By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PASCAGOULA — Once again this December, the Southern Miss men’s basketball team will host Ole Miss at The Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi.
And, on Wednesday, Golden Eagles head coach Jay Ladner will be on the Gulf Coast to promote the contest and talk about the upcoming season for his squad.
Ladner will be the featured speaker at “Eagle Up for the Lads” fundraiser at 5 p.m., at The Dorsey located at 3109 Pascagoula Street, Suite C, in downtown Pascagoula. There is no admission fee.
“The University of Southern Mississippi is the home University of the Coast,” Ladner said, in an interview from his Hattiesburg home Sunday afternoon. “We have multiple campuses across the coast and our administration have a high priority on being visible and engaged on the Coast. Our president, Joe Paul, is from Bay St Louis and of course I have spent most of my life here and love the Coast. It’s one reason we have worked hard to make sure we play a game at the Coast Coliseum each year vs Ole Miss. Our baseball team plays regularly down here as well so it’s important we have a strong imprint here”

Southern Miss is coming off a 16-16 season last year in Ladner’s fifth year at the helm. Prior to that, the previous 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 that season after finishing with just seven the season before. The 18-win swing was two shy of tying the record for the best turnaround in NCAA history.
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.

He previously served in the same capacity at 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.
Ladner was a member of the 1987 NIT championship team. Gautier native, Pascagoula High alum and longtime Jackson County resident Tommy Dorsey served as a student equipment manager on that team.

“My good friend Tommy Dorsey from Pascagoula called me a few weeks ago about coming down there,” Ladner added. “He is excited about our team and the direction of the program and wanted to get me down and I’m excited to come. The Coast is critical to our success. From what I understand we are expecting a very large crowd.”
Southern Miss will tip off the upcoming season on Nov., at home in Reed Green Coliseum against visiting Bowling Green. Some five weeks later, the Golden Eagles fly south to face off with Ole Miss for the second straight year in Biloxi at 3 p.m., on Sat., Dec. 14th.