Veteran coach Felton hired at CSU

Cleveland State has its new men’s basketball coach in Dennis Felton.

Felton’s hiring was announced on March 24 by CSU President Ronald M. Berkman and Director of Athletics Mike Thomas.

The 53-year-old Felton replaces Gary Waters, who retired on March 7 after 11 seasons with a 194-171 record.

“Dennis Felton has a championship pedigree and has coached and recruited at the highest level,” Thomas said. “He will be an outstanding leader for the student-athletes in our basketball program, on the court, in the classroom and in the community.”

Felton spent the last three seasons as the assistant head coach at Tulsa. He has Division I head-coaching experience at Western Kentucky (1999-2003) and Georgia (2003-09).

“I’m extremely excited to return to the head coaching ranks with this opportunity at Cleveland State University,” Felton said in a CSU news release. “Cleveland State is an outstanding university that continues to grow in stature on the national landscape. I’m eager to start working with our players to build a championship program and getting out to share my vision of how we plan to partner with the entire community to do special things at Cleveland State.”

At Western Kentucky, Felton posted a record of 100-64. He led the Hilltoppers to three straight Sun Belt Conference titles and three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

At Georgia, he was 84-91 in five-plus seasons. He led the Bulldogs to the Southeastern Conference Tournament title and NCAA Tournament in 2008, but was fired midway through the 2008-09 season.

In the years between losing the Georgia job and getting hired by Tulsa, Felton worked in the NBA as a scout for the Phoenix Suns, a summer league coach for the New Jersey Nets and as director of pro personnel for the San Antonio Spurs.

Felton will be introduced March 27.

Felton