Rick Ray introduced as Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach

Rick Ray recalled the moment he arrived at a hotel in Indianapolis for the NCAA men's basketball Final Four with his family less than two weeks ago as he stood behind a podium at the Show Me Center on Monday evening.

He had just stepped up to the front desk when the former Mississippi State coach overheard his 4-year-old son Deacon talking to his wife, Breyana.

"I'm getting ready to check in, and I could hear my son saying to my wife, real loudly, 'Hey, when is dad going to get a job? It's been a while now -- when's dad going to get a job?' Ray said as a crowd of Southeast Missouri State athletics staff and Redhawks basketball supporters laughed. "And as I'm handing my credit card over to the hotel registration clerk they're a little hesitant about checking that Visa card there."

At that moment Monday afternoon Ray officially was able to tell his son Deacon that he now has a job. Ray, who was fired from MSU on March 21, was announced as the 20th coach in the Southeast men's basketball program history and the first African-American coach the program has ever had in its 108 years.

Ray spent three seasons as the Bulldogs' coach, compiling a record of 37-60 overall and 13-41 in the Southeastern Conference. He had a base salary of $1,000,000 when his contract was terminated.

He will earn a base salary of $175,000 at Southeast plus a $20,000 annuity and additional incentives.

"I think that sometimes people have the perception that just because I was a coach at an SEC school and a Power 5 school that I might not be interested in a place like Southeast Missouri State and that's far from the truth at all," Ray said. "To me, I want to be a ball coach and that's what I am. Southeast Missouri State gives me a chance to still be a head ball coach but also be a head ball coach where you've got a chance to be successful."

Rick Ray, right, is joined by his son, Deacon, middle, and university President Dr. Kenneth Dobbins after Ray was announced as the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach at a press conference Monday evening at the Show Me Center. (Erin Unerstall)

Ray replaced Dickey Nutt, who had served as the Redhawks coach for the past six seasons. Nutt was fired on March 23 after Southeast went 13-17 and 7-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Redhawks reached the conference tournament each of the last five years, but never advanced past the quarterfinal round.

They were the eighth seed in this year's tournament and had their season end in the first round.

Nutt posted a record of 80-108 overall and 41-59 in the OVC during his six seasons at the helm. The Redhawks had two winning seasons under Nutt, going 17-16 in 2012-13 and 18-14 in 2013-14.

"It's my job as a basketball coach to put a product out on the court that they're going to appreciate, and we're going to do that. We'll handle that situation," Ray said. "I guarantee you this: every time you come see our team play it'll be three things that you'll walk away saying. You'll say that team played harder than the other team, you'll say that team played tougher than the other team, and the most important thing that gets left out a lot of times is that team played smarter than the other team. Every single time that we step foot on the court you'll walk away saying those three things and when you walk out of here you'll say, 'I want to watch that team play again.'"

Prior to Ray's head coaching career he served as an assistant at Clemson for two seasons and was an assistant at Purdue from 2006-10.

The Boilermakers won the Big 10 tournament in 2009 and made it to the Sweet 16 twice.

"She always talks about for me that all I think about is basketball," Ray said of his wife Breyana, who was in attendance with their sons Deacon and Mason. "Basketball, basketball, that's all I think about, and it's really not true. What have we been together for like eight seasons now? It started back in 2012 at Purdue? Yeah, yeah, eight seasons, so I don't think of things in just terms of basketball."

Before joining Matt Painter's staff at Purdue, Ray, who will turn 45 on May 8, held assistant positions at Indiana State from 1997-2004 and Northern Illinois from 2004-06.

While he had also had other opportunities for associate head coach and assistant coaching positions at larger Division I schools, Ray knew that he wanted another shot as a head coach.

"Now, you can ask my wife, I like being the boss. I don't like listening to people at times, so I did want to be a head coach," Ray said. "But I've been an assistant before I became a head coach for 21 years, and I've been fortunate to work underneath some guys that have always groomed me to be a head coach.

"In this business sometimes you can get pigeon-holed into being one specific thing -- being a recruiter, being an X and O guy -- so I've been very fortunate to work with guys ... that wanted to make sure I was a well rounded coach. Everything that I've done and my experience has led me up to be a head coach and I wanted to make sure I continued on that path."

The Southeast women's basketball position remains open. Alnutt said he expects to find a replacement for Ty Margenthaler "very soon." Margenthaler resigned on March 23 after the Redhawks finished the season 10-19 and 3-13 in the conference.

Southeast was 37-38 and 18-46 and failed to make the OVC tournament in Margenthaler's four seasons in charge.

"We're hoping to fill that as soon as we can," Alnutt said. "Again, very similar process with the men. A lot of qualified candidates approached us about the job, we recruited some people, we reached out to various people to get names and we're excited about that crop of people as well and we're hopeful we'll get something done this week."