Lindsey Hunter is coming residence — once more. The previous Detroit Pistons guard and two-time NBA champion has been named the brand new head coach of Michigan’s Sparta Excessive College boys basketball program. It’s a full-circle second for an HBCU legend, NBA veteran, and proud mentor returning to his NBA roots within the Nice Lakes State. He’ll deliver a legacy stretching from Jackson State to the Palace of Auburn Hills.
SWAC Roots
Hunter, a Mississippi native and HBCU star, made his title at Jackson State College. There, he torched Southwestern Athletic Convention (SWAC) opponents. He started his collegiate profession at Alcorn State, incomes SWAC Freshman of the 12 months honors in 1989. Hunter transferred to Jackson State and by no means appeared again. He averaged 26.7 factors per sport as a senior, incomes SWAC Participant of the 12 months in 1993. That very same 12 months, he led JSU to an NIT upset over UConn. Resulting in him being chosen tenth general by the Detroit Pistons within the NBA Draft.
Detroit turned his second residence — and now it’s his teaching battleground.
Hunter spent 12 of his 17 NBA seasons with the Pistons, incomes a popularity as one of many league’s hardest on-ball defenders. A gritty, tenacious guard, he helped anchor the Pistons’ defensive identification throughout their early-2000s championship run, incomes his second ring in 2004 when Detroit shocked the star-studded Los Angeles Lakers within the NBA Finals. Mockingly, Hunter additionally earned his first ring with the Lakers in 2002 — a uncommon feat of being a champion on each side of that iconic rivalry.
However for all the intense lights of the NBA, Hunter has all the time had a coronary heart for mentoring.
Pure Mentor
After taking part in, Hunter transitioned into teaching, together with stints with the Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, and Phoenix Suns. He served as interim head coach of the Suns throughout the 2012–13 season. In 2019, he returned to his HBCU roots, changing into head coach at Mississippi Valley State College (MVSU). He led MVSU for 3 seasons and helped rebuild this system’s basis with the identical toughness he introduced as a participant.
Now, he’s bringing that HBCU pedigree and NBA grind to the highschool hardwood in Sparta, Michigan—a city simply exterior Grand Rapids.
His connection to Michigan runs deep. His son, Lindsey Hunter IV, was a standout guard at Southfield Christian College close to Detroit. The youthful Hunter gained three state championships earlier than faculty. And much more not too long ago, Hunter helped launch a youth basketball initiative by his basis after assembly Griffin Gullekson, a Sparta pupil battling most cancers. Moved by the teenager’s resilience, Hunter helped create a program by the Lindsey Hunter Basis that helps younger athletes going through sickness or adversity.
For Sparta Excessive College, bringing in Hunter isn’t only a flashy rent — it’s a cultural second. Right here’s a coach who’s performed with Corridor of Famers, coached at each degree, and dominated the HBCU panorama. He’s bringing all of that to a small-town crew with massive desires.
The Pistons devoted know Lindsey Hunter because the dogged defender who by no means backed down. The HBCU group is aware of him as certainly one of their biggest guards and a proud standard-bearer of SWAC excellence. A brand new era of Michigan ballers will now know him as Coach Hunter.
