at Mississippi State (1998-2012) and Western Kentucky (2016-23).
Stansbury was named the 2004 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year when State won the regular-season title. He has also won five SEC Western Division crowns, two SEC Tournament championships (2002, 2009), and the Conference USA regular-season title in 2021. During his 21-year head coaching career, he guided clubs to 13 postseason tournaments.
Stansbury most recently worked as an assistant at Memphis for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
“I am thrilled to have Rick Stanbury join our coaching team at LSU,” Coach Wade said. “His time at Mississippi State and Western Kentucky speaks for itself. ” His strong recruiting classes and on-court coaching skills will help LSU move forward quickly with our basketball program. “
With 293 triumphs, Stansbury is the most successful coach in Mississippi State basketball history, leading 11 teams to tournament appearances (6 NCAA, 5 NIT) and ten teams to 20-plus win seasons. His 293 victories with State are the 11th-most in SEC history.
Mississippi State’s 2004 SEC title was the school’s first since the 1962-63 season, with a school-best 14-2 conference record and a 26-4 overall record. The club was 8-0 in SEC road play, ranked fourth in the country in regular season by the Associated Press, and had a school-record No. 2 NCAA Tournament seed.
Source: Rick Stansbury, Mississippi State’s all-time winningest head coach, has officially signed a contract to serve as LSU’s Associate Head Coach under Will Wade.
He became the first coach in school basketball history to have four consecutive 20-win seasons, doing it twice in 2002-05 and 2007-10, and set school records for five consecutive postseason tournament appearances (2001-05).
Stansbury’s coaching career began at his alma mater, Campbellsville University, as a student assistant from 1981-82, followed by a graduate assistant position at Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Kentucky (1983-84). His first long-term position was the following season, when he joined Austin Peay.
During his six years at Austin Peay, he helped the team to three consecutive winning seasons, including a conference tournament title and an NCAA Tournament second round berth in the 1986-87 season, when the Governors finished with a 20-12 record.
He moved to Mississippi State for the 1990-91 season. Stansbury, an eight-year assistant coach on Richard Williams’ MSU team, previously played an important role in assisting Mississippi State acquire the talent that led the Bulldogs to their most successful decade in program history on the court.
State won the SEC regular season championship in 1991, the SEC West championship in 1995 and 1996, and the SEC Tournament title in 1996. The club progressed to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1995 and the NCAA Final Four in 1996.
Stansbury was the obvious pick to succeed Williams, thanks to his demonstrated track record as a hard recruiter and competent strategist.
Stansbury stepped down as Mississippi State’s head coach following the 2012 season and returned to the sideline as an assistant to Billy Kennedy at Texas A&M for the 2014-15 season.
He was eventually promoted to Associate Head Coach during his second season. Texas A&M captured its first SEC regular season championship in 2015-16, and the Aggies went to the NCAA Sweet 16.
Stansbury was appointed as Western Kentucky’s head coach in March 2016. He guided the Hilltoppers to four 20-win seasons, a Conference USA championship, and an NIT semifinal participation.
Stansbury guided WKU to 11 victories against power conference teams, including four triumphs against ranked opponents. From 2017 through 2022, Western Kentucky was one of the conference’s top teams, placing first or second in the conference or conference tournament every year. For four consecutive seasons, Western Kentucky finished in the top three in C-USA play, marking the first time the team had done so since 1969-72.
During his two years at Memphis, he helped the Tigers win the American Conference regular-season title in 2024-25.
Stansbury, a native of Battletown, Kentucky, was a four-year letterman as a guard at Campbellsville. Stansbury averaged 12 points as a senior, contributing to Campbellsville’s first District 32 championship and participation in the 1981 NAIA Tournament.
Stansbury was inducted into the Campbellsville University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. He had earlier received the school’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
He is married to Meo Mellen. They have three sons named Isaac, Noah, and Luke.
The employment is contingent upon standard background checks and authorization by the LSU Board of Supervisors.
