Hempstead, NY - Hofstra University Assistant Men's Basketball Coach Speedy Claxton has been named one of the top mid-major Division I assistant coaches in the country by the Minority Coaches Association, it was announced recently. 

Claxton completed his seventh season on the Hofstra basketball staff and his sixth an assistant coach in 2019-20. 

Claxton, one of the all-time greats in the history of the Hofstra basketball program, joined the Hofstra staff after spending three seasons as a scout with the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The 2019-20 season saw Hofstra have another magical year as the Pride won 26 games and captured its second straight outright Colonial Athletic Association regular season title. Hofstra would go on to win the CAA championship and earn the program's first NCAA Tournament berth since 2001. The Pride became only the sixth team in conference history (since 1982-83) to win back-to-back outright conference regular season titles. 

Hofstra set a school record with 27 victories during the 2018-19 season and earned its first outright regular season conference title since the 2000-01 season. The Pride advanced to the CAA Championship Game and the regular season title earned Hofstra an automatic berth in the National Invitation Tournament. 

Claxton has been an important part of the turnaround that has seen the Hofstra men's basketball program win 131 games over the past six seasons and average more than 20 wins a season after Head Coach Joe Mihalich and his staff took over a program that was coming off a seven-win campaign. 

Claxton has worked with a trio of CAA Players of the Year during his time on staff, including back-to-back honors for Justin Wright-Foreman in 2017-18 and 2018-19. 

Claxton graduated in 2000 as one of only six players in school history to score 2,000 career points (2,015). He also graduated as the program's all-time leader in both assists (660) and steals (288), and was a two-time Player of the Year selection in the America East Conference (1998, 2000). He was also named the 2000 winner of the Haggerty Award, given to the top player in the Metropolitan New York area, after leading Hofstra to an America East Conference championship and its first NCAA Division I tournament berth in 23 years.

Claxton enjoyed a decade-long career in the NBA. He was a first round draft pick of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2000, and earned an NBA title as a member of the San Antonio Spurs in 2003, when he was on the floor in the fourth quarter of the decisive sixth game against the New Jersey Nets.