FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gary Holden, Sports Info. Director
(540) 365-4306
 
June 9, 2004
 
Shepherd Named Men’s Basketball Coach at Ferrum
Former Ferrum Assistant Helped Lead Panthers to Two League Titles
 
Ferrum, VA -- Director of Athletics Abe Naff has named Scott Shepherd as Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Ferrum College.  Shepherd recently resigned from the University of Virginia, where he spent the last five years with the Cavalier men’s basketball program as an assistant coach.
 
While at Virginia from 1999-2004, Shepherd worked with Head Coach Pete Gillen and led the Cavaliers to five straight .500 or better seasons.  Virginia’s 2001 team advanced to the NCAA Tournament, was ranked as high as #6 in the nation, and closed out the season at 20-9.  The Cavaliers reached the NIT Tournament in 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004.
 
Prior to his work at Virginia, Shepherd served as Head Coach at Hargrave Military Academy from 1994-1999.  He built one of the nation’s top prep school basketball programs, registering a 127-18 record in five years as head coach.  Fifty Hargrave players went on to sign Division I scholarships during Shepherd’s tenure.  Shepherd remains one of the youngest coaches in the country to have coached and recruited three players in the National Basketball Association.
 
Shepherd served as Assistant Coach at Ferrum from 1991-93 under then Head Coach Bill Pullen.  He helped the Panthers win back-to-back league titles in the Dixie Conference (now the USA South).  Ferrum made its first-ever NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in 1992, advancing to the second round.
 
As a prep player at Elkins High School in West Virginia, Shepherd led the state in scoring his senior year, averaging 33.0 points per game.  He went on to play a year at Fork Union Military Academy, then started three years at Robert Morris College.  He led Robert Morris to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and still holds numerous three-point shooting records.
 
Shepherd begins at Ferrum July 1st.  He replaces Ed Wills, whose contract was not renewed.  For more information, please contact the Sports Information Office at (540) 365-4306.
 
 
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