Kansas State University Athletics
Men's Basketball
Perry, Rodney
Rodney Perry
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- rperry@kstatesports.com
- Phone:
- (785) 532-6531
- Instagram:
- CoachRodPerry
Rodney Perry At A Glance
Features (click on headline for link)
Rodney Perry enters his fourth season as an assistant coach at Kansas State in 2025-26 after joining head coach Jerome Tang’s inaugural coaching staff on July 27, 2022.
Perry has been part of a coaching staff that has helped reenergize a K-State program the past 3 seasons, leading the Wildcats to 61 wins, including 28 in Big 12 play, with consecutive postseason appearances (2023 NCAA Tournament, 2024 NIT) highlighted by the run to the 2023 Elite Eight.
During their memorable first season in 2022-23, Perry helped the Wildcats to their third-highest win total (26) and a thrilling run to the Elite Eight despite being picked last in the Big 12 preseason poll after three consecutive losing seasons.
Among the 61 wins at K-State are 16 against teams ranked in the Top 25, including 7 Top 10 opponents. The 16 career Top 25 wins tie for the fourth-most in school history, while the 7 against Top 10 competition also ranks fourth all-time. Thirteen of the 16 ranked wins have come in the friendly confines of Bramlage Coliseum, where Tang is 39-9 (.813) overall, including 21-7 (.750) in Big 12 play and 13-4 (.765) against ranked foes. The 13-career home Top 25 wins are the second-most in school history.
Perry assisted in the development of a pair of All-Americans in Bob Cousy Award winner Markquis Nowell and Julius Erving Award finalist Keyontae Johnson, who were the only teammates nationally to earn All-America honors in 2022-23. They became the first duo in school history to each earn All-American recognition from The Associated Press when they were selected to the Third Team. Both were named to the All-Big 12 First Team, while Johnson was the league's Newcomer of the Year.
With Perry helping run the offense scheme, the Wildcats have posted some of the top offensive performances in school history, including setting three school single-season records in 2022-23. In addition to shattering the mark for assists (611), the team finished second in points scored (2,742), field goals made (961), 3-point field goals made (258), free throw percentage (74.8) and steals (289) in school history. The 46.1 field goal percentage tied for the seventh best in the shot clock era and the best since 2017-18. Nowell crushed the single-season marks for assists (297) and steals (92) while he and Johnson became just the second duo in school history to each tally 600 or more points in a single season.
Nowell, who was selected as the winner of the 2023 Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard, finished second nationally in assists/game (8.3 apg.), total assists (297) and total steals (92) while ranking in the top-15 in four others. He was chosen as the East Regional Most Outstanding Player after guiding the Wildcats to the Elite Eight, averaging 23.5 points, 13.5 assists and 4.0 steals in his 4-game NCAA Tournament run. His 19 assists in the win over Michigan State set both the tournament and school records.
In addition to his work with Johnson and Nowell, Dowling has helped develop four more All-Big 12 performers in Third Team selection Coleman Hawkins (2024-25) and honorable mention picks Arthur Kaluma (2023-24), David N’Guessan (2024-25) and Tylor Perry (2023-24).
Perry, along with the rest of the staff, have capitalized on the program’s excitement by helping attract some of the top transfer classes in the country. Kaluma and Perry were high-level transfer portal additions in 2023-24, which also included a top-35 high school recruiting class. He also helped continue that recruiting momentum this off-season with the additions of five Division I transfers (Abdi Bashir Jr., PJ Haggerty, Marcus Johnson, Nate Johnson, Khamari McGriff), a pair of international standouts (Andrej Kostic and Elias Rapieque), a junior college player (Stephen Osei) and a top-50 high school senior (Exavier Wilson).
In addition to their on-court success, Perry and the staff helped the team set marks for academic success, as the cumulative team GPA (2.993) as well as the Fall 2022 (2.998) and Spring 2023 (2.903) semester GPAs were the highest in program history.
A finalist for the 2022 Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Boys Coach of the Year, Perry came to K-State after spending the 2021-22 season building Link Academy in Branson, Mo., into a national powerhouse, as the Lions finished as the national runner-up at the GEICO National Tournament with a 34-2 record.
