Jason Conner enters his third season at Central Arkansas, bringing 30 years of collegiate coaching experience to the Sugar Bear bench.
Conner, who serves as the Sugar Bears' recruiting coordinator, came to Conway with 15 seasons as a head coach under his belt – having served as women's head coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast and Southern-New Orleans; and men's head coach at Delta State and Belhaven.
"I'm so happy that Jason has joined our staff," said Central Arkansas head coach Sandra Rushing. "I've had the privilege of working with Jason in different capacities. He has over 30 years of coaching experience, and his passion and knowledge will be a great asset to our program. He's a tremendous person and is willing to put in the extra time needed to help us continue our success."
Conner and Rushing have experience working together – with Rushing hiring Conner as an assistant at UTEP in 1990 and then later working alongside each other at Delta State where she was head coach of the women's program while Conner was an assistant and later head coach of the men's program.
In all, Conner spent 13 years at Delta State – the first seven as an assistant before a six-year run as head coach where he became the fastest to reach 75 wins in program history and had nationally-ranked teams in three seasons, including the 2008-09 team that earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to joining Rushing at Central Arkansas, Conner spent a season as head coach at Southern-New Orleans following a three-year stint as head coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast.
He began his career as a student assistant for the men's and women's programs as a student assistant at Belhaven from 1985-87. He went on to serve as graduate assistant for the Delta State men's program before joining Rushing at UTEP in 1990.
In 1993 he returned to Belhaven for his first head coaching job with the men's program, also coaching the golf team. In 1997, he joined the women's staff at Houston as an assistant before spending a season in the same role at South Alabama. He returned to Delta State in 1999 as a men's assistant before assuming head coaching duties in 2006.
