New Assistant named

[auburnphan 6,050]

A former Auburn standout is returning to The Plains. Welcome back home, @CoachFlanigan!

» http://auburntige.rs/18wfac 

 

 

 

[auburnphan 6,050]

AUBURN, Ala. – Former Auburn standout Wes Flanigan has returned to his alma mater to join the men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach, head coach Bruce Pearl announced Monday.

Flanigan was most recently the head coach at the University of Arkansas Little Rock for the past two seasons.

“Auburn basketball is very fortunate to have been able to attract and welcome home a former great in three-time captain Wes Flanigan,” head coach Bruce Pearl said. “I‘ve known Wes and admired his work for many years as a competitor. Known as a hard-working, tough-minded, passionate basketball coach and teacher, Wes will make our student-athletes better on and off the court.”

Flanigan played with the Tigers from 1993-97 and was a four-year starter at point guard. He is the 22nd-leading scorer in program history with 1,228 points.

“Returning to Auburn is a dream come true for me,” Flanigan said. “I’ve always wanted to come back to Auburn to coach basketball at some point. I want to thank Coach Pearl and the staff for giving me this opportunity.

“I’ve followed the program from afar over the years. I know our program is at an all-time high and I am looking forward to helping this staff, these players and Coach Pearl continue the success that they have already established. I’m happy to be a part of it.”

Flanigan finished his career second in the Auburn record books with 573 assists. He is also fourth in career free throws with 338 makes from the charity stripe.

The Little Rock, Ark. native was the Southeastern Conference individual assist champion in 1996 when he dished out 214 dimes for an average of 6.7 per game.

Flanigan was named All-SEC as a junior in 1996 and was a member of the All-SEC Freshman Team in 1994.

Flanigan returns to The Plains after two stints with Little Rock, most recently as the head coach for the past two seasons.

While with the Trojans for seven seasons from 2004-08 and 2015-18, Flanigan helped Little Rock achieve new single-season program records for wins, Sun Belt Conference victories and road wins.

Flanigan and the Trojans won their first-ever outright Sun Belt title during the 2015-16 campaign and knocked off No. 5 seed Purdue in the NCAA Tournament.

The Trojans won 18 or more games twice during Flanigan’s first run in Little Rock. In the 2007-08 season, the Trojans won 20 games while he served as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.

After his first stint at Little Rock, Flanigan was an assistant at UAB from 2008-10 where the Blazers won 47 games and matched a program record for wins a season with 25 set in the 2009-10 campaign.

Flanigan then went on to serve in the same capacity at Nebraska for two seasons (2010-12) before joining Mississippi State from 2012-15.

Flanigan got his first start in coaching at Northwest Mississippi Community College where he was an assistant coach from 1999-2004.

The 1992-93 Gatorade High School Player of the Year, Flanigan enrolled at Auburn and was a four-year letterwinner for the Tigers. He graduated with a degree in health promotion and was the recipient of the Cliff Hare Award, presented annually to the university’s top student-athlete.

He and his wife, Katrina, have three sons: Michael Lewis, Allen and Collin.

[AU64 10,122]

Nice move BP.....Brown and Harper in particular should benefit from this hire.....

[NoALtiger 3,850]

Great to see Wes back. He was a great player on some not so great teams. He certainly knows how AU rolls and as a recent HC, should be able to help out in all facets. I didn’t know we were necessarily in the market, but it’s cool this worked out. 

[aucanucktiger 1,791]

This is a stunningly great hire IMHO in the sense it adds an ass't with significant and recent southeast recruiting & HC success (take that Purdue!) as well as plugging a real asset into the vacated Auburn-pedigree guy on coaching staff slot. Welcome back Wes!