Perry also led the AAU program that he helped found – MOKAN Elite – to their third championship at the prestigious Nike Peach Jam (2016, 2019, 2022) with a 53-52 win over Team Takeover on July 24, 2022, to cap a 27-3 season. MOKAN Elite’s three championships are the most by any team in the 26-year history of the signature Nike EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) summer event held in North Augusta, S.C.
Perry’s Link Academy (34-2) and MOKAN Elite (27-3) teams went a combined 61-5 during the 2021-22 season.
Overall, Perry has 31 years of coaching experience with 18 coming on the college level, including six as the head coach at NAIA Avila University in Kansas City from 2010-16. On top of that, he is a co-founder and former head coach of two ultra-successful AAU teams in the Springfield (Mo.) Rockets (1994-2003) and MOKAN Elite (2006-16, 2018-19, 2021-22). In addition to the three Peach Jam titles with MOKAN Elite, he won the 1995 AAU National Championship with the Rockets.
Perry has served as a head coach on six different occasions at the professional, college and high school ranks in his career, including Purdy High School (2001-02) in Purdy, Mo., Miller High School (2006-07) in Miller, Mo., the Kansas City Stars ABA Basketball Club (2009-10), Avila University (2010-16), Summit Christian Academy (2018-19) in Broken Arrow, Okla., and Link Academy (2021-22).
In addition to Johnson and Nowell, Perry has had a hand in the development of several NBA players during his career, most notably Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young, the Toronto Raptors’ Ochai Agbaji, the Miami HEAT’s Alec Burks, the Denver Nuggets’ Christian Braun and Michael Porter, Jr., the Los Angeles Lakers’ Shake Milton, the Chicago Bulls’ Julian Phillips and the Boston Celtics’ Jordan Walsh.
In all, he counts 13 former players on NBA rosters.
PRIOR TO K-STATE
In his one season with Link, Perry nearly made coaching history by leading the first-year program to the GEICO national title before falling to powerhouse Montverde Academy, 60-49, in the championship game on April 2. The Lions opened the season with 26 wins in a row, spending time as the nation’s top-ranked team, before their lone regular-season loss to No. 1 Sunrise Christian, 74-65, at the Heartland Classic in Nebraska.
Link finished the regular season with a 32-1 record before defeating No. 5 Oak Hill, 81-67, and No. 8 Prolific Prep, 60-53, at GEICO Nationals, and setting up the showdown with defending champion Montverde in the championship game. The Lions finished No. 2 in the final ESPN High School Boys Basketball Top 25.
While at Link, Perry coached a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans in Julian Phillips and Jordan Walsh in 2021-22, while Phillips and Walsh were joined by Tarris Reed on the Jordan Brand Classic All-America Team for which Perry was selected as a head coach.
Perry has coached at six universities in his 15-year college coaching career, including Southwest Baptist (2002-03), Duquesne (2003-06), Western Illinois (2007-08), Avila (2010-16), Oral Roberts (2016-18) and Kansas City (2019-21).
Perry’s most recent job in college came during a two-year stint (2019-21) at Kansas City under head coach Billy Donlon. He helped the ‘Roos to their second-highest win total (16) in the last 19 seasons in 2019-20.
Perry was associate head coach at Oral Roberts for Scott Sutton and Paul Mills from 2016-18, where he helped establish the foundation for a Golden Eagle program that advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2020-21. He coached the 2016-17 Summit League Freshman of the Year Emmanuel Nzekwesi as well as the 2017-18 Transfer of the Year Austin Ruder and Sixth Man of the Year Albert Owens. He also played a part in the recruitment of Kevin Obanor, who would be named the league’s Freshman of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year in 2018-19.
From 2010-16, Perry was the head coach at Avila University, a small private NAIA program of 1,500 students in suburban Kansas City. He led the Eagles to 81 victories in six seasons, including the school’s first 20-win campaign in 15 years in 2015-16. He developed a two-time All-American in Sedrick Johnson, who was an NAIA Second Team All-American and the Heart of America Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2015-16. In all, he coached two Defensive Players of the Year (Curtis Churchman, Johnson) and 16 all-conference players.
