COACH FINALISTS INVITED FOR INTERVIEW, PRESENTATIONS

Central Wyoming College has selected two finalists to interview on campus for the men’s basketball coach position.

Shelby Lindley, who was elevated to the serve as the interim head coach of the Rustlers shortly before the basketball season began last fall, and Pat Rafferty, a former Casper College coach and now the director of basketball operations at the University of Texas-Arlington, have been selected as finalists.

The two were selected out of a pool of 89 applicants for the job.

In addition to interviews with a CWC screening committee and administrators, both candidates are invited to make public presentations. Rafferty’s is scheduled for 10:15 a.m., Thursday, April 25, and Lindley’s is set for 10 a.m. on Friday, April 26. Both presentations are in the Little Theatre, located in the CWC Student Center.

Before being named to the basketball staff at UT-Arlington, Rafferty was the head coach at Grayson College in Dennison, Texas. While at Grayson, Rafferty guided the Vikings to the NJCAA Region V Tournament six of his nine years with the program. In May of 2011, Grayson dropped its men’s and women’s basketball programs due to budget cuts.

Prior to coaching at Grayson, Rafferty was an assistant coach at the University of Louisville under legendary coach Denny Crum. Rafferty also spent two seasons as a scout for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves. His overall junior college head coaching record is 291-196, which included stints at Midland College and Casper College. Rafferty’s teams have one appearance in the NJCAA National Tournament and he has coached seven NJCAA All-Americans. Over his career he coached five athletes who played in the NBA.

Rafferty is a graduate of Buffalo High School, Northwest College and Montana State University-Billings. He was a member of the first Wyoming team ever selected to play in the Wyoming-Montana All-Star Game. His parents, Jack and Iz Rafferty, are retired teachers and reside in Buffalo. His father Jack was inducted into the Wyoming Coaches Hall of Fame in 1984.

When Lindley accepted the interim head coaching job at Central in October 2012, the 24-year-old became the youngest head coach in the country. He led the Rustlers to a 23-7 record, the best record for CWC since the intercollegiate basketball program was reinstated at Central in 2009. The Rustlers had the top defense in the north region allowing 62.4 points per game.

Under Lindley, the Rustlers compiled a team GPA of 3.2, and six sophomores graduate this spring. Lindley had two all-conference players in Armani Flannigan (second team Region IX) and Davion Pearson (third team Region IX).

Flannigan, Pearson , Ryan Thomas and Austin Hudson have been recruited by multiple colleges and universities in Texas, California, Idaho, Montana, Utah, New York and Colorado to play at the next level.

Before he was hired at CWC, Lindley spent a season at Idaho State University where he was the graduate assistant/director of basketball operations. Idaho State finished fifth in the Big Sky Conference. Lindley spent two years at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, and the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls where he worked under hall of fame coach Tim Hills, Brandon Rinta and Steve Gosar.

While coaching at Northwest Nazarene, the team compiled a 33-25 record while also recording its first NCAA postseason win in school’s history. Lindley coached the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year Paul Egwuonwu and All-League Selection Brian Barkdoll (sixth round pick Tulsa 66ers NBA Developmental League). Lindley also spent the two summers with the Idaho Select AAU program as the head coach for the U-16 team.

Lindley, originally from Wellsville, Utah and a graduate of Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum, Utah, attended Dawson Community College where he played baseball and was a Mon-Dak first team selection for pitcher and utility his sophomore year. Lindley then went on to play at Northwest Nazarene where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Recreation and Sports Management.