Coach Jeff Price is leaving the Sinclair Tartans basketball team; Price, who coached the Tartans for 17 years, has accepted an Associate Head Coach position with the University of Central Arkansas Bears.
Price amassed 307 wins during his coaching tenure for the Tartans, the most all-time at Sinclair. Now, he leaves behind his impressive resume to begin the next chapter of his career in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
“The decision [to leave] was hard, but also easy,” said Price.
Price enters a program that has been down on its luck in the postseason. The Bears went 5-19 during the 2020-21 season, including a 4-12 conference record. Price will join forces with head coach Anthony Boone, who will be entering his second season with the Bears.
Price’s list of accomplishments at Sinclair speaks for itself. He is a 2-time OCCAC Coach of the Year (2008, 2016), is 4 all-time in Dayton collegiate wins, and has coached 7 NJCAA All-Americans. Along with his 307 wins, Price also has the most home wins (177), the most road wins (127), the most conference wins (112), and 13 consecutive winning seasons.
Price also has the highest single-season winning percentage (28-3, .903) as well as the longest single-season winning streak at 21 games. He says watching his athletes grow and achieve their goals was one of the more rewarding parts of his tenure with all his accomplishments.
“We were able to help student athletes realize their dreams and that was very rewarding,” said Price.
Price has been an integral part of Sinclair athletics not only as a head coach but as an athletic director as well. His list of accomplishments is endless, but they did not happen without some help.
“We had four real top-notch coaches,” said Price. “All I did was infuse a couple of suggestions.”
As athletic director, he helped increase the coaching salaries by 50 percent and implemented student-athlete safety measures. He was awarded the OCCAC Athletic Director of the Year for the 2014-2015 season as well as the 2016-2017 season.
He also helped establish the Sinclair Athletics Hall of Fame, whose members include former Sinclair Head Baseball Coach Jim Harrison, who coached Sinclair from 1988-2002, and former Sinclair Women’s Tennis Coach Linda O’Keefe, who coached Sinclair for 18 years. She also coached the Sinclair women’s basketball team for 25 years, becoming one of the winningest coaches in Sinclair athletics history along with Price.
As Price looked back at his time at Sinclair, he was overwhelmed at the support he received.
“I can’t say enough good things about the faculty,” said Price. The former coach plans on keeping his upward momentum heading into the upcoming season for Central Arkansas.
With a coaches’ meeting scheduled for July 1, their biggest obstacle is team cohesion. With most of the returning players being experienced upper-classmen, Price and the rest of the coding staff have their sights set high.
The 2021-2022 Men’s College Basketball season is set to begin in November.
Kris Johnson
Intern