Perry has served as recruiting coordinator twice at the Division I level, including at Duquesne (2003-06) for head coach Danny Nee and Western Illinois (2007-08) for head coach Derek Thomas. He helped sign Bryant McAllister, who ranks 10th on the Dukes’ all-time scoring list with 1,546 points, while one of his players at WIU – Ceola Clark III – was a two-time Summit League Defensive Player of the Year (2010, 2012) and a First Team All-Summit League selection (2010).
In 2006, Perry helped co-found the MOKAN Elite AAU program, which has been the home to some of the best players in the country. He was part of five trips to the Peach Jam Final Four (2012, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022), including three championships (2016, 2019, 2022), while assisting in the development of eight NBA players. He was named the 2016 Indihoops National Coach of the Year while with MOKAN.
Perry began his coaching career as an assistant coach in the Missouri high school system in 1994. He coached at Willard and Springfield Central High Schools before landing his first head coaching position at Purdy High School in Purdy, Mo., in 2001-02. He led Purdy to its best record in 10 years before accepting his first college coaching career as an assistant at Division II Southwest Baptist under head coach Jerry Kirksey in 2002-03.
In 1994, Perry started the Springfield (Mo.) Rockets AAU program, earning 1996 AAU Coach of the Year honors after leading the team to the 1995 AAU national championship. In 10 years with Perry, the Rockets developed 26 players who went on to compete at the college level.
Perry also has extensive experience with USA Basketball, serving as a court coach at the 2016 U17 World Cup training camp, 2018 Junior National Team minicamp and the 2019 U19 National Team training camp. He has coached for the USA Men’s West Team at the 2012 Nike Global Challenge and the 2015 Nike Global Challenge.
Perry was the head coach the USA Nike World Challenge Team, which won the gold medal in 2015 and a bronze medal in 2012, while he was an assistant coach on the gold-medal winning 2016 Team USA U17 and 2019 Team USA U16 World Championship teams.
Perry played collegiately at both Arkansas-Fort Smith (1989-91) and Missouri State (1991-93). He helped the Bears to a pair of postseason appearances, including the 1992 NCAA Tournament under legendary head coach Charlie Spoonhour. He served as co-captain for a MSU squad that posted a 20-11 record and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals under head coach Mark Bernsen.
A two-time member of the MVC All-Defensive Team, Perry led the team in steals in each of his two seasons at Missouri State. He was named to the Missouri Valley (MVC) All-Tournament after leading the school to its first and only postseason conference tournament title in 1992.
Perry earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Education from Missouri State in 1994.
A native of Fort Smith, Ark., Perry and wife, Leslie, have two sons, Darris and Devrin, and a daughter, Darian. The family welcomed their first grandson - Theo.
Coaching Experience
Head Coach, Miller High School, 2006-07
Co-Founder and Head Coach, MOKAN Elite, 2006-16; 2018-19; 2021-22
Assistant Coach, Western Illinois, 2007-08
Head Coach, Kansas City Stars ABA Basketball Club, 2009-10
Head Coach, Avila University, 2010-16
Associate Head Coach, Oral Roberts, 2016-18
Head Coach, Summit Christian Academy (Okla.), 2018-19
Assistant Coach, Kansas City, 2019-21
Head Coach, Link Academy (Mo.), 2021-22
Assistant Coach, Kansas State, 2022-present
Playing Experience
Arkansas-Fort Smith, 1989-91
Missouri State, 1991-93
Education
Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education, Missouri State, 2002
Personal
Hometown: Fort Smith, Ark.
Wife: Leslie
Children: Darris, Devrin, Darian
Grandson: Theo
- Has 31 years of coaching experience, including 18 coming on the college level
- Has served as a head coach on six different occasions at the professional, college, high school and AAU ranks in his career, including a six-year stint (2010-16) at NAIA Avila University in Kansas City
- Helped guide Link Academy and AAU MOKAN Elite to a combined 61-5 record in 2021-22, including a national runner-up finish by Link at GEICO Nationals and a third Peach Jam title with MOKAN
- Has had a hand in the development of a number of NBA players in his career, most notably Atlanta Hawks' superstar Trae Young, the Toronto Raptors’ Ochai Agbaji, the Miami HEAT’s Alec Burks, the Denver Nuggets’ Christian Braun and Michael Porter, Jr., the Brooklyn Nets’ Shake Milton, the Los Angeles Lakers' Julian Phillips and the Boston Celtics’ Jordan Walsh.
