Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Rick Ray completes staff with addition of Benjy Taylor

Rick Ray's first coaching staff at Southeast Missouri State is finally complete.

The athletic department announced the hiring of Benjy Taylor as an assistant Thursday night.

There's been a spot open on staff since the firing of Jamie Rosser -- who was at Southeast the last six years and was the only member of former coach Dickey Nutt's staff that was retained -- was announced on Nov. 4.

Taylor was the University of Hawaii's interim head coach last season. The Rainbow Warriors were 22-13 with him at the helm and reached the championship of the Big West Conference tournament.

Taylor was recognized as the Hugh Durham Mid Season Mid Major National Coach of the Year for his stint in the interim.

"I am excited that Benjy has decided to join our staff here at Southeast Missouri State," Ray said in a press release. "He brings a wealth of experience and will be a great asset to our players and current staff. To find someone with his resume during a non-traditional hiring period is an enormous benefit to our program. We have been working understaffed for months now and Benjy will allow us to get a jump on recruiting quality student-athletes with his years of contacts and connections."

Taylor was at Hawaii for six seasons. He was the associate head coach for three years prior to being the interim coach.

He also served as an assistant coach at Cornell (1991-92), The Citadel (1992-95), Northern Illinois (1995-2000), Pepperdine (2000-01), Indiana State (2004-05) and Tulane (2005-07). He was Chicago State's head coach from 2007-10.

His first head coaching job came in 2001 when he led the Division III North Central College program, located in Naperville, Illinois, for three seasons.

Highlights from his assistant coaching career include an NIT appearance for Pepperdine in 2001, a 1996 NCAA tournament appearance for Northern Illinois, which finished with a 20-10 record, and a 19-13 record and CollegeInsider.com tournament appearance for Hawaii in 2011.

His 2008-09 team posted Chicago State's first winning season in 23 years. The Cougars went 19-13 that season and Taylor was the Independent Division I Coach of the Year and HSBC Coach of the Year.

"I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity to join the Southeast Missouri State Basketball Family," Taylor said in the release. "Coach Ray is one of the best and brightest young coaches in the business and I am excited and ready to get to work. I look forward to helping build a championship program at Southeast."

Taylor graduated from the University of Richmond with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and sociology in 1989. Richmond was 85-38 during his four-year career and went to the NCAA tournament in 1986 and 1988 and the NIT in 1989. The 1988 squad reached the Sweet 16 after upsets of Indiana and Georgia Tech.

He served as a graduate assistant while completing his master's degree in sports management. During that time, the Spiders went to the NCAA tournament consecutive years and became the first No. 15 seed to knock off a No. 2 seed when they beat Syracuse in the first round of the 1991 tournament.