After the Juan Dixon era came to a disastrous end this past season, Coppin State University’s men’s basketball team will be led by a program legend.
The Eagles hired Larry Stewart, the star of the school’s first NCAA tournament team in 1990, as head coach, replacing Dixon — whose tenure was clouded by losing records and an ongoing catfishing scandal, who was fired in March.
Stewart, 54, was a two-time Mid-Eastern Conference player of the year in 1990 and 1991. In 1990, the Philadelphia native averaged 18.7 points and 11.2 rebounds per game as the Eagles finished 26-7 overall (15-1 MEAC) and defeated North Carolina A&T 54-50 in the conference title game to clinch their first NCAA tourney appearance.
After college, Stewart signed as a rookie free agent with the Washington Bullets and along with Virginia Union’s A.J. English, made the Bullets the last NBA team with two HBCU players on the same team. Stewart played five seasons in the NBA with the Bullets and Seattle Supersonics, averaging 7.4 points and 4 rebounds per game before spending 11 seasons in Europe playing professionally.
Stewart has been an assistant Bowie State, Morgan State and Maryland-Eastern Shore prior to taking the Coppin State position, one he considers to be his dream job.
“I bleed blue and gold,” Stewart told Jerry Bembry of Andscape late last month. “I’ve learned a lot as an assistant, and the skills I’ve picked up running a program and building relationships with players would help if I got the job.”
“It is an exciting time to welcome Larry back to his alma mater and continue the legacy of success he had as a student-athlete at Coppin,” CSU athletic director Derek Carter said in a statement. “From his time as a student-athlete to playing in the NBA and overseas, Larry has proven himself as a legend on the court, and at Coppin. He has earned the respect from his peers during his many years as an assistant coach at other institutions and I look forward to his continued success as our men’s basketball head coach.”
