COACH PROFILES
korey
McCRAY ASSISTANT COACH • 2nd YEAR ALMA MATER: MERCER ’01 Korey McCray begins his second season as an assistant coach at UCLA in 2012-13. Most recently, McCray helped UCLA land the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class in 2012 (as rated by ESPN.com), an incoming group which was also hailed as the No. 2 class by Scout.com and Rivals.com. During his first season with UCLA, the Bruins posted a 19-14 overall record and finished in a tie for fifth place in the Pac-12 Conference, compiling an 11-7 league record. Prior to his arrival at UCLA in the spring of 2012, McCray had been working as a skill development trainer since 2004 with some of the NBA’s biggest stars. Working with NBA athletes based in Atlanta and surrounding Georgia communities, McCray created tailor-made offseason training programs for players including Dwight Howard, John Wall, Javaris Crittenton, Anthony Morrow, Jarrett Jack, Acie Law, Von Wafer, Mario West and Damien Wilkins, among others. McCray served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Mercer University (Macon, Ga.), in 2007-08 under head coach Mark Slonaker. In 2004-05, he was an assistant coach at Chipola Junior College (Marianna, Fla.) under head coach Greg Heiar. That season, Chipola JC lost in the semifinals of the National Junior College Championships. McCray served as a graduate assistant coach at Florida State for two seasons (2003-04) under head coach Leonard Hamiton. During the 200203 season, the Seminoles advanced to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). He earned his master’s degree in adult education with a minor in higher education from Florida State in 2004. A four-year basketball letterwinner at Mercer University under head coach Mark Slonaker, McCray served as the Bears’ team captain in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Mercer in 2001 with a major in theatre arts and a minor in Christianity. In addition, McCray served various stints as the CEO and head coach of the Atlanta Celtics since 1999. The Atlanta Celtics is an AAU traveling team that his father, Karl McCray, co-founded in 1990 with Wallace Prather. The non-profit, grassroots basketball program looks to encourage children to make good decisions utilizing the team sport of basketball as a means to teach life-changing skills.
THE McCRAY FILE Education B.A. – Mercer University (2001) M.A. – Florida State University (2004) Coaching Experience Graduate Assistant, Florida State (2003-04) Assistant Coach, Chipola Junior College (2005) Assistant Coach, Mercer University (2008) Assistant Coach, UCLA (2011-present)
McCray led his 15-and-under team to a national title in 2009. During his tenure with the Atlanta Celtics, he consistently produced teams at all age levels ranked in the top 10, nationally.
UCLA’s STUDENT MANAGERS, TRAINERS
Andrew Tassinari Head Student Manager
Donovan Castro Student Manager
Dan Fitzpatrick Student Manager
Alex Frost
Student Athletic Trainer
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Joey Fuentes Student Manager
Justin Gudger Student Manager
Chase Laliotis Student Manager