Morehead St. Head Basketball Coach Preston Spradlin resigned his position on Friday to become the next head coach at James Madison University.
Spradlin replaces Mark Byington who left the Dukes to become the head coach at Vanderbilt. Byington led James Madison to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament before departing.
"My family and I are extremely excited for the opportunity to lead the JMU program and take over during a monumental time for the University!" Spradlin said. "Throughout this process it was of the utmost importance that we not only found a great basketball program but also a caring community that we can embrace and continue to raise our family. We are looking forward to connecting with the many supporters of JMU Athletics and partnering together to compete for future championships! Go Dukes!"
"Preston stood out at the top of our list as we researched candidates based upon the resume that he's built at a very young age as a head coach," JMU Director of Athletics Jeff Bourne said. "Once we met with him, it was even more evident that he's the total package in a head coach. The results speak for themselves, but beyond the results we found a genuine and authentic coach and teacher who cares about his student-athletes, about his institution and the community. Given our recent success at James Madison, our facility, our resources and the enthusiasm of our fanbase, we believe Preston is the right coach to build something truly special in Harrisonburg."
"We absolutely want to thank Coach Spradlin for raising the prominence of our men's basketball program to championship level and wish nothing but the best for his family and him as they move forward," said Director of Athletics Kelly Wells. "Preston and his staff engaged and excited the community and created a winning culture on and off the court, developing our young men into servant leaders. Our goal with our next head coach and staff is to maintain that level of excellence in our program and build upon our recent success so that Morehead State men's basketball remains the premier program in our conference and competes year in and year out for championships."
Spradlin was the interim coach in 2016-'17 after Sean Woods stepped down in December of that season. He led the Eagles to a 12-and-9 record the rest of the way and a second place finish in the East Division of the Ohio Valley Conference. Spradlin was then named the full-time head coach starting in the 2017-'18 season.
Spradlin led the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament in two of the last four seasons and they went to the NIT in 2023. He posted four consecutive 20+ win seasons for the first time in program history, including a school record 26 victories. Spradlin finishes his time as the third winningest men's basketball head coach in Morehead State history.
