Jalen Avery

In his first season with the Seawolves, Avery took over the offense and mainly worked with the guards, leading to great success in both areas. Stony Brook's offense was its best since 2016, per KenPom offensive efficiency. From the 2021 to 2022 campaigns, the attack jumped 139 spots in the national rankings. The effective field-goal percentage jumped 152 spots and the turnover rate jumped 208.

He also guided two of the league's best guards to all-conference honors, as Tykei Greene and Anthony Roberts were both named Second Team All-Conference during the 2021-22 season. Greene improved in all areas, scoring 4.3 more points per game this season, shooting 8.3 percent better from the field and close to 13 percent better from 3-point land.

Roberts came in from St. Bonaventure and had a career year, shooting 15 percent better from the field, 15.3 percent from 3-point land and scored 11.1 more points per game under Avery's teaching.

The former Kent State guard arrived from Northwest Florida State College and East Tennessee State, where he served on each staff after graduating from the Golden Flashes in 2019.

"He is a high-character guy who had a terrific career as a player at Kent State," Ford said. "I believe he is going to be a real asset to our program through his teaching of the game and his ability to be a mentor to our players, especially our guards, where he will have a heavy involvement on a daily basis."

Avery was instrumental in creating, implementing and overseeing skill development, creating individualized skill development protocols for each player while at ETSU. He also helped in developing scouting reports and helped with video edits to send to potential recruits. After that, he jumped to Northwest Florida State, where he served as the main point of contact for recruiting.

Winner of the Walter Sage Athletic Memorial Endowed Scholarship before the 2018-19 campaign, he led the nation in assist to turnover ratio at Kent State during his junior season (5.04). He also paced the team with in assists (121) and 3-point field goal percentage (.374) on the 22-win Golden Flashes.

His 2019-20 tenure at ETSU was an exciting one, helping the Bucs to a 30-4 record and a Southern Conference Championship.