Belmont Abbey hires former Iowa basketball operations director

IOWA CITY — Former Iowa men's basketball director of operations Billy Taylor was announced Monday as Belmont Abbey's head basketball coach.

Taylor served under Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery for three seasons. He will become the Division II men's basketball program's first African-American head coach.

'With the addition of Coach Taylor to our staff, we not only have identified and successfully recruited a leader of young men with a proven track-record, we have achieved our objective of enhancing the culture within our department and the College as a whole,' said Belmont Abbey athletics director Stephen Miss in a statement. 'Billy shares our convictions, is a deeply committed teacher, mentor, and coach, and will play a pivotal and very positive role in the formation and development of the young men under his charge. We are excited to welcome Coach Taylor, his wife, Avlon, and their three children, Tamia, Gavielle, and Savion, to our ever-improving Belmont Abbey College community.'

'I am thrilled to receive the appointment as the new head men's basketball coach at Belmont Abbey College,' Taylor said in a statement. 'I want to thank Abbot Placid, President Thierfelder, Athletic Director Stephen Miss, and all the members of the search committee for selecting me as the new leader of our basketball program. Belmont Abbey has a rich tradition of basketball and academic success which I am now proud to be a part of. In my career, I have been blessed with some amazing opportunities to work with talented student-athletes and faithful administrators. I look forward to mentoring our student-athletes to be leaders on the basketball court, in the classroom, and in the community.'

Taylor was recruited by and played under Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery when McCaffery was an assistant under Digger Phelps and John MacLeod at Notre Dame. Taylor then served as an assistant with McCaffery at North Carolina-Greensboro.

As a head coach, Taylor compiled a 68-82 record in five seasons at Lehigh and was 74-99 in six seasons at Ball State. Taylor arrived in Iowa in 2013 when he replaced retiring longtime Iowa director of operations Jerry Strom.

Iowa now has an opening for a director of operations. One possible candidate is video coordinator Al Seibert, who has worked under McCaffery at Iowa the last five years. Seibert was head coach at the University of New Haven from 2005-2010 before coming to Iowa.

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com