MSU hires new Lady Bears coach

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MSU starts search for Lady Bears coach

Missouri State University quickly hired a new Lady Bears basketball head coach.

Amaka “Mox” Agugua-Hamilton early this morning was approved for the job by the MSU Board of Governors after a national search, according to a news release. The search process began a week ago, when Lady Bears head coach Kellie Harper accepted the head women’s basketball coaching job at her alma mater, University of Tennessee.

Agugua-Hamilton, 36, becomes the first African-American female head coach for any MSU sport.

"Coach Mox has everything we were looking for in a coach," said Kyle Moats, MSU's director of athletics, in the release. "She is a player's coach, detail-oriented, disciplined, high integrity, community-oriented and is completely invested in the student-athlete — wanting to make them great people first and great basketball players second."

The Lady Bears are fresh off a Sweet 16 appearance last month in the NCAA Tournament.

Agugua-Hamilton has worked the past six seasons with Michigan State University, the last four of which she’s been associate head coach. She helped lead the Spartans to four seasons with at least 21 wins, four NCAA Tournaments, one Women's National Invitation Tournament and the regular season title for the 2014 Big Ten Conference.

She’s a 2005 graduate of Hofstra University, where she’s the field goal percentage leader and averaged 10 points and 6 rebounds in 95 games, according to the release.

At MSU, Agugua-Hamilton will earn a base salary of $240,000, with financial incentives for tournament appearances, attendance average and other benchmarks.

She’s scheduled to be introduced at a news conference this afternoon at JQH Arena, according to the release.