Former Mississippi State head coach Rick Ray lands new job

Former Mississippi State men's basketball head coach Rick Ray has found a new job. Ray, who led the Bulldogs from 2012 through 2015, has been hired as an assistant coach at Colorado, the school announced on Friday.

Ray has spent the last five seasons as a head coach at Southeast Missouri State. In all, he has 23 years of coaching experience at the Division I level.

He began his Division I coaching career at Indiana State, where he worked from 1997-2004. He was then an assistant at Northern Illinois from 2004-2006. From 2006 through 2010, Ray was at Purdue, before he went to Clemson as the associate head coach from 2010-2012. He was then hired in 2012 by Mississippi State as head coach, replacing Rick Stansbury.

It was a rocky three years for Ray in Starkville. Ray went just 37-60 over his three years as a Bulldog with just a 13-41 mark in Southeastern Conference play. He was replaced in 2015 by current MSU head coach Ben Howland. Ray moved on to Southeast Missouri State, where he went 51-104 over five years. And now, he lands at Colorado.

"I have a ton of respect for (Colorado head coach Tad Boyle) and what he's done at CU," Ray said in a school release. "He's well renown in this business for doing it the right way. I want to work for people in that same ilk; Brad Brownell (Clemson head coach), Matt Painter (Purdue head coach), just reminds me of those guys who do it the right way and are in it for the right reasons.

"I'm in this business to help young men. I'm there to help them on and off court. I want (the players) to know there's no ego, I'm humble, I just want them to reach their goals and dreams in the classroom and on the court."