Wes Long was named the fifth head men’s basketball coach at Queens University of Charlotte on July 2, 2008. As Long enters his fifth season as head coach of the Royals in 2012-13, the program is coming off of back-to-back regular season conference championships. Long’s 2011-12 squad captured the Conference Carolinas East Division crown with a 13-3 league record, during the only year in which divisions were in play. The 2010-11 team won the program’s first conference regular season championship at Queens since 2003, before advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The first place finish achieved by the Royals last season followed a 2010-11 campaign which saw Queens jump four places in the conference standings, from fifth to first, and earn a 16-2 conference mark. That team set numerous school records on their way to a 21-8 record. The Royals reeled off a program record 13 consecutive wins between November 30, 2010 and February 5, 2011, and became the first Queens team to advance in the NCAA Tournament since the 2003 team made a run to the Elite Eight.
The achievements of Long’s third team followed a 2009-10 season filled with equally important gains, when the Royals finished 13-15 overall and placed fifth in the league standings. During his four years on the job, Long and his staff has guided the men’s basketball program from the bottom third of the league to repeat championships and a 29-5 conference record over the past two years. The Royals lead man credits the program’s success to a culture of integrity created by his staff and players.
“We have been very intentional in creating and cultivating a culture based on trust, integrity, and competition – and our young men have been good at buying in,” Long said. “Our players understand that they must trust each other and operate with integrity to an extent which breeds a collective personality based on those things. We believe it’s an authentic and successful way to teach these young men to become leaders.”
In addition to leading his team to significant achievements during the past four years, Long’s players have also collected numerous individual accomplishments. Long has recruited and coached the top two scorers in program history. 2011 graduate Reggie Hopkins completed his career as the program’s all-time leading scorer after notching 1,810 career points, and 2012 graduate Daniel Bailey finished just 30 points shy of Hopkins’ top mark. Bailey and Hopkins both earned first-team all-conference honors, while Bailey and current junior Brent Evans earned conference freshman of the year awards during their first seasons. 2013 senior Antonio Stabler garnered third-team all-conference honors last season. Long knows that the program will continue to succeed if the right young people are on board.
“We work really hard to make sure our players understand the standards, behaviors, and habits which are required of champions. I am excited that we work at an institution such as Queens which allows us to work with great young men, who have embraced servant leadership, and are representing their families and our program in the right ways. We will continue to look each other in the eye and tell the truth, have integrity as student-athletes, and be intensely competitive. If we continue to do those three things, we will have a shot to accomplish some good things and write a good story along the way.”
The 31-year old native of Mauldin, South Carolina, earned a master’s degree in business administration from Queens University of Charlotte's McColl School of Business in May 2007, and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Clemson University in May 2004. Long was a walk-on guard for the Clemson Tigers and part of one of the biggest wins in Clemson Basketball history, a 75-65 defeat of No. 1 UNC in 2001.
