Courtesy of Samford Sports Information.
Samford promoted former assistant coach Scott Padgett to become the team's 28th head coach.
Samford University held an introductory press conference Monday afternoon for Scott Padgett, the school’s 28th men’s head basketball coach.
Padgett, who served two years as an assistant under Bennie Seltzer, was named to the post Friday after the team had released Seltzer.
Padgett, an NCAA national champion and former first-round NBA draft pick from the University of Kentucky, emphasized building a family within the Samford basketball program, such as he experienced under Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith while playing at Kentucky.
“One of the special things for me over the last couple of days is the text messages and the calls that reached out to me,” Padgett said. “I’ve had 15 guys that I played college basketball with reach out to me, and what was really cool was all their phone numbers were already programmed into my phone, so we’ve stayed together. That’s how I want our players to be down the road.”
Padgett will begin his tenure at Samford, his first head coaching position, in the wake of a host of Bulldogs transferring from the program. Six of Samford’s seven top scorers, including back-to-back Southern Conference freshmen of the year Tim and Isaiah Williams, have left the team since the 2013-14 season ended.
“I’m looking at this program going forward,” Padgett said. “I’m very excited about the 12 that have committed to stay here.”
Padgett was named the most valuable player of the 1999 SEC tournament, and was a member of the 1998 Kentucky national championship team. He was the 28th pick of the 1999 NBA draft and went on to play eight seasons of professional basketball with four different NBA franchises.
After retiring in 2007, Padgett returned to his alma mater, where he was an assistant coach from 2009-10. He spent 2010-12 as an assistant coach at Manhattan College in New York before joining Seltzer’s staff at Samford.
Padgett resides in Homewood with his wife, Cynthia and three children: Logan, 13, Lucas, 11 and Layla, 7.
So far, Padgett has three assistants in place from 2013-14 and is in the process of filling the final two spots on his staff. Assistant coaches Jake Headrick and Charles Newton will remain at Samford, and Matthew Powell will be the team’s video coordinator after serving last season as a student manager.
“I’m very excited to be the head coach at Samford University,” Padgett said. “What I want to do is lead this program forward in the right direction. I’m not looking back, I’m looking forward and trying to get this thing moving in the right way.”
