Lennox Forrester begins his eighth season at the helm of SIUEmen's basketball in 2014-15. At the start of the season, Forresterowns a 70-130 mark as the Cougars head coach. Forrester led SIUE to its first-ever Ohio Valley ConferenceTournament appearance in 2013-14, qualifying for the postseason asthe No.8 seed. He guided the Cougars to a 7-9 record in conferenceplay and an 11-20 finish overall. Both totals were the most forSIUE at the NCAA Division I level. For the third consecutiveseason, the Cougars posted a winning record at Vadalabene Center,finishing 9-5. Beginning with the 2010-2011 season, the Cougarshave increased their home win total for four consecutive seasons.SIUE’s best win of the season came in front of the homefaithful on Jan. 4, 2014, when it defeated eventual Ohio ValleyConference Tournament Champion Eastern Kentucky 85-79. Forresterchallenged his team early on, scheduling proven non-conferenceopponents. SIUE faced off against Saint Louis and Arkansas duringits non-conference slate, both teams were ranked within the RPI top100 at the conclusion of the season. The Cougars also faced OregonState of the PAC-12 Conference. SIUE made great strides offensively during the 2013-2014campaign. The Cougars improved their scoring average more than 10points per game, averaging 73 points per game in 2013-2014, afteraveraging 62.9 points a contest the season before. SIUE alsoconnected on 47 percent of its shots during the year, improvingtheir field goal percentage from 42.6 percent in 2012-13. SIUEagain excelled at long-range shooting under Forrester, shootingnearly 38 percent from behind the arc, the conference’s thirdmost efficient mark. Forrester’s squad also managed to defendthe three-point line quite well, allowing opponents to convert just34.5 percent of their three-point attempts. Both defending thethree-point line and shooting well from behind the three-point linehave become staples in Forrester’s game plan, in the pastthree seasons the Cougars have finished in the top five in theconference in both categories. Forrester helped foster the development of first-year pointguard Donivine Stewart, who was tabbed as a member of the OhioValley Conference All-Newcomer Team. Stewart, in his first year ofaction after transferring from Bradley, led the Cougars in scoringat 12.2 points per contest. In 2012-13 Forrester led SIUE during its first season as a fullycertified NCAA Division I program. He guided the Cougars to theirbiggest win as Division I program, when SIUE upended Murray State65-60 Feb. 14 at Vadalabene Center. The Cougars finished 9-18overall, but were 8-5 on their home floor. SIUE came within a gameof qualifying for the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. For thesecond season in a row, the Cougars were among the top five in theOVC in three-point percentage, finishing fourth at .363. SIUE alsowas fifth in the OVC in three-point field goal defense (.325).Forward Mark Yelovich finished his time at SIUE. After five seasonsunder Forrester’s tutelage, Yelovich became theprogram’s third all-time leading scorer with 1,467 points. Hebecame the first player ever to score at least 1,000 points, haveat least 500 rebounds (579) and at least 100 steals (111). In allYelovich appeared in the top seven in six different offensivecareer categories. In 2011-2012, Forrester led the Cougars to a 10-17 record. TheCougars were 7-6 at home, the first winning record at home in theDivision I era. SIUE won eight games over true Division Iopponents--the previous high was four. The Cougars earned threeroad wins after not posting a win on the road the season before.Forrester led SIUE through a full OVC schedule for the first time,guiding the Cougars to a 6-10 mark and a ninth place finish.Forrester also oversaw the continued progression of forward MarkYelovich, who earned second team honors from the Ohio ValleyConference, and the development of forward Jerome Jones, who washonored as part of the OVC's All-Newcomer team. Under Forrester'sguidance, freshman Kris Davis led the nation in three-pointpercentage (.598) while helping the Cougars lead the OVC inthree-point percentage (.397). It wasn't all offense, as SIUE wassecond in the OVC in defending the three-point line, with Cougars'opponents shooting just 32 (.315) percent from long range. SIUEalso was second in the OVC in defensive rebounds, pulling downnearly 23 (22.9) defensive rebounds per game. During the 2010-2011 season, Forrester led SIUE to its secondconsecutive tournament title as the Cougars defeated Longwood andthe Citadel to capture the IBN Las Vegas Classic crown. SIUEfinished with an overall record of 8-21, including four Division Iwins. SIUE also went 6-8 in home games during the year. All of thiscame while playing the season without Yelovich, who was injured inthe first game of the year. The Cougars were again lauded for theirsuccess off the court. The team earned its second OVC Team AcademicAchievement Award for having the highest percentage of players whowere named to the OVC's Honor Roll. Forrester guided the Cougars to three Division I wins in2009-2010. Two of those wins came as he led the Cougars to thechampionship of the Drake Hy-Vee Classic in December, where theCougars beat host Drake before downing Texas-Arlington in theChampionship game. The Cougars also enjoyed a strong showing in theclassroom, winning the OVC Team Academic Achievement Award for2009-2010. Forrester coached the Cougars to a 10-20 finish in their firstseason as a Division I program in 2009. Included in the 10 winswere three against true Division I opponents. The first win cameNovember 16, when SIUE knocked off Western Michigan 83-72 at theCharleston Classic in Charleston, SC. Forrester's team also pickedup wins at UMKC and SEMO. Forrester coached Yelovich to thesecond-best season by a freshman in school history. Yelovichfinished with 369 points. The Mt. Zion native led the team with anaverage of 13.6 a night and received Honorable Mention honors aspart of the All-Independent team. Introduced as SIUE's seventh head coach on April 9, 2007,Forrester made it quickly apparent that he had all of the toolsnecessary to provide a successful program on the court and in theclassroom. He put his mark on SIUE basketball in his first season,setting the school record for wins by a rookie head coach with 17.The Cougars' 17-11 record was good enough to qualify for the GLVC'spost-season tournament in the school's final season in theconference. Forrester immediately set his game plan into motionduring the 2007-2008 season. He led the Cougars to becoming a topdefensive team. The Cougars limited their opponents to shooting 43percent from the field, good enough for second in the conference.The Cougars were also second in the conference with their 7.96steals per game average. Within that framework, SIUE basketball wasmotivated to becoming a strong presence on the offensive end,dangerous with an inside and outside game. Forrester also coachedT.J. Gray into becoming an All-GLVC second team selection. TheChicago native was tops in the conference with his 3.78 threepointers made per game. Gray became the SIUE single-season leaderfor three pointers with 102. Before coming to SIUE, Forrester was one of the longest-tenuredassistant coaches in the Missouri Valley Conference, spending fiveseasons as an assistant coach at Bradley University from 2002-2007.His work with post players as well as perimeter players at Bradleyproved successful for the Braves. Forrester was beside BradleyCoach Jim Les when the Braves advanced to the second round of theNIT in 2007. The 2005-06 season saw the Braves advance to the NCAATournament's Sweet Sixteen. Before his time at Bradley, Forresterspent 10 seasons (1992-2002) as an assistant coach and anadministrative assistant for the University of Evansville underCoach Jim Crews. A former National Junior College All-American at ParklandCollege in 1989, Forrester transferred to Evansville to join thePurple Aces as a player. Leg injuries precluded Forrester fromplaying. Instead, he remained with the program as a studentassistant. Forrester earned a bachelor of arts in sociology at Evansvillein 1992. He has a 10-year-old daughter, Calaya. | 