Southern Miss announced on Wednesday night the hiring of Jay Ladner to lead the men’s basketball program.

Ladner was previously the head coach of Southeastern Louisiana University, where he finished 76-88 in five seasons. Over the course of five seasons at Southeastern, the 2017-2018 season was the most successful under his leadership. The Lions finished 22-12 and made an appearance in the NIT tournament.

Ladner was one of four candidates interviewed for the position in New Orleans, with Texas Tech assistant coach Mark Adams, former Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy and current Southern Miss assistant and former player Clarence Witherspoon also under consideration.

Ladner played for Southern Miss from 1984 to 1988 and was a member of the 1987 NIT championship team. His teammates and some coaches/managers from that year wrote a letter of support for Ladner earlier in the week.

Prior to his time at Southeastern, Ladner was the longtime coach at St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis from 1992 to 2011. He then returned to Hattiesburg and coached at Oak Grove High School from 2011 to 2012. Following that, Ladner served as the head coach at Jones County Junior College from 2012 to 2014.

Ladner will be officially introduced on Thursday, April 18 in the Trent Lott Center on the Hattiesburg campus at 10 a.m.