Mike LaPlante
Michael McCormick LaPlante is an American college basketball coach, who coached Jacksonville State University for eight seasons. Before becoming the head men's basketball coach at JSU, LaPlante served as an assistant coach at Auburn, Maine and Yale. LaPlante also worked as a consultant to the Senegalese Basketball Federation.
Coaching career
LaPlante's first coaching opportunity was as an assistant to Dick Kuchen at Yale. While at Yale the Bulldogs set modern era records for most wins.As an assistant to Rudy Keeling at the University of Maine, LaPlante quickly established himself as an excellent recruiter and on the floor coach. During his tenure at Maine the Black Bears set school records for most wins in a season, reaching the 20 win plateau for the first time in school history. It was during this time that LaPlante established a relationship with the Senegalese Basketball Federation as a consultant that has led to his strong connection with that country's basketball development.
LaPlante served as an assistant coach to Cliff Ellis at Auburn from 1996 to 2000. While at Auburn the program set new records for most wins in a season, most wins in a two-year period, and captured the school's first Southeastern Conference basketball championship in over 40 years. LaPlante quickly established himself as one of the top recruiters in the country by helping Auburn to four Top 20 recruiting classes. He was then named head coach for the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
During his tenure at JSU LaPlante set Division I school records for most wins in a career, most wins in a season, most wins in a two-year period, and most wins in a three-year period. LaPlante was fired on March 3, 2008 after amassing a 22–84 record in road games during his eight-year tenure.