Jones College

Jay Ladner, who is entering his second year as head coach at Southern Miss, led Jones to the 2014 NJCAA Division I national championship – the first national title for a junior college men's basketball team from Mississippi.
 
Ladner spent the 2012-14 seasons as head coach at Jones College. The Bobcats were 17-8 in his first season, finishing second in the MACJC's South Division.
 
In 2013-14, the Bobcats set a school record for wins at 28-5 and became the lowest-seeded school to win an NJCAA basketball title in any division, as well as the first school in tournament history to win five games in five days for the title.
 
Jones stunned No. 1 seed Indian Hills (Iowa), 87-77, in the championship game on March 22 in the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas.

JCJC entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed and proceeded to beat No. 22 Highland Community College (Illinois), 81-79; No. 6 Hill College (Texas), 91-82 in overtime; No. 3 Chipola College (Florida), 86-79; and No. 2 Vincennes College (Indiana), 76-63, before beating Indian Hills.

After leaving Jones, Ladner went to Southeastern Louisiana University, leading the Lions to the 2017-18 Southland Conference regular season crown. He served as head coach at SLU for five seasons.

Under Ladner's leadership, Southeastern improved from nine wins his first year to win 12, 16 and 22 contests in succeeding years. It was the school's first 20-win season since reaching the 2005 NCAA Tournament and the third in its Division I era. 

Ladner was a member of the 1987 Southern Miss team that won the NIT. 

The Hattiesburg native who graduated from Oak Grove High School received his bachelor's degree in pre-medicine/biology, with a minor in chemistry, from Southern Miss in 1988. He received his master's degree in educational administration from Southern Miss in 1999.

He served as head coach at St. Stanislaus College in Bay St. Louis from 1991-2011, leading the Rockachaws to the 2011 MHSAA 4A state championship and a runnerup finish in 2010. He served as head coach at Oak Grove in 2011-12.
 
He was named the Mississippi Association of Coaches (MAC) Coach of the Year in 2011.

He guided St. Stanislaus to ten state tournament appearances and served as the head coach of the Mississippi team in the 2010 Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Game, leading Mississippi to a 114-88 victory.
 
He was the head coach of the South team in the 2002 North/South Mississippi All-Star Game and was an assistant coach in the 2009 Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Game.
 
He was the Biloxi Sun-Herald"South Mississippi Coach of the Year" three times and was Division Coach of the Year numerous times. He is a member of the MAC Basketball Committee and is a speaker/instructor in demand at coaching clinics across the country.
 
Ladner posted a 511-189 record in the high school ranks.
 
Ladner and his wife, Jennifer, have two children, Chelsea and Luke.