Rwanda National Basketball League Champions Patriots which is known for being sponsored especially by the first family of President Paul Kagame have signed American tactician Alan Major as their new head coach ahead of the upcoming inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), Sports sources confirmed Sunday to APA in Kigali.
Alan Major, veteran coach with more than 20 years of experience having coached different USA college basketball programs. is appointed to replace his compatriot Dean Murray who guided the club to their third consecutive domestic league title last October.
Major also worked as the Director of Player Development for Texas Women’s Basketball, as well as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Ohio State, Pacific, Southern Illinois and Cal Lutheran.
His palmares indicate that was instrumental in the recruitment and development of such players as Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Daequan Cook, Kosta Koufos and Evan Turner at Ohio State.
Major was at Ohio State for six seasons, assisting them to four National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NCAA) Tournament appearances, a school-record 35 wins in 2006-07, three outright Big
Ten regular-season titles and two league tournament titles.
He graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Education degree in sociology in 1992, serving as a manager for Gene Keady’s Boilermakers, including spending the 1991 and 1992 seasons as head manager. He earned his Master of Education degree in physical education from California Lutheran University in 1995.
CU/abj/APA