MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang completed his full-time coaching staff on Wednesday afternoon (July 27) with the selection of veteran coach Rodney Perry as the program's third and final assistant coach. Perry's first official day will be Monday, August 1.
Perry, a finalist for the 2022 Jersey Mike's Naismith High School Boys Coach of the Year, arrives at K-State after spending the past season building Link Academy in Branson, Mo., into a national powerhouse, as the Lions finished as the national runner-up at the GEICO National Tournament with a 34-2 record.
In addition, Perry recently led the AAU program that he helped found – MOKAN Elite – to their third championship at the prestigious Nike Peach Jam (2016, 2019, 2022) with a 53-52 win over Team Takeover on July 24 to cap a 26-4 season. MOKAN Elite's three championships are the most by any team in the 26-year history of the signature Nike EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) summer event held in North Augusta, S.C.
All told, Perry's Link Academy (34-2) and MOKAN Elite (26-4) teams went a combined 60-6 during the 2021-22 season.
"I couldn't be more excited about adding someone of the quality – on and off the basketball court – as Rodney Perry," said Tang. "Obviously he is a terrific coach and winner, just look at what he was able to do in just one season at Link Academy and his many years working with one of the best grassroots organizations in MOKAN Elite. But he is more than just an elite basketball mind, he fits in so with our staff because of his values and character. I can't wait for Wildcat Nation to get to know Rodney, his wife, Leslie, and their family!"
Overall, Perry has 28 years of coaching experience with 15 coming on the college level, including six as the head coach at NAIA Avila University in Kansas City from 2010-16. On top of that, he is a co-founder and former head coach of two ultra-successful AAU teams in the Springfield (Mo.) Rockets (1994-2003) and MOKAN Elite (2006-16, 2018-19, 2021-22). In addition to the three Peach Jam titles in the last seven years with MOKAN Elite, he won the 1995 AAU National Championship with the Rockets.