[mustache eagle 2,397]

Is Wes Flanigan a good coach or a good recruiter?  What makes him the right guy for this hire?  Because we all like him?  I get the whole trust Bruce thing (which I do), but I'd like some analysis from those who know bball coaching.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

Great pickup a PG himself he should help in coaching our PG's. Unlike our last Auburn BB coach hire from the Auburn family this is a guy who has paid his dues coaching both as an assistant and as a HC. This is a guy that Bruce wanted not somebody he was made to hire.  The fact that he has taken a team to the NCAA and beaten a team like Purdue means he has the chops as a coach.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

2 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

Is Wes Flanigan a good coach or a good recruiter?  What makes him the right guy for this hire?  Because we all like him?  I get the whole trust Bruce thing (which I do), but I'd like some analysis from those who know bball coaching.

Read his Bio he was able to take Arkansas Little Rock to the NCAA tournament and beat Purdue that is nothing to sneaze at.

[KcPg14 24]

I know Wes on a professional and personal level. Great guy and coach. He was a great basketball player for Auburn back in the day (2nd all-time assist leader) and has experience as an SEC assistant coach at Mississippi State and has also had stops at UAB and Nebraska. He was an Associate Head Coach under Chris Beard (Texas Tech) at Little Rock and was promoted to head coach when he left. He has HC experience which is always helpful. It was some tough shoes to fill at LR and probably got the job before he was truly ready to take on coming off an NCAA tournament appearance. He has always LOVED Auburn. He’s a good recruiter and will tremdously help fill a void as an assistant. This is a great hire for Bruce and the men’s basketball program. 

[augolf1716 21,109]

24 minutes ago, KcPg14 said:

I know Wes on a professional and personal level. Great guy and coach. He was a great basketball player for Auburn back in the day (2nd all-time assist leader) and has experience as an SEC assistant coach at Mississippi State and has also had stops at UAB and Nebraska. He was an Associate Head Coach under Chris Beard (Texas Tech) at Little Rock and was promoted to head coach when he left. He has HC experience which is always helpful. It was some tough shoes to fill at LR and probably got the job before he was truly ready to take on coming off an NCAA tournament appearance. He has always LOVED Auburn. He’s a good recruiter and will tremdously help fill a void as an assistant. This is a great hire for Bruce and the men’s basketball program. 

Post more often

[mustache eagle 2,397]

2 hours ago, KcPg14 said:

I know Wes on a professional and personal level. Great guy and coach. He was a great basketball player for Auburn back in the day (2nd all-time assist leader) and has experience as an SEC assistant coach at Mississippi State and has also had stops at UAB and Nebraska. He was an Associate Head Coach under Chris Beard (Texas Tech) at Little Rock and was promoted to head coach when he left. He has HC experience which is always helpful. It was some tough shoes to fill at LR and probably got the job before he was truly ready to take on coming off an NCAA tournament appearance. He has always LOVED Auburn. He’s a good recruiter and will tremdously help fill a void as an assistant. This is a great hire for Bruce and the men’s basketball program. 

Cool!

we expect you to get all of the top secret inside info from Wes and share it with us ... we won’t tell anyone ... promise ...

[au302 2,669]

Awesome hire. Now lets see what happens with the rest of the staff. Several questions such as which position will Prewitt move to, will Frankie and Jordan return and if not who replaces them. Matt Gatens went to Drake so someone will need to replace him as well as finding grad assistants. Should be interesting to see how the staff shapes out.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

16 hours ago, au302 said:

Awesome hire. Now lets see what happens with the rest of the staff. Several questions such as which position will Prewitt move to, will Frankie and Jordan return and if not who replaces them. Matt Gatens went to Drake so someone will need to replace him as well as finding grad assistants. Should be interesting to see how the staff shapes out.

Great questions but until we get closure on Frankie and Jordan one way or the other Bruce's hands are tied. The longer Auburn doesn't provide closure the harder they will make Bruce's job. By now they should have independently gathered enough information on Frankie and Jordon to be able to say sorry we made mistake but had to play if safe because of the can or worms opened by the FBI investigation or we have found enough to think there could be an impact and we feel we have to let you go with a nice settlement if evidence is not conclusive or no severance if there was a real issue.

Personally I hope it is sorry but we had to play it safe but that is an emotional answer as I have no idea what if any evidence caused them to be suspended with pay.

