Kennesaw State head coach Tony Ingle is widely considered one of the most popular and engaging college basketball coaches in the country.
In 10 seasons with the Owls, Ingle has thrusted Kennesaw State from years of mediocrity into the national spotlight - capped by winning the 2003-04 Division II National Championship.
Today, Ingle has spearheaded the Black and Gold's move to Division I and in five years he has begun to make his mark in the highest level of collegiate basketball. The Owls won double-digit games in three of their four Division I re-classification seasons finished with the second-highest winning percentage of all teams who transitioned from Division II to Division I from 2003-2009.
Ingle made sure his program’s presence was felt at the Division I level as soon as their transition period ended. During the 2009-10 season, their first as a full-fledged, Division I team, Ingle led his squad to 13 wins, their fourth double-digit win total in five years in Division I, qualifying for the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in their first year of eligibility. They would go on to upset top-seeded Lipscomb in the quarterfinals, becoming the first No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 in the A-Sun Tournament in a decade.
Last season’s accomplishments are even more impressive given the fact that Coach Ingle was able to develop so many of his younger players and rely on them to get the job done. The Owls’ leading scorer, redshirt freshman Markeith Cummings, led the team in scoring at 17.4 Points Per Game, putting him third in the nation in scoring among all freshmen and fourth in the A-Sun, garnering All A-Sun Second Team and All-Freshman honors. Additionally, freshman forward LaDaris Green led the team in rebounding and was fifth in the conference (10th nationally among all freshmen), while sophomore Spencer Dixon led the team in assists and sophomore backcourt mate Kurtis Woods was second on the team in scoring.
In his brief time in the A-Sun, Ingle has quickly made a name for the Owls. He has twice finished with a .500 record in the conference and had a nine-game conference winning streak in his first year in the A-Sun.
Ingle has also developed a bevy of individual talent since arriving in the A-Sun. He has produced the A-Sun Freshman of the Year (Andre Morgan, 2005-06), two all-conference selections (Ronell Wooten, 2006-07; Markeith Cummings 2009-10), two all-freshman team selections (Kurtis Woods, 2008-09; Cummings 2009-10) and five A-Sun Players of the Week (Cummings, Jon-Michael Nickerson, Wooten, Shuan Stegall and Golden Ingle) in his brief stint in the conference.
The Owls charismatic leader has also helped to spread the Kennesaw State name throughout the country, taking the Owls to 17 different states including both Alaska and Hawaii. In Alaska, Ingle recorded his first Division I coaching victory as he defeated Lamar and their legendary head coach Billy Tubbs. The Owls led throughout he game, the second-ever Division I contest as they made a dramatic and quick rumble in the Division I ranks.
During the 2006-2007 season, Ingle reached a new pinnacle in his coaching career, earning his 200th collegiate win on November 28, 2006 against Newberry College. In the 2007-08 season, in Kennesaw State's final game of the year, Ingle recorded another landmark victory as he won his 150th game at Kennesaw State as he led the Owls past Mercer.
Ingle, entering his sixth year as coach of a Division I program, has led his Owls against some formidable opponents. Under Ingle, the Owls have played Wichita State, Kansas State, UNLV, Minnesota, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Saint Louis, Auburn, George Washington, St. Louis and Western Kentucky. Their tradition of challenging themselves against some of the most respected programs in America will continue with the 2010-11 season, as he leads the Black and Gold into battles against Iowa State, Creighton, Wyoming and once again Georgia Tech.
All told, the Owls have won 170 games in Ingle's nine years at the helm (170-142, .545), including four straight 20-win seasons from 2001-2005. Under Ingle, the Owls have enjoyed a quick rise into national prominence. In 2002-03, Ingle led the Owls into their first ever national tournament as well as guiding them to a record-setting 25-win season. The next season the Owls reached the pinnacle with a national championship, and in 2004-05, Ingle led his team to another national tournament appearance with a 25-win season.
In 2005-06, Ingle and the Owls made the leap to Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference and hit the ground running. KSU jumped out to an early 9-1 conference mark, garnering national headlines while doing so. Despite a bevy of injuries and the loss of point guard Golden Ingle, the Owls ended the year with a 12-17 record.
Ingle arrived at Kennesaw State for the 2000-01 season, taking his undermanned, over achieving team to an 11-15 record. Ingle then followed with a 20-10 season in 2001-02. The following year, Ingle's program reached new heights as his 2002-03 went 25-10, made the post-season for the first time ever and gave KSU its first-ever back-to-back 20-win seasons. Coach Ingle and his Owls swept the Peach Belt Conference post season honors, with Ingle taking home the PBC Coach of the Year award, Terrence Hill winning PBC Player of the Year honors, and Georgy Joseph garnering the Freshman of the Year award.
The winningest coach in KSU history, Ingle is the lone son of six children of Bobbie and Claude Ingle. Born in Dalton, Ga., Ingle graduated form North Whitfield High School in 1971 where he starred as a four-year player on the varsity basketball team. Named the Most Valuable Player in both his junior and senior seasons, he averaged 18.4 points, 14.1 assists and 9.4 steals per game en route to being selected to the 1971 Chattanooga Free Press First Team All-Tri State Squad.
He began his collegiate playing career at Dalton Junior College where his Roadrunners won back-to-back state and regional titles while making two trips to the national tournament. He played his final two season of college ball at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala.
Ingle began his coaching career while stile a player at Huntingdon. He coached a 10-under team while a junior in college before coaching a 14-under team as a senior. Upon graduating with a degree in Physical Education, Ingle took his first full-time coaching position at Northwest Whitfield. After coaching the JV squad and assisting the varsity, Ingle moved to Southeast High School in Dalton, Georgia. His brief two-year tenure was followed by a stint at Cherokee High School where he took a perennial doormat to the Class AAA championship game in the 1981-82 season.
In 1985, Ingle began his collegiate coaching career as he was handed the task of reintroducing a basketball program at Gordon College in Barnesville, Ga. After dropping roundball for over a decade, Ingle built the program from scratch and compiled a 61-32 record in his three years. He took Gordon to the state playoffs in each of his three seasons and led the Hilltoppers to the regional semifinals in his second season. In Ingle's final season at Gordon, he advanced them to the NJCAA Region XVII championship game.
In 1988, Ingle went to the University of Alabama-Huntsville where he inherited a team that had won just 16 games in the past three seasons. In his first and only year with the Chargers, Ingle led UAH to a 10-18 record.
The 1989-90 season saw Ingle under the spotlight of big-time college basketball, as he was named assistant coach to Roger Reid at Brigham Young University. Ingle remained at BYU for eight seasons. During that time, the Cougars played in five NCAA tournaments and had three top 32 finishes (90, 92, 93), three WAC conference regular season titles (90, 92, 93) and two WAC tournament championships (91, 92). BYU won 21 or more games in six of the eight seasons Ingle was with the Cougars and had an overall record of 157-77. Ingle is also familiar with the NBA ranks. Aside from being a scout for the Utah Jazz from 1997-99, Ingle has coached two NBA players (Shawn Bradley and Andy Toolson) as well as nearly 30 players who have played professionally overseas.
In the 1999-00 season, Ingle took a brief hiatus from coaching and parlayed his basketball background to pursue a broadcasting career, where he served as the color commentator for the broadcasts of the Mountain West Conference.
KSU basketball has become a family affair for Ingle, as Tony Jr. has served as manager for the past five season as is now the Assistant Director of Basketball Operations. Son Israel was a four-year letter-winner for the Owls before serving as a student assistant for one season. He now is the head coach for Gordon College. Golden, who enjoyed a three-year career with the Owls after playing a season at Western Kentucky, finished up his playing career for the Owls in 2006-07.
Coach Ingle is married to Jeanne and the couple, who make their home in nearby Acworth, Ga., have five children - Elliot, Sunshine, Golden, Tony, Jr., and Israel and two grandchildren , Halle and Jaiden.
