TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — A former Butler University player and coach will reportedly be the next head basketball coach at Indiana State.
Sources tell 13News' affiliate WTWO in Terre Haute that the Sycamores' interim head coach Matthew Graves will be introduced as the school's new coach on Thursday. Graves took over last week when former coach Josh Schertz took the head coaching job at Saint Louis University.
Graves scored 994 points from 1993-1998 for the Bulldogs. He was named a Butler assistant in 2000, working on the Bulldogs staff as they reached back-to-back national championship games in 2010 and 2011. Graves was named head coach of South Alabama from 2013-2018, where he compiled a 65-96 record with the Jaguars.
The Switz City native also served as an assistant coach at Evansville and Xavier before joining the Sycamores' staff.
Indiana State is coming off a 32-7 season that ended with a narrow 79-77 loss to Seton Hall in the NIT final at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The NIT run came after many believed the Sycamores were wrongfully snubbed for an NCAA Tournament bid.
But replicating this year's success could be a tall task for the new coach. According to our partners at the Tribune-Star, nine members of the 2023-24 Indiana State roster have entered the NCAA transfer portal, including all five starters.
The newspaper reports Robbie Avila, Ryan Conwell, Julian Larry, Jayson Kent, Isaiah Swope, Masen Miller, Aaron Gray, Eli Shetlar and Augustinas Kiudulas are all in the portal, though the players could opt to return to Indiana State.