Features (click on headline for link)
- Link Academy: Meet the new Branson High School Basketball Power you've never heard of (Springfield News-Leader, August 10, 2021)
Rodney Perry enters his fourth season as an assistant coach at Kansas State in 2025-26 after joining head coach Jerome Tang’s inaugural coaching staff on July 27, 2022.
Perry has been part of a coaching staff that has helped reenergize a K-State program the past 3 seasons, leading the Wildcats to 61 wins, including 28 in Big 12 play, with consecutive postseason appearances (2023 NCAA Tournament, 2024 NIT) highlighted by the run to the 2023 Elite Eight.
During their memorable first season in 2022-23, Perry helped the Wildcats to their third-highest win total (26) and a thrilling run to the Elite Eight despite being picked last in the Big 12 preseason poll after three consecutive losing seasons.
Among the 61 wins at K-State are 16 against teams ranked in the Top 25, including 7 Top 10 opponents. The 16 career Top 25 wins tie for the fourth-most in school history, while the 7 against Top 10 competition also ranks fourth all-time. Thirteen of the 16 ranked wins have come in the friendly confines of Bramlage Coliseum, where Tang is 39-9 (.813) overall, including 21-7 (.750) in Big 12 play and 13-4 (.765) against ranked foes. The 13-career home Top 25 wins are the second-most in school history.
Perry assisted in the development of a pair of All-Americans in Bob Cousy Award winner Markquis Nowell and Julius Erving Award finalist Keyontae Johnson, who were the only teammates nationally to earn All-America honors in 2022-23. They became the first duo in school history to each earn All-American recognition from The Associated Press when they were selected to the Third Team. Both were named to the All-Big 12 First Team, while Johnson was the league's Newcomer of the Year.
With Perry helping run the offense scheme, the Wildcats have posted some of the top offensive performances in school history, including setting three school single-season records in 2022-23. In addition to shattering the mark for assists (611), the team finished second in points scored (2,742), field goals made (961), 3-point field goals made (258), free throw percentage (74.8) and steals (289) in school history. The 46.1 field goal percentage tied for the seventh best in the shot clock era and the best since 2017-18. Nowell crushed the single-season marks for assists (297) and steals (92) while he and Johnson became just the second duo in school history to each tally 600 or more points in a single season.
Nowell, who was selected as the winner of the 2023 Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard, finished second nationally in assists/game (8.3 apg.), total assists (297) and total steals (92) while ranking in the top-15 in four others. He was chosen as the East Regional Most Outstanding Player after guiding the Wildcats to the Elite Eight, averaging 23.5 points, 13.5 assists and 4.0 steals in his 4-game NCAA Tournament run. His 19 assists in the win over Michigan State set both the tournament and school records.
In addition to his work with Johnson and Nowell, Dowling has helped develop four more All-Big 12 performers in Third Team selection Coleman Hawkins (2024-25) and honorable mention picks Arthur Kaluma (2023-24), David N’Guessan (2024-25) and Tylor Perry (2023-24).
Perry, along with the rest of the staff, have capitalized on the program’s excitement by helping attract some of the top transfer classes in the country. Kaluma and Perry were high-level transfer portal additions in 2023-24, which also included a top-35 high school recruiting class. He also helped continue that recruiting momentum this off-season with the additions of five Division I transfers (Abdi Bashir Jr., PJ Haggerty, Marcus Johnson, Nate Johnson, Khamari McGriff), a pair of international standouts (Andrej Kostic and Elias Rapieque), a junior college player (Stephen Osei) and a top-50 high school senior (Exavier Wilson).
In addition to their on-court success, Perry and the staff helped the team set marks for academic success, as the cumulative team GPA (2.993) as well as the Fall 2022 (2.998) and Spring 2023 (2.903) semester GPAs were the highest in program history.
A finalist for the 2022 Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Boys Coach of the Year, Perry came to K-State after spending the 2021-22 season building Link Academy in Branson, Mo., into a national powerhouse, as the Lions finished as the national runner-up at the GEICO National Tournament with a 34-2 record.