[AU64 10,122]

35 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

Great questions but until we get closure on Frankie and Jordan one way or the other Bruce's hands are tied. The longer Auburn doesn't provide closure the harder they will make Bruce's job. By now they should have independently gathered enough information on Frankie and Jordon to be able to say sorry we made mistake but had to play if safe because of the can or worms opened by the FBI investigation or we have found enough to think there could be an impact and we feel we have to let you go with a nice settlement if evidence is not conclusive or no severance if there was a real issue.

Personally I hope it is sorry but we had to play it safe but that is an emotional answer as I have no idea what if any evidence caused them to be suspended with pay.

That's an issue but considering there were other folks on the BB staff it's hard to think they just drew those names out of a hat...especially since they were not even key staff members.   Auburn has retained some expensive lawyers to guide them in this mess and I'm guessing it is not AU that has to provide closure....could be that the NCAA or even the FBI still has some interest.  .....and a reasonable possibility that closure will come from the testimony and outcome of the Chuck Person trial in Feb 2019.   JMO

Meanwhile the show must go on....I'm happy to see Flanigan join the staff...

[steeleagle 2,945]

On 4/16/2018 at 4:05 PM, AuburnNTexas said:

Read his Bio he was able to take Arkansas Little Rock to the NCAA tournament and beat Purdue that is nothing to sneaze at.

Just to be clear, Flanigan was not the head coach during that year. His 2 years as HC were very poor, and thus he was let go.

We didn't hire him bc of his HC ability. We hired him for his work as an AC, with recruiting and coaching his strong suits.

Look forward to his helping these guards and recruiting top level players with Coach Pearl.

[doc4aday 1,887]

Bruce is laying the foundation for several years of what should be some very good basketball to be played on the plains! Great hire Bruce...I think Bruce will be here a long time and will win a lot of round-ball! What is there not to like about this hire?

[doc4aday 1,887]

Does anyone have an idea of who will be our starting 5 for 2019?  I know it is a bit early and we have lost more than I thought we would to the NBA draft. I have lost track of who has declared for the NBA. Thanks & WDE!

Also, will Brown be returning? With all we have lost, next year may not be like this past season, but who knows with Coach Pearl's ability to get the most out of players. Will MClemore be ready for next year?

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

2 hours ago, doc4aday said:

Does anyone have an idea of who will be our starting 5 for 2019?  I know it is a bit early and we have lost more than I thought we would to the NBA draft. I have lost track of who has declared for the NBA. Thanks & WDE!

Also, will Brown be returning? With all we have lost, next year may not be like this past season, but who knows with Coach Pearl's ability to get the most out of players. Will MClemore be ready for next year?

We all have hopes of who will be back but until after the NBA combine we won't know who is coming back for sure.

McLemore will be back but no idea if and when he will be 100%

Brown put his hat in the ring for NBA best guess is he will be back but not a sure thing

Harper put his hat in the ring for NBA best guess is he will be back but not a sure thing

Spencer has not announced NBA combine so at this time should be back

Purifoy has not announced for NBA combine at this time will be back after 10-11 games to finish his suspension

Okeke will be back

Dunbar will be back

Doughty who red shirted will be back

Wiley is going to NBA combine has best chance of being good enough to make an NBA team. I think we have about 40% chance of having him back as at this time he is only second round according to most services.

At this time we have 6 Players who will be back McLemore, Spencer, Purifoy, Okeke, Dunbar, and Doughty. Of these Spencer and Purifoy still could opt to try the NBA combine. Purifoy will miss first 11 games because of suspension and we have no idea how far along McLemore will be in healing from his injuries.

 

 

[Tigerfinz 1,362]

So glad that we brought Wes home.  He was a nice guy at Auburn.  I came in with him as a freshman and enjoyed like crazy watching him during our time there. I was pleasently surprised to see and speak with him as he was coaching at UAB.  I went home to see the family and went to the game.  I was almost as proud to see him then as I was when I found out he was coming home.