Lincoln Memorial Names Roger Hodge Head Women’s Basketball Coach

HARROGATE, Tenn.he Lincoln Memorial University athletics department officials announced Monday afternoon the hiring of Roger Hodge as the University's new Head Women's Basketball Coach.

Hodge comes to the Lady Railsplitter program from NCAA Division I East Carolina University where he has served as assistant since 2008. He is the fourth person to be named head coach of the storied program since Lincoln Memorial University joined the NCAA in the early 1990's.

"Coach Hodge is a proven winner who has been very successful every place he has been," said LMU Athletics Director Roger Vannoy. "Not only will he win and win big here, he will also provide our student-athletes with a family type atmosphere and an experience that they will treasure for the rest of their lives."

Before moving to East Carolina University as an assistant coach, Hodge served as head coach at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia from 2000-2008.

Throughout his tenure at AASU, his teams achieved six winning seasons, including three 20-win campaigns, one Peach Belt Conference regular season championship, one Peach Belt Conference Tournament title, two NCAA Tournament appearances, one Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year award and one NCAA South Atlantic Region Coach of the Year honor.

Prior to his collegiate coaching career at Armstrong Atlantic, Hodge was Head Coach at NCAA Division I Liberty University from 1997-2000 where his teams won three Big South Conference regular season titles, three Big South Conference Tournament championships and made in one NCAA Division I tournament appearance.

Coach Hodge began his coaching career on the high school level in West Virginia where he served as assistant women's basketball coach at Summers County High School in 1997 while taking his team to the Class AA final four, Mercer Christian Academy in 1996 where he helped his team become West Virginia Class A State Champions and Hinton High School where his teams captured West Virginia Class AA state titles in 1988, 1992 and 1994, and were West Virginia Class AA State-Runners-up in 1989 and competed in the Class AA final four in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1997.

Coach Hodge brings to the Lady Railsplitter program a wealth of coaching experience that consists of a 250-135 overall record as both an assistant and a head coach, includes five NCAA Tournament appearances, four conference tournament championships, four conference regular season titles and four high school state championship titles.

"I am very thankful for the opportunity to serve as head women's basketball coach at Lincoln Memorial University," said Hodge. "God has truly blessed me beyond measure. From the moment I arrived on campus, I knew that I wanted my family to be part of this environment. I appreciate Coach Vannoy entrusting me with the leadership of the University's basketball program. He is a class act and there is no doubting his commitment to the success of women's basketball and other Railsplitter athletics programs. I feel honored to have the chance to work with him as well as the rest of the athletics department. I also want to thank the search committee for spending time meeting with me. They were an impressive group and have a tremendous vision for the future of Lincoln Memorial University athletics."

Coach Hodge takes over a Lady Railsplitter basketball program that finished the 2010-11 season with a 10-16 overall record and a 5-13 conference mark while finishing 9th in the South Atlantic Conference regular season standings.

"I cannot wait to get started with the job of rebuilding LMU women's basketball," says Hodge. "My assistant Matt Acton and I will work our hardest to give Railsplitter athletics, Lincoln Memorial University and Harrogate, Tennessee a women's basketball program of which they can be proud of."

Coach Hodge will officially meet with the returning members of the Lady Railsplitter basketball team Monday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Although the school year is nearly over, he and his coaching staff are expected to introduce and distribute off-season individual workout programs for the summer to those returning members, as well as to continue scouring the country for the missing pieces to next year's LMU women's basketball team.