Larry Joe Inman

Larry Joe Inman
Sport(s) Basketball
Current position
Title Head women's coach
Team Tennessee State University Lady Tigers
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1970-73
1973-78
1978-86
1988-2008
2010-12
2012-present
Gallatin (TN) Jr. High
Nashville Mt.Juliet HS
Middle Tennessee
Eastern Kentucky
Marion County (KY) HS
Tennessee State

Larry Joe Inman is an American college basketball coach and the current head women's coach at Tennessee State University in Nashville. The Tennessee State Lady Tigers are members of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and compete in the NCAA's Division I. In 1991, while at Eastern Kentucky, Inman became the first coach to earn the OVC Coach of the Year award at two different schools, having previously been so honored at Middle Tennessee.[1][2]

Biography

A native of Gallatin, Tennessee, Inman received his bachelors degree fropm Austin Peay State University in 1970 and his masters degree from Tennessee State in 1978. He and his wife, the former Bobbie Gene Follis of Shelbyville, Tennessee, have a son, two daughters, and five grandchildren.[3]

Coaching career

Iman began his coaching career in 1970 in his hometown, at Gallatin Junior High School, where his teams were 51-4 in his three seasons. The next five years were spent as coach of the girls team at Mount Juliet High School in Mount Juliet, Tennessee where his teams went 126-24, won three conference titles, four district and three regional championships, and the 1977 Tennessee Class AAA state tournament. [3]

Inman was then hired as the women's coach at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. His Blue Raiders teams won six regular season conference titles and four OVC tournaments in his eight seasons at MTSU. His teams played in the NCAA tournament four consecutive years, 1983–86, and Inman was named OVC Coach of the Year three times. [3]

After two years away form coaching, in 1988, Inman was named head coach of the Lady Colonels at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, a school that had had a winning season only once in eleven OVC seasons. In his third season, the Lady Colonels posted their first winning season in six years, and Inman became the first coach to be named the OVC Coach of the Year at two different institutions. During his twenty-year tenure at EKU, Inman's teams won the OVC regular season five times and the conference tournament twice, advancing to the NCAA tournament twice and the Women's NIT once, and he was named OVC Coach of the Year five times. [3]

Inman retired in 2008 but returned to coaching at Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Tennessee in 2010. [3]

The all-time winningest coach in Ohio Valley Conference women’s basketball history, Inman was elected to the OVC Hall of Fame in 2009. On April 16, 2012, Tennessee State University in Nashville, announced that, following a national search, Inman was to be their new head women's basketball coach.[3]

After upsetting SIUE and UT Martin to win the 2015 OVC Women's Basketball Tournament, Inman took his third OVC team to the NCAA Tournament.[4]

Head coaching record

Sources: [5][6]

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) (Ohio Valley Conference (OVC)) (1978–1986)
1978-79 MTSU 14-13 6-4 3rd
1979-80 MTSU 23-10 10-1 1st
1980-81 MTSU 16-13 6-3 2nd (tie)
1981-82 MTSU 20-5 9-3 1st
1982-83 MTSU 26-5 10-0 1st NCAA 2nd round
1983-84 MTSU 19-6 12-2 1st NCAA 1st round
1984-85 MTSU 23-7 13-1 1st NCAA 1st round
1985-86 MTSU 20-10 13-1 1st NCAA 2nd round
MTSU: 161-73 78-16
Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) (Ohio Valley Conference) (1988–2008)
1988-89 EKU 12-14 5-7 5th
1989-90 EKU 12-14 6-6 4th tie
1990-91 EKU 14-13 7-5 3rd
1991-92 EKU 20-9 10-4 2nd tie
1992-93 EKU 12-15 10-6 3rd tie
1993-94 EKU 17-9 12-4 2nd tie
1994-95 EKU 19-9 12-4 1st tie
1995-96 EKU 11-16 7-9 4th tie
1996-97 EKU 24-6 16-2 1st NCAA 1st round
1997-98 EKU 20-8 15-3 1st tie
1998-99 EKU 11-15 8-10 6th
1999-2000 EKU 13-15 10-8 3rd
2000-01 EKU 22-6 14-2 2nd
2001-02 EKU 23-8 13-3 1st tie WNIT 2nd round
2002-03 EKU 18-11 10-6 3rd
2003-04 EKU 15-15 9-7 5th tie
2004-05 EKU 23-8 15-1 1st NCAA 1st round
2005-06 EKU 7-20 7-13 9th
2006-07 EKU 12-18 9-11 7th tie
2007-08 EKU 14-14 9-11 6th tie
EKU: 314-244 204-118
Tennessee State University (TSU) (Ohio Valley Conference) (2012–Present)
2012-13 TSU 13–15 9–7 4th East
2013-14 TSU 12–18 9–7 t-2nd East
2014-15 TSU 18–13 12–4 3rd NCAA 1st round
TSU: 43–46 30–18
Total: 518–363

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References