By: Mark Wasik
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Kennesaw State Department of Athletics will induct five new members into its Hall of Fame this fall at a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 7 at the Convocation Center on the Kennesaw State campus. The inductees will also be recognized during the Saturday, Oct. 8 KSU football contest against North Alabama at Fifth Third Bank Stadium.
KSUOwls.com will profile each inductee leading up to the ceremony, and we continue today with men's basketball head coach Tony Ingle.
Hall of Fame Page | Nabil Hamid profile (July 27) |
Rob King profile (August 10)
Hall of Fame Ceremony Tickets | Hall of Fame Football Tickets vs N. Alabama
KENNESAW, Ga. – Our third of five new members that will be inducted into the Kennesaw State Athletics Hall of Fame this fall is the second of this year's class to have brought a national championship title home to Kennesaw, as former KSU men's basketball coach, the late Tony Ingle, will be officially inducted at this year's ceremony on Oct. 7.
Ingle, who passed away on Jan. 18, 2021, is the winningest head coach in program history with a 178-166 overall record in his 11 years with the Black & Gold. While he will always be remembered by Owl fans for leading Kennesaw State to the 2004 NCAA Division II championship, that was far from his only noteworthy accomplishments. Ingle not only helped the Owls make the transition to Division I play, KSU saw success and posted .500 records in conference play in the ASUN in both of its first two years as a Division I program, including what remains as a program-best (Division I history) 10-10 conference mark in 2005-06. Ingle and KSU owned the honor of the second-highest winning percentage of teams who transitioned from Division II to Division I from 2003-2009, a testament to his ability to transform KSU into a contender at the highest level.
Under Ingle, the Owls produced ASUN Freshman of the Year Andre Morgan (2005-2006), two All-ASUN selections (Ronell Wooten, 2006-2007 and Markeith Cummings, 2009-2010), two ASUN All-Freshman team selections (Kurtis Woods, 2008-2009; Markeith Cummings, 2009-2010), and five ASUN Players of the Week (Markeith Cummings, Jon-Michael Nickerson, Ronell Wooten, Shuan Stegall, and Golden Ingle). In 2010, he guided KSU to its first-ever appearance in the ASUN Tournament semifinals after an upset of top-seed Lipscomb in the quarterfinals.
His many coaching recognitions included being named NCAA Division II Coach of the Year in 2003-04 following the national championship season, and 2002-03 Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year. Under Ingle, the Owls claimed their only conference title in school history, taking the 2004 Peach Belt Conference championship thanks to a 72-70 victory over Columbus State.
After leaving KSU, Ingle returned to his hometown of Dalton and became the first head men's basketball coach for Dalton State. Ingle compiled a 134-33 record in his five seasons with the Roadrunners, including a 2015 NAIA National Championship title.
He is the only coach in Georgia history to be named Coach of the Year at the high school, junior college and collegiate levels. After 44 years of coaching, numerous awards and accolades, two national championships and countless lives touched and mentored, Ingle retired in 2018.
Since 2017, Ingle took a leadership position as a bishop at the Dalton Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although retired from coaching, he continued to take an active role as a leader from the podium of his church as well as a public speaker.
Ingle's coaching career began once his playing career ended, as upon graduating from Huntingdon College, he went on to coach at high schools Northwest Whitfield, Southeast High School and Cherokee High School. At that last stop, he led Cherokee to a Class AAA Championship in 1981-82.
In 1985 he began his collegiate coaching career by reintroducing the basketball program at Gordon College and compiled a 61-32 record over his three seasons. He led the Hilltoppers to the state playoffs all three years, reaching the NJCAA Region XVII championship game his final season. From there he moved on to the University of Alabama-Huntsville for one season before stepping into the big leagues as an assistant to Roger Reid at BYU.
Ingle coached at BYU for eight seasons, helping the Cougars reach five NCAA Tournaments while garnering three WAC regular season titles and two tournament championships. In the midst of his final season with the Cougars, Ingle was handed the head coaching reins for the rest of that year.
After three years removed from coaching, he received the call up from former Kennesaw State Director of Athletics Dr. Waples. "When he arrived, he said he was going to win a National Championship for us in five years and I'll be darned he won it in four years," Dr. Waples recollected after Ingle's passing. "That run was absolutely amazing. He was one of a kind. He was driven, a great person to be around and has a wonderful family. I can't stress enough how much we are going to miss him."
Ingle took over a middling Division II KSU squad in 2000 and hit the ground running, recording 20 wins and a runner-up finish in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament in his second season. The following year, he added another 20-plus win season, another runner-up finish and KSU's first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Finally, in his fourth year he led the Owls to a 35-4 record, a perfect conference season and a DII NCAA National Championship, Georgia's only NCAA national men's basketball championship at any level.
