DURANT, Okla. - Southeastern Oklahoma State Director of Athletics Keith Baxter has announced the hiring of Kelly Green to be the head coach of the men’s basketball program.
Green joins the Savage Storm family after 14 seasons as head coach at Arizona Western, a junior college program in Arizona Community College Athletic Conference, where he racked up a 342-107 record. In all, he has amassed 25 years of coaching experience, 18 of those as a collegiate head coach where he has amassed a record of 391-169.
“My family and I are ecstatic about coming to Durant,” said Green, “As well as the opportunity that Dr. Minks and coach Baxter are affording us.”
“Being from Oklahoma,” continued Green, “I know the tradition at Southeastern and it’s our goal to return to that, especially as the program heads into the Great American Conference next season.”
“We are excited with the selection of Kelly Green as our new men’s basketball coach,” said Southeastern president Larry Minks. “He has an impressive background and we believe he will be a good fit for the Savage Storm program. I might add that Keith Baxter (director of athletics) and the selection committee spent a great deal of time reviewing a large pool of applicants, and they are most pleased with the results. We look forward to welcoming coach Green and his family to Southeastern and Durant.”
“Kelly Green brings a proven track record of success,” said Baxter, “He has had great success in his career and will be an excellent fit for the program.
“He and his family will be a fine addition to the city of Durant,” continued Baxter, “And his coaching philosophy is a seamless fit with our mission of becoming the model Division II University.”
“I would also like to thank the search committee,” said Baxter. “Their tireless efforts in evaluating more than 130 applicants helped us efficiently narrow the search and eventually come to the selection of coach [Kelly] Green.”
Green was the longest tenured coach in AWC program history and led the team to 13 consecutive Region I Playoff appearances. The Matadors wrapped the 2010-11 season with 23 wins and Green averaged 24 wins per season over his 14 years at the helm, making AWC the winningest college or university men’s basketball program in the state of Arizona over that time. Green led AWC to 11 Region I final appearances and won the regional championship five times. He has been named the ACCAC Coach of the Year six times and was named the district Coach of the Year three times.
His first head coaching stint came at Frank Phillips College in Texas, where as the youngest head coach in the Lone Star State at that time. He proceeded to lead the men’s basketball team to its first winning season in a decade. Green then went to Texas JC power Western Texas College before getting his first taste of NCAA Division I coaching as the top assistant at the University of Texas-Pan American. While at UTPA, the team recorded the 4th-best turnaround in NCAA Division I and had the highest conference finish in school history. Kelly also had brief stops at Western New Mexico and Angleton (TX) High School before landing at AWC.
He is a graduate of Northwestern Oklahoma State where he lettered in basketball and tennis for two years. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from NWOSU and a Master's Degree in Education from Oklahoma City. Kelly is married to the former Ginger Ratzlaff of Mannford, Okla., and they have two kids, Caspian, a freshman volleyball player at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, and Dakota, a sophomore in high school.
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