Perry also led the AAU program that he helped found – MOKAN Elite – to their third championship at the prestigious Nike Peach Jam (2016, 2019, 2022) with a 53-52 win over Team Takeover on July 24, 2022, to cap a 27-3 season. MOKAN Elite’s three championships are the most by any team in the 26-year history of the signature Nike EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) summer event held in North Augusta, S.C.
Perry’s Link Academy (34-2) and MOKAN Elite (27-3) teams went a combined 61-5 during the 2021-22 season.
Overall, Perry has 31 years of coaching experience with 18 coming on the college level, including six as the head coach at NAIA Avila University in Kansas City from 2010-16. On top of that, he is a co-founder and former head coach of two ultra-successful AAU teams in the Springfield (Mo.) Rockets (1994-2003) and MOKAN Elite (2006-16, 2018-19, 2021-22). In addition to the three Peach Jam titles with MOKAN Elite, he won the 1995 AAU National Championship with the Rockets.
Perry has served as a head coach on six different occasions at the professional, college and high school ranks in his career, including Purdy High School (2001-02) in Purdy, Mo., Miller High School (2006-07) in Miller, Mo., the Kansas City Stars ABA Basketball Club (2009-10), Avila University (2010-16), Summit Christian Academy (2018-19) in Broken Arrow, Okla., and Link Academy (2021-22).
In addition to Johnson and Nowell, Perry has had a hand in the development of several NBA players during his career, most notably Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young, the Toronto Raptors’ Ochai Agbaji, the Miami HEAT’s Alec Burks, the Denver Nuggets’ Christian Braun and Michael Porter, Jr., the Los Angeles Lakers’ Shake Milton, the Chicago Bulls’ Julian Phillips and the Boston Celtics’ Jordan Walsh.
In all, he counts 13 former players on NBA rosters.
PRIOR TO K-STATE
In his one season with Link, Perry nearly made coaching history by leading the first-year program to the GEICO national title before falling to powerhouse Montverde Academy, 60-49, in the championship game on April 2. The Lions opened the season with 26 wins in a row, spending time as the nation’s top-ranked team, before their lone regular-season loss to No. 1 Sunrise Christian, 74-65, at the Heartland Classic in Nebraska.
Link finished the regular season with a 32-1 record before defeating No. 5 Oak Hill, 81-67, and No. 8 Prolific Prep, 60-53, at GEICO Nationals, and setting up the showdown with defending champion Montverde in the championship game. The Lions finished No. 2 in the final ESPN High School Boys Basketball Top 25.
While at Link, Perry coached a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans in Julian Phillips and Jordan Walsh in 2021-22, while Phillips and Walsh were joined by Tarris Reed on the Jordan Brand Classic All-America Team for which Perry was selected as a head coach.
Perry has coached at six universities in his 15-year college coaching career, including Southwest Baptist (2002-03), Duquesne (2003-06), Western Illinois (2007-08), Avila (2010-16), Oral Roberts (2016-18) and Kansas City (2019-21).
Perry’s most recent job in college came during a two-year stint (2019-21) at Kansas City under head coach Billy Donlon. He helped the ‘Roos to their second-highest win total (16) in the last 19 seasons in 2019-20.
Perry was associate head coach at Oral Roberts for Scott Sutton and Paul Mills from 2016-18, where he helped establish the foundation for a Golden Eagle program that advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2020-21. He coached the 2016-17 Summit League Freshman of the Year Emmanuel Nzekwesi as well as the 2017-18 Transfer of the Year Austin Ruder and Sixth Man of the Year Albert Owens. He also played a part in the recruitment of Kevin Obanor, who would be named the league’s Freshman of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year in 2018-19.
From 2010-16, Perry was the head coach at Avila University, a small private NAIA program of 1,500 students in suburban Kansas City. He led the Eagles to 81 victories in six seasons, including the school’s first 20-win campaign in 15 years in 2015-16. He developed a two-time All-American in Sedrick Johnson, who was an NAIA Second Team All-American and the Heart of America Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2015-16. In all, he coached two Defensive Players of the Year (Curtis Churchman, Johnson) and 16 all-conference players.
Perry has served as recruiting coordinator twice at the Division I level, including at Duquesne (2003-06) for head coach Danny Nee and Western Illinois (2007-08) for head coach Derek Thomas. He helