By CURTIS ROCKWELL

BILOXI — Jay Ladner spent a successful 20-year career as the head coach at St. Stanislaus High School, including leading the Rock-A-Chaws to a state championship in 2011.
On Saturday, Ladner returns to the Mississippi Gulf Coast where he enjoyed so much success on the prep level in his current post as the head coach at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi.
Lander and his Golden Eagles host undefeated and in-state rival Ole Miss Saturday afternoon here at The Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Tip-off time is set for 1 p.m., as USM and the Rebels meet on the hardwood for the first time in 12 years.
This marks Ladner’s first time back on the coast coaching in a regular season game as a Division I head coach.

““I have to give Ole Miss credit, Chris Beard the new coach there, he saw the big picture and that it’s great for basketball in Mississippi,” Ladner said. “Both schools have great fan bases and alumni bases here on the Coast, so it’s really a win-win situation. The Coliseum is a great venue, and I don’t think there’s really any excuse not to play down here. The Coast has always been great for basketball, and for us to be able to play our arch-rival Ole Miss down here is very exciting to me.”
Ole Miss is currently 11-0 and ranked 25th in the nation, while Southern Miss is 6-5 in the same amount of games.
The Rebels are led by Alan Flanigan with 17 points per game while the Golden Eagles are led by senior guard Austin Crowley with 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists per game.
Last season was historic for Ladner and his team, after he guided the Golden Eagles to the Sun Belt regular season title in their first season in the league. He was also named NABC District 23 Coach of the Year, Joe Gottfried Sun Belt Coach of the Year and a Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year finalist. He helped Southern Miss to 25 wins last season after finishing with just seven the season before. The 18-win swing is two shy of tying the record for the best turnaround in NCAA history.
For his work, Ladner was awarded a contract extension, which will have a base salary of $400,000 per season.
Ladner, in is entering his fifth season as the head men’s basketball coach, was a member of the 1987 NIT championship team. He previously served at the helm of Southeastern Louisiana, guiding the team to the 2017-18 Southland Conference regular season title before coming back home to Mississippi. Ladner also won a National Junior College Championship as the head coach at Jones JC before moving on to Hammond, La., and SLU.