Millsaps College - After thirteen years at Millsaps College and nineteen years in the coaching profession, John Stroud announced his retirement Tuesday morning and has resigned as the Majors' head men's basketball coach. Stroud leaves Millsaps to pursue opportunities in private business.
"We are very sorry to see Coach Stroud leave," said Millsaps' Athletic Director Ron Jurney. "Not only were his teams well coached, but also they represented Millsaps in a first class manner. We wish him the very best as he embarks on a new career path."
Added Millsaps' President Frances Lucas-Tauchar, "John has given Millsaps College thirteen years of superior leadership and coaching. He is also a personal role model, which is the ultimate form of teaching, and he will be greatly missed."
Stroud began his illustrious career at Millsaps in 1990. During his thirteen-year tenure, Stroud guided his teams to three Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championships and led the Majors to three NCAA tournament appearances. The two-time SCAC Coach of the Year and the all-time wins leader at Millsaps, Stroud compiled a record of 204-131, reaching the 200-victory plateau this season in a 71-48 triumph over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on January 31, 2003. Suffering only two losing seasons while at Millsaps, Stroud posted seven seasons of at least sixteen wins, including three campaigns of twenty wins or more. Stroud's best year came in 1994-1995 as he led the Majors to a 25-3 mark, an SCAC title, and a trip to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16.
"I've enjoyed my thirteen years at Millsaps," said Stroud after he met with his team at a morning meeting. "Millsaps is a superb institution with outstanding student-athletes. It has been my privilege to coach basketball at Millsaps and to teach the game to talented men. The experiences here have been wonderful, and the relationships I have developed are very dear to me."
Stroud came to prominence in the basketball arena as a standout player at the University of Mississippi in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was an All-American selection during his senior year after leading the Southeastern Conference in scoring during both his junior and senior seasons. Stroud finished his career as the Rebels' all-time leading scorer and was inducted into the Ole Miss Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.
Following his senior year at Ole Miss, Stroud was the top choice of the Houston Rockets in the 1980 NBA draft. He played with the Rockets from 1980-1982 and was a member of the 1981 team that lost to the Philadelphia 76er's in the NBA Finals. Stroud played the 1982-83 season in Europe with Caja De Rhonda, located in Malaga, Spain.
After a three year professional career, Stroud entered the coaching profession in 1984 as a graduate assistant at the University of Alabama. In 1985, he became the head basketball coach at W.P. Daniel High School in New Albany, Mississippi, where he won two state championships and compiled a 71-24 record in three years.
In 1988, Stroud accepted the head coaching position at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, Mississippi. Making an immediate impact in Scooba, Stroud led EMCC to its first-ever state tournament appearance and its first regional tournament appearance in 25 years. In his two seasons at EMCC, Stroud compiled a 30-30 record and was named the Mississippi Junior College Coach of the Year following the 1989-90 season before assuming the reins of the Millsaps' basketball program the following year.
A search for a new head coach will begin immediately
