Former NBA standout Monta Ellis, who played in the league for more than a decade without playing college basketball, will serve as general manager at Alcorn State this season, the school announced Friday.
Alcorn State, an HBCU that finished 9-23 last year, is near the home of the Mississippi native who starred at Lanier High School in Jackson, Mississippi, before the Golden State Warriors selected him with the 40th pick in the 2005 NBA draft.
Since leaving the NBA, Ellis said he has focused on his family including guiding his son, Monta Ellis Jr., a 2028 recruit with multiple Division I offers. Ellis said the opportunity to help one of Mississippi's historically Black colleges and universities will also enable him to give back to a community he loves.
"Well, this opportunity came to me. Coach Jake Morton reached out and said they were thinking of this idea of me being a general manager. And I was shocked about it at first, but then as I thought about it, I was like, 'This would be a great opportunity for a lot of kids that would be left out,'" he said. "I have an opportunity to give to some kids that never felt like they had an opportunity to play Division I or go to a college. I have the ability to make that happen being a GM of Alcorn State.
"And I've been coaching and training kids for the last 10 years, and I've seen a lot of kids that could play and didn't get scholarships. I just think it's an opportunity for kids like that and also to give back to the state of Mississippi, trying to bring a lot of in-state kids to keep them at home versus letting them go out of state and to other colleges."
E. D'Wayne Robinson, Alcorn State's athletic director, said Ellis gives the school credibility with future recruits.
"It's almost like an endorsement from someone that endorses a brand product," Robinson said. "There are certain people out there that it raises the level of respect for that product. And with Monta having the type of gravitas that he has from being a player -- he's been a good guy over the years -- the program benefits from his brand. The program benefits from his conversations with other brands. The program benefits from his conversations with other potential student athletes for our program. The program benefits from other folks who may want to support Alcorn State University Athletics because Monta Ellis has said, 'Hey, I'm here supporting Alcorn State University as a person and with my brand.'"
Ellis, who earned Most Improved Player during the 2006-07 season, played with Steph Curry before he became the superstar who led the Warriors to multiple NBA titles and changed the franchise. Ellis was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2012 for Andrew Bogut, who won a championship with Curry and Golden State three years later.