Colby Tilley Named to High Point University Women’s Basketball Coaching Staff

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball team and head coach DeUnna Hendrix announced the addition of Colby Tilley as an assistant coach on Friday. Tilley comes to HPU with 34 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 17 as head coach at Kennesaw State.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be able to add Colby Tilley to our staff here at HPU,” Hendrix said. “He has over 30 years of coaching experience and a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the game of basketball. He has coached at a couple different levels and knows what it means to win. He is a genuinely good guy who will be a great addition to the High Point family.”

Tilley has established himself as one of the most successful and well-respected members of the women’s basketball community over the course of his career. He holds an impressive 742-328 record in 34 years as a collegiate head coach and has a sparkling .693 winning percentage for his career.

“I am very excited to become a part of the women’s basketball staff here at High Point,” Tilley said. “This is a team that is on the upswing and at the cusp of some great things. I am very happy to have the chance to be a part of it and to be able to work with Coach Hendrix and Coach Nicholls. I hope that I am able to contribute something to help make this a better program.”

Tilley is the longest-tenured and winningest women’s basketball coach in Kennesaw State history, coaching the Owls from 1995-2012. During his time at KSU, Tilley went 300-208 while also helping guide the team through the transition into Div. I. Tilley had three seasons with over 20 wins including a record of 30-2 in 1996-97. He reached the NCAA Div. II Elite Eight in 1997 and again in 1999.

After transitioning to Div. I in 2005-06, Tilley won 83 games and reached two Atlantic Sun Championship games. A skilled developer of talent, he saw at least one player earn All-Conference honors in each of the KSU’s six seasons as part of the A-Sun. Tilley coached both the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, Brittany Henderson, and the Defensive Player of the Year, Greteya Kelley, in 2008-09 and in 2011-12, he helped Taylor Mills become the first Kennesaw State player to be named the Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year.

Before his time at Kennesaw State, Tilley spent nine years as the head coach at Auburn University at Montgomery (Ala.), where he started the women’s basketball program in 1986. Tilley went 218-74 (.747) at Auburn-Montgomery and captured five Southern States Conference titles and five NAIA District 27 crowns.

Tilley’s teams made seven appearances at the NAIA National Championship tournament and in the 1993-94 season, Tilley led the Lady Senators to a 34-4 record and a Final Four showing. His last year at the helm of Auburn-Montgomery was in 1994-95 during which his team went 34-3 overall and advanced to the Elite Eight.

Tilley’s first collegiate job came at Truett-McConnell (Junior) College in Cleveland, Ga. from 1976 to 1984 where he steered the team to a 236-46 overall record (.837) in nine seasons.

Tilley had one of the best back-to-back seasons in JUCO history when he led the Lady Danes to 36-wins and a National Championship in 1979-80 and followed with a 31-win campaign during the 1980-81 season. A key player for Tilley in those two seasons was Robin Hendrix, mother of current HPU head coach DeUnna Hendrix.

Tilley was twice named the NCAA Division II Coach-of -the-Year in Georgia by the Atlanta Tip-off Club (1997, 1999) and was also given the Georgia Basketball Lifetime Achievement Award by the same organization for having at least 400 career wins.

The 1997 PBAC Coach of the Year, Tilley was selected as the District Coach of the Year four times and Regional Coach of the Year twice while at AUM; and Region Coach of the Year on six more occasions at Truett-McConnell.

In the Danettes’ national championship season, he was selected as the 1980 NJCAA National Coach of the Year. Tilley is also a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

Tilley began his coaching career in 1972 at Chatham (N.C.) Central High School, where he was an assistant football coach, head track coach and boys’ basketball coach for the freshman squad.

A native of Raleigh, N.C., Tilley received his bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State University in 1972. He went on to earn a master’s degree from Georgia Southern University in 1974 and AUM in 1988. He also received his Ed.S (education specialist) degree at Auburn-Montgomery in 1992.