How do you follow a coaching star? New Morehead State coach Jonathan Mattox has a plan.

Generally, a new men’s college basketball coach such as Morehead State’s Jonathan Mattox faces one of two tasks:

A.) Righting a listing ship;

B.) Keeping the good times rolling.

After the departed Preston Spradlin coached the Eagles to four straight 20-win seasons and two trips to the NCAA Tournament (2021 and 2024), there’s no question which challenge Mattox faces.

“Preston put us in position where we are highly thought of — the winningest (NCAA Division I men’s) basketball program in the state of Kentucky over the last four years,” MSU athletics director Kelly Wells says. “That’s a great thing, but it also comes with pressure. Jonny understands that. He’s not going to flinch.”

Before spending the prior two seasons on Steve Prohm’s coaching staff at Murray State, Mattox was a Morehead State aide for nine seasons, first under Sean Woods, then under Spradlin. Once Spradlin departed Morehead to become James Madison University’s coach, Mattox made ample sense as a continuity hire.

“I am going to be my own person,” Mattox says, “but I’m also not an idiot, either. A lot of what (Spradlin) did worked.”

Over the prior four seasons, Spradlin directed Morehead State to 90 combined wins. Among the commonwealth of Kentucky’s eight NCAA Division I schools, UK’s 80 victories is second behind the Eagles.

Under Spradlin, Morehead thrived with defensive grit and muscular rebounding. While going 26-9 in 2023-24, Morehead State finished seventh in NCAA Division I in rebound margin (plus-8.5); eighth in field-goal defense (39.33%) and 10th in scoring defense (63.4 points allowed a game).

“The two things we have to keep are the defensive identity and the rebounding identity,” Mattox says.

Mattox grew up just outside Athens, Georgia. After starting his own college hoops playing career at NCAA Division II Anderson University in South Carolina, Mattox transferred home to Georgia and finished playing basketball at Emmanuel University, an NAIA school.

Following his senior night game in 2011, Mattox was speaking with his parents when Emmanuel coach TJ Rosene approached.

“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Mattox says of his post-college plans. “(Rosene) came up and said to my parents, ‘If Jonathan wants to join my (coaching) staff next year, I have a spot for him. I think he’d be a really good coach.’”

Once Mattox gave coaching a try, “I loved it from day one,” he says.

After two seasons working at Emmanuel, Mattox felt the call of NCAA Division I. Through a contact, he got on the radar of Woods, the ex-Kentucky Wildcats point guard who was then Morehead’s head coach.

With no paying positions available, Morehead State brought Mattox on as a “graduate manager.” He had worked his way up to associate head coach under Spradlin before leaving two seasons ago to work for Prohm at Murray.

This spring, when Spradlin’s negotiations with JMU reached the point that it became likely the Morehead State job would open, the outgoing Eagles head man reached out to his former assistant with a heads up.

Spradlin “definitely supported me in going after and potentially getting this job,” Mattox says.

Wells has only been in place as MSU AD since last summer. However, from his tenure as the head men’s hoops coach at the University of Pikeville, Wells knew Mattox.

Going through the coaching interview process with Mattox, “His level of calmness was impressive,” Wells says. “I think he is very calm, very poised. As coaches, we’re coiled a little tighter than most people. I think the great thing that (Mattox) is, he’s a calm, focused, day-to-day guy.”

Once named Morehead State head man, Mattox says his first priority was roster retention.

James Madison has already announced that sophomore-to-be forward Eddie Ricks III will be following Spradlin from Morehead. Mattox said Friday that standout MSU guard Mark Freeman is also going to JMU.

But Mattox says six incumbent Eagles, including 7-foot former Walton-Verona standout Dieonte Miles and ex-George Rogers Clark star Jerone Morton, are staying with Morehead State.

“We’ve done well with retention,” Mattox says.

Since Mattox’s hiring, Morehead State has announced the transfer additions of Kenny White, the former Madisonville High School star who is transferring from UT Martin, and ex-South Carolina Upstate point guard Jalen Breazeale.

Mattox says Morehead State has enough other unannounced commitments that the Eagles only have one more scholarship slot to fill for 2024-25.

On Friday, Mattox peppered his conversation with quotes from a diverse pool of coaching icons, from Pat Summitt to Nick Saban to Kirby Smart to Dean Smith.

Of the challenge of keeping Morehead State men’s basketball succeeding at the high rate the Eagles have recently become accustomed to, Mattox referenced Smart, the Georgia football head man.

Even as Georgia football has become a championship-level program, “Kirby Smart said, ‘We’re not going to sit back and become the hunted. We’re still going to hunt,’” Mattox said. “… That’s my mindset coming to Morehead State. That’s my mentality. We’re not going to sit around with a target on our backs. We’re going to hunt.”

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