Larry Joe Inman

Larry Joe Inman (born January 3, 1948) is an American college basketball coach. The Tennessee State Lady Tigers are members of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and compete in the NCAA's Division I. In 1991, while at Eastern Kentucky, Inman became the first coach to earn the OVC Coach of the Year award at two different schools, having previously been so honored at Middle Tennessee.[1][2]

Larry Joe Inman
Biographical details
Born (1948-01-03) January 3, 1948 (age 76)
Gallatin, Tennessee
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1970–1973Gallatin JHS
1973–1978Mount Juliet HS
1978–1986Middle Tennessee
1988–2008Eastern Kentucky
2010–2012Lebanon HS
2012–2017Tennessee State
Head coaching record
Overall545–397
Tournaments2–7 (NCAA)
1–1 (WNIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
  • 11× OVC regular season (1980, 1982, 1983–86, 1995, 1997–98, 2002, 2005)
  • 7× OVC Tournament (1983–86, 1997, 2005, 2015)

Biography

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A native of Gallatin, Tennessee, Inman received his bachelor's degree from Austin Peay State University in 1970 and his master's degree from Tennessee State in 1978. He and his wife, the former Bobbie Gene Follis of Shelbyville, Tennessee, have a son, two daughters, and five grandchildren.[3]

Coaching career

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Iman began his coaching career in 1970 in his hometown, at Gallatin Junior High School, where his teams were 51–4 in his three seasons. The next five years were spent as coach of the girls team at Mount Juliet High School in Mount Juliet, Tennessee where his teams went 126–24, won three conference titles, four district and three regional championships, and the 1977 Tennessee Class AAA state tournament.[3]

Inman was then hired as the women's coach at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. His Blue Raiders teams won six regular season conference titles and four OVC tournaments in his eight seasons at MTSU. His teams played in the NCAA tournament four consecutive years, 1983–86, and Inman was named OVC Coach of the Year three times.[3]

After two years away from coaching, in 1988, Inman was named head coach of the Lady Colonels at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, a school that had had a winning season only once in eleven OVC seasons. In his third season, the Lady Colonels posted their first winning season in six years, and Inman became the first coach to be named the OVC Coach of the Year at two different institutions. During his twenty-year tenure at EKU, Inman's teams won the OVC regular season five times and the conference tournament twice, advancing to the NCAA tournament twice and the Women's NIT once, and he was named OVC Coach of the Year five times.[3]

Inman retired in 2008 but returned to coaching at Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Tennessee in 2010.[3]

The all-time winningest coach in Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball history, Inman was elected to the OVC Hall of Fame in 2009. On April 16, 2012, Tennessee State University in Nashville, announced that, following a national search, Inman was to be their new head women's basketball coach.[3]

After upsetting SIUE and UT Martin to win the 2015 OVC Women's Basketball Tournament, Inman took his third OVC team to the NCAA Tournament.[4]

On March 9, 2017, Inman resigned from Tennessee State for personal reasons.[5]

Head coaching record

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Sources: [6][7]

Statistics overview
SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Ohio Valley Conference) (1978–1986)
1978–79Middle Tennessee14–136–43rd
1979–80Middle Tennessee23–1010–11st
1980–81Middle Tennessee16–136–3T–2nd
1981–82Middle Tennessee20–59–31st
1982–83Middle Tennessee26–510–01stNCAA Second Round
1983–84Middle Tennessee19–612–21stNCAA First Round
1984–85Middle Tennessee23–713–11stNCAA First Round
1985–86Middle Tennessee20–1013–11stNCAA Second Round
Middle Tennessee:161–7378–16


Eastern Kentucky Lady Colonels (Ohio Valley Conference) (1988–2008)
1988–89Eastern Kentucky12–145–75th
1989–90Eastern Kentucky12–146–6T–4th
1990–91Eastern Kentucky14–137–53rd
1991–92Eastern Kentucky20–910–4T–2nd
1992–93Eastern Kentucky12–1510–6T–3rd
1993–94Eastern Kentucky17–912–4T–2nd
1994–95Eastern Kentucky19–912–4T–1st
1995–96Eastern Kentucky11–167–9T–4th
1996–97Eastern Kentucky24–616–21stNCAA First Round
1997–98Eastern Kentucky20–815–3T–1st
1998–99Eastern Kentucky11–168–106th
1999–2000Eastern Kentucky13–1510–83rd
2000–01Eastern Kentucky22–614–22nd
2001–02Eastern Kentucky23–813–31st tieWNIT Second Round
2002–03Eastern Kentucky18–1110–63rd
2003–04Eastern Kentucky15–159–75th tie
2004–05Eastern Kentucky23–815–11stNCAA First Round
2005–06Eastern Kentucky7–207–139th
2006–07Eastern Kentucky12–189–11T–7th
2007–08Eastern Kentucky14–149–11T–6th
Eastern Kentucky:319–244204–118


Tennessee State Lady Tigers (Ohio Valley Conference) (2012–present)
2012–13Tennessee State13–159–74th (East)
2013–14Tennessee State12–189–7T–2nd (East)
2014–15Tennessee State18–1312–43rd (East)NCAA First Round
2015–16Tennessee State12–187–93rd (East)
2016–17Tennessee State10–165–11T–11th
Tennessee State:65–8042–38
Total:545–397

      National champion        Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

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  1. ^ "Larry Joe Inman". Tennessee State University. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  2. ^ "After 480 Wins And 16 OVC Championships, Eastern Kentucky's Larry Joe Inman Announces Retirement". Eastern Kentucky University Athletics.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-04-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "TSU women get rematch in NCAA Tournament". The Tennessean. March 16, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  5. ^ Organ, Mike (March 9, 2017). "Larry Joe Inman resigns as TSU women's basketball coach". The Tennessean. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  6. ^ ""2012–13 OVC Basketball Media Guide" OVCSports.com". Archived from the original on 2015-04-05. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
  7. ^ Official Website of the Ohio Valley Conference.