The Southwestern Athletic Conference coaching carousel started spinning once the SWAC Basketball Tournament Championship ended. Four men’s basketball head coaches parted ways with their programs (Jackson State University, Texas Southern University, Alabama State University, and Alcorn State University), finding new destinations to continue their coaching careers.
The former Alabama State Hornets men’s basketball coach, Tony Madlock, at the end of the season chose to return to the University of Memphis, where he was a part of Coach Penny Hardaway’s coaching staff from 2018 to 2021. The Hornets were able to win a SWAC Men’s Basketball Championship under Madlock in 2025. The Hornets’ search for another Head Men’s Basketball Coach didn’t last long. The Hornets have hired Langston University Men’s Head Basketball Coach, Chris Wright, who started his head coaching career at Graceland University from 2015-2016, Central Baptist College from 2017-2018, Talladega College from 2018-2022, and Langston University from 2022-2026.
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Coach Wright has spent much of his Head Coaching career coaching in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) conference. This will be his first Division 1 program that he will be taking over as the men’s head basketball coach. The Hornets’ choosing of coach Wright saw his leadership ability to build subpar programs before he arrived, turning them into a contender. A key attribute that stands out about Coach Wright is his ability to develop athletes, and in today’s college sports landscape, with NIL holding many of these athletic programs hostage, the Hornets’ ability to recruit players to buy into his vision and philosophy will help the Alabama State Men’s Basketball program have early success.