Tougaloo College basketball coach Lafayette Stribling retires

TOUGALOO, Mississippi -- Dressed in one of his finest suits and saying “it’s been a good ride,” longtime basketball coach Lafayette Stribling announced his retirement from Tougaloo College inside the school’s Kroger Gymnasium Tuesday.

Stribling, who has coached for over 50 years, most coming at Mississippi Valley State University (22 years), closed the book on one of the state’s most illustrious coaching careers in a way that only he could.

He joked about the officals having it in for him and his MVSU team in 1985 when the Delta Devils took a three-point halftime lead into the locker room against then No.1 Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament, he poked fun at Tougaloo College athletic director James Coleman’s “persuading” that ultimately led him to leave MVSU for Tougaloo. He even teased a former Tougaloo basketball player for looking “like a football player,” since graduating.

More than anything, Stribling, who had heart surgery last summer, thanked those that have helped him along the way.



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