Tuesday, August 08, 2000

Johnson City, Tenn. -- The East Tennessee State University athletic department announced that Tom Conrad and Scott Wagers have been hired as assistant coaches and will join head basketball coach Ed DeChellis staff for the 2000-01 season.

I am very pleased to have Tom and Scott join our basketball coaching staff, DeChellis said. Tom and Hilliary Scott will do a great job recruiting while Scott will handle our on-campus actitivites.

Conrad comes to Johnson City after serving four years as Charleston Southern Universitys head coach. He led the Buccaneers to their first ever NCAA Tournament bid in 1997 and advanced to the conference semifinals or Big South Championship three times.

Before becoming head coach, Conrad was an assistant at Charleston Southern from 1991-96. Conrad also gained experience as an assistant coach at UNC Asheville (1989-91) and St. Michaels College (1988-89). He also coached at Kentucky Wesleyan College (1981-83) and served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Old Dominion from 1979-81.

Tom brings a wealth of experience and a great knowledge of Southeast recruiting to ETSU, DeChellis said. He will immediately benefit our program.

Wagers enters his first collegiate job after serving as a high school head coach for the past nine years. He was the head coach at Robinson High School (Tampa, Fla.) from 1994-2000 and served in the same capacity at Washburn High School (Washburn, Tenn.) from 1990-94. The Tennessee Wesleyan College graduate led Robinson High to the Florida State Final Four in 1997-98 and earned Tampa Bay Basketball Coaches Association Coach-of-the-Year honors that year.

Scott brings great recruting ties from the state of Florida, DeChellis said. He has been a very successful high school coach and will relate well to our players immediately.