(Sports Network) - Elon University has selected Matt Matheny as its new men's basketball coach.

Matheny spent the past 16 years as an assistant at fellow Southern Conference member Davidson under Bob McKillop and will take over as a head coach on the collegiate level for the first time.

"Our program is going to revolve around student-athletes," said Matheny. "Our mission is to give our student-athletes a wonderful college experience. That's our mission. We are going to prepare these young men for life after Elon. That being said, we want to go the NCAA Tournament. That's a goal of ours. Our everyday goal is to get better. We're going to have a lot of fun."

The 39-year-old Matheny played at Davidson and was part of 10 seasons of at least 20 wins during his time on the bench as an assistant. The Wildcats were 27-8 this past season and lost in the second round of the NIT after last spring's run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

"We were looking for a leader with integrity, character and enthusiasm," said Elon athletic director Dave Blank. "Someone that had demonstrated the ability to lead and win. We were looking for someone that is committed to the importance of the co-existence of athletic and academic excellence, who has been in that environment and would understand what we need to do here at Elon University to maintain integrity in both areas. We landed on Matt Matheny."

Elon needed a replacement for Ernie Nestor, who was just 67-117 in six seasons with the Phoenix. The team was 11-20 during the 2008-09 campaign, its 10th at the Division I level.



Copyright 2009 The Sports Network
All rights reserved

 Email To Friend