CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois head men's basketball coach Jay Spoonhour has announced the hiring of Rand Chappell as an assistant coach on the Panthers men's basketball staff.  Chappell replaces Bob Sundvold who accepted the head coaching position at NCAA Division II Missouri-St. Louis last week.

Chappell has ties to the Spoonhour family going back to his playing days at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State) where he played for Charlie Spoonhour and was later an assistant coach for the Bears.

Chappell comes to EIU following a one-year stint as the head coach at Garden City Community College, a member of the Kansas Jayhawk Conference.  Prior to that Chappell was the head coach at Central Arkansas guiding the program from the NCAA Division II ranks to its current NCAA Division I status.  Chappell posted 104 wins with the program between 2003-10 including taking UCA to its first NCAA Division II Tournament appearance in 2005.

"We are really excited to have Rand.  He and I have known each other for a long time,” said Spoonhour.  “He's had success at every stop of his career and his 17 years of head coaching experience will be invaluable to us."

Chappell was the head coach at Henderson State for five seasons leading the team to four Gulf South Conference Tournament Championships and five straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances.  He was the head coach at Phillips University (NAIA) from 1996-98.  At Phillips he won 78 games in three years leading the school to two NAIA National Tournament appearances while being ranked number one in the nation during 1998 season.  Chappell's first head coaching stop was at Labette Community College where he won 45 games in two seasons reaching the NJCAA Region VI Tournament both seasons.

Chappell holds both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Missouri State.  During his coaching career as both a head coach and assistant coach, Chappell has been to ten NCAA Tournaments and two NAIA National Tournaments.