Rob Pryor has been an assistant coach at Air Force for the past five seasons. DenMar photo services

Shenandoah athletic director Wayne Edwards announced Wednesday that Rob Pryor has been hired as the school's new head men's basketball coach.

Pryor, who was selected from a field of more than 250 candidates, comes to Shenandoah after serving as an assistant men's basketball coach at the United States Air Force Academy since April 2007. He is just the second full-time men's hoops coach in SU history.

Pryor takes over a Hornets squad that was 4-21 overall, 2-10 in the USA South and 0-5 against schools in the ODAC, where Shenandoah will move in 2012-13. He replaces Robert Harris, who resigned in February after posting a 125-162 overall record.

Pryor has extensive NCAA Division I coaching experience. In addition to his five years with the Falcons, Pryor was an assistant to Iowa coach Fran McCaffery for one year at Siena.

The Saints had a 20-12 record and made an appearance in the championship game of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament during Pryor's one season at the Loudonville, N.Y. school and McCaffery was named the MAAC Coach of the Year.

In 2005-06, under current Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzdelik, Pryor helped USAFA return to the NCAA Tournament as an assistant varsity and the head junior varsity coach. The Falcons had their best-ever season that year, finishing 24-7, and led the nation in scoring defense while finishing fourth in 3-point shooting percentage.

This coaching stint came at the end of a three-year period in which Pryor coached at the USAFA Preparatory School as both a volunteer and then the program's head coach. The Prep School was 74-27 in his three years there, including a 31-3 campaign in 2003-04.

His volunteer coaching experience occurred as he was teaching in the behavioral science department at the Academy. In 2004-05, he led the Prep School in his final season with that program.

"I am truly honored and extremely excited to be the new head men's basketball coach at Shenandoah University," Pryor said.  "I am very thankful to President Fitzsimmons and Dr. Edwards for giving me what I consider to be the opportunity of a lifetime.  It is a dream come true to lead a college program in a state that my family and I call home."

After graduating from the Academy in 1997 with a degree in human behavior, Pryor earned a master's degree in education with an emphasis in counseling in 1998 from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Following his schooling, he began his first Air Force assignment as a contracting officer at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

During his four-year stint at Langley, Pryor earned an M.B.A. at William & Mary before returning to the Academy in 2002.

"Rob Pryor's selection from a candidate pool of over 250, including four extremely well-qualified finalists, is indicative of the wealth of experience which he brings to this important position," Edwards said.  "His background includes academic excellence, military leadership, and teaching experience, as well as extensive basketball coaching and recruiting successes at Siena College, the U.S. Air Force Academy Prep School and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

"He has been mentored by tremendous head coaches, and is highly respected within the college/university basketball community. He was highly regarded by everyone involved with the search process at Shenandoah University. I feel confident that coach Rob Pryor will lead Shenandoah University Men's Basketball to great achievements within the coming years, and that he will serve as an outstanding role model for our student-athletes."

Pryor will have eight players that finished the 2010-11 season eligible to return next fall.

"Our players will represent Shenandoah University and our community well on and off the court," Pryor said. "We will also serve our community with pride. Through our actions, we hope to prove ourselves worthy of the tremendous support we receive from the Winchester/Frederick County community both in the present and the future.

"Our staff will be relentless on the recruiting trail.  We will bring in talented young men who want to obtain their college degrees and who fit in with ideals and values of Shenandoah University."