Gamecocks assistant to be named head coach at Austin Peay

Austin Peay is hiring South Carolina assistant Matt Figger as its next men’s basketball coach.

School officials announced Monday that Figger would be introduced at a Thursday news conference. Figger replaces Dave Loos, who retired last month.

Figger was part of a South Carolina staff that got the Gamecocks to the Final Four this year, a stunning postseason run for a program that hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 1973.

Figger worked for Gamecocks coach Frank Martin at Kansas State before following him to South Carolina in 2012. Figger has been the Gamecocks’ associate head coach the past four years.

Austin Peay athletic director Ryan Ivey said in a statement that “we couldn’t be more ecstatic to have him leading our program.”

Loos coached 27 seasons at Austin Peay, retiring as the Ohio Valley Conference’s all-time leader in wins.

Figger is the second assistant coach to leave USC in the past two years. Lamont Evans left to join Oklahoma State’s staff last year. He has since been promoted to associate head coach under new Cowboys head coach Mike Boynton, also a former Gamecocks assistant.

“It’s just a matter of time,” Martin said. “Matt Figger is going to be an unbelievable head coach as soon as he given opportunity. I think Brad Underwood has shown that he’s pretty good at it. I go back to my high school days, I had six assistant coaches in my high school team become head high school coaches. I take a lot of pride. I give those assistants a lot of responsibilities, they will tell you.

“I’m trying to help them prepare to become head coaches, I ask them to teach, I ask them to coach.”