DECATUR — East Central Community College named its first African-American head coach in any sport Tuesday when the board of trustees approved the hiring of Maurice Bowie as men’s head basketball coach. “I think we got a real quality young man,” said ECCC president Dr. Phil Sutphin. “I feel we’ll see our program grow and progress under coach Bowie.”

Bowie is a 1995 graduate of Morton High School where he led the Panthers to the state playoffs while averaging 22.5 points and 10 rebounds.

As a senior, he was named the division’s Player of the Year and was a first team all-state choice in Class 3A.

Bowie played for current Itawamba Community College men’s basketball coach Marty Cooper at East Central from 1995-97. As a freshman, he averaged 18 points and eight rebounds and was named first team all state. He was the team’s Most Valuable Player both seasons and was all-state and All-Region 23 as a sophomore.

Bowie recently completed his fourth year as assistant basketball coach for the men’s and women’s basketball programs at Itawamba, where his primary duties included recruiting, on the floor coaching, film exchange, and study table supervisor. In addition to his coaching duties, Bowie also taught in the Physical Education Department.

“I am very happy for him,” said Cooper. “I think (ECCC athletics director) Coach (Terry) Underwood and Dr. Sutphin made a great choice.

“You always love to see your former players do well and Maurice has really worked hard to put himself in this position. I think back to when Jennifer and I were recruiting him from Morton and we are very proud of the way he has matured as a person and coach. We will always be Maurice Bowie fans because he went to war for us every day for two years.

“He will do very well at East Central because he loves the school and the people. He will instill pride in the program. He owes a lot to the people of East Central and now he has an opportunity to pay back East Central and help new young student-athletes the way he was helped.

“He has done an outstanding job recruiting players for us at Itawamba. He has been a big part of our success.”

In addition to his on-court accolades at ECCC, he was listed with Who’s Who among college athletes and received his A.A. Degree from East Central in May of 1997. He was the student body president as a sophomore.

Bowie then played for legendary coach Wimp Sanderson at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock from 1997-2000. As a senior, he averaged 16 points and eight rebounds and was named to the Sun Belt All-Conference Team and All-Tournament Team. He received his B.S. Degree from Arkansas-Little Rock in Health Education in December of 2000.

Prior to his time at ICC, Bowie was a graduate assistant coach for long-time Alcorn State head coach Davey Whitney.

Brian Alexander was the other finalist for the job.