Ruleville native Marcus Ingram joins EMCC athletic family as assistant women’s basketball coach

SCOOBA – Ruleville native Marcus Ingram has been hired as an assistant women's basketball coach on Sharon Thompson's coaching staff at East Mississippi Community College.

Ingram joins the EMCC staff after spending last season as the director of women's basketball operations and assistant coach at Jackson State University.  During the past year at the Southwestern Athletic Conference member school, he assisted JSU head women's coach Surina Dixon in all aspects of the Lady Tigers basketball program.

"Coach Ingram is a great addition to our women's basketball program both on and off the court here at East Mississippi Community College," said Thompson, who is entering her 12^th season as EMCC's head women's basketball coach.  "He has a passion for teaching, learning and developing student-athletes, and he comes to our program with some experience at the Division I level.  At the same time, Coach Ingram has good character and integrity and is hard-working and respectful – all qualities that we represent in our program here at EMCC."

Prior to receiving his initial coaching experience at the collegiate level, Ingram previously served as the director of operations and head coach of the Memphis Eagles and Lady Eagles, an AAU boys and girls basketball program headquartered in Memphis, Tenn.  While responsible for recruiting potential players, running practices, scheduling games and the overall day-to-day operations of the organization, Ingram's teams claimed tournament championships in St. Louis, Dallas, Atlanta and Memphis during his four-year association with the AAU program.

"I am very excited about joining the East Mississippi Community College family, and I thank God for this opportunity," Ingram said.  "This tremendous opportunity enables me to further my coaching career at the collegiate level by helping Coach (Sharon) Thompson continue to build on the winning tradition here at EMCC."

While working within the Greater Memphis area, Ingram also spent six years serving primarily as head girls' basketball coach at Germantown Middle School.  Having initially doubled as both the girls' and boys' head coach in 2009 and 2010 before concentrating solely on the girls' program beginning in 2011, Ingram guided the Red Devils to a county runner-up finish, district tournament second-place showing and a second-round appearance in the state tournament during his stint as girls' coach at GMS.  Prior to that, he spent one season as the head girls' basketball coach at Appling Middle School in Bartlett.

Ingram also kept busy in the talent-laden Memphis area by organizing and hosting summer basketball camps and fundraisers.  Prior to taking the Jackson State coaching position in 2015, he gained valuable experience as an instructor while directing the Balling in the Spirit Youth Basketball Summer Camp.  For four years, he organized summer basketball camps to mentor school-aged children and enhance their basketball skills.   

Along with serving as program director and camp instructor, Ingram additionally helped host and staff the Memphis in May Mother's Day Hoop-Fest.  During the same four-year span (2012-15) as director of the AAU basketball tournament, he recruited 45-50 teams from the states of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi to compete in the annual tournament that spanned 75-100 games over a four-day stretch in five different gymnasiums.  

Having earned his bachelor's degree in history from Jackson State in 2005 following two years in secondary education at Mississippi Delta Community College, Ingram also gained work experience within the Shelby County School District as an in-school suspension teacher during his stint at Germantown Middle School.  In addition to his basketball coaching duties, he was responsible for monitoring student behavior and providing feedback to teachers concerning student performance and progress. 

The son of Martha Jones and the late George Ingram, who coached at Drew and West Tallahatchie, Ingram has one daughter, Tamara, 9.