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| Southwestern athletics photo |
Southwestern athletic director Glada Munt announced Wednesday that Bill Raleigh will step down as head men's basketball coach to assume the role of assistant athletic director full-time effective immediately. He will also continue his roles as chair of the exercise and sports studies and fitness and recreational activities programs.
Raleigh has served as the assistant athletic director in a part-time capacity for 9 years and was promoted to the chair of exercise & sports science department in 2012.
"I am very appreciative to President Burger, Vice-President for Student Life Jerry Brody and Director of Athletics Dr. Glada Munt for the opportunity to move full time into athletic administration and for the support and confidence they have shown me over the last 15 years," said Raleigh. "Although I will miss coaching and the relationships with the student-athletes on that level, I am excited about the challenge of administration and am looking forward to this new chapter in my career."
For 15 years Raleigh guided the Pirates on the basketball court and built the team into a tough, competitive ball club that finished as high as third in the SCAC in his tenure. He compiled a 192-199 mark in his 15 seasons. In 2004-05, Raleigh led the Pirates to their best record ever, 20-7 overall and 11-3 in the SCAC, earning a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the first time in school history. He captured his second career SCAC Coach of the Year honor and had the SCAC Player of the Year in Aaron Bowser.
| Coach Profile | Janson Hightower, Southwestern |
| Alma mater | Hendrix, 2010 |
| Experience | Assistant coach at Southwestern (two seasons), graduate assistant at Central Arkansas (two seasons) |
| Replaces | Bill Raleigh (192-199, 15 seasons at Southwestern; 215-215), 18 seasons overall) |
Raleigh produced 34 All-SCAC selections during his tenure and coached two 1,000 point scorers. The Pirates have finished in third place in the SCAC twice (2004-05 and 2005-06) under Raleigh and advanced to the SCAC tournament championship game in 2009.
Assistant coach Janson Hightower has been promoted to head coach of the men's basketball team. "I am very proud to hand the program off to Coach Hightower who will do an excellent job of taking the program to the next level," said Raleigh. He is a very good young coach who has been a major contributor to the program over the last couple of years as an assistant and is definitely ready to excel as a college basketball head coach."
A 1988 graduate of Muhlenberg in business administration, Raleigh earned his juris doctor degree from Seton Hall's School of Law.
Raleigh came to Southwestern after spending three years as the head men's basketball coach and head golf coach at the University of Dallas (1996-1999). Before his first head coaching position he was an assistant coach at Randolph-Macon and at Washington & Lee.
"This is an exciting time in athletics with over 475 student-athletes and the recent additions of football and women's lacrosse. I am looking forward to the challenge of helping our coaches and student-athletes achieve greatness in all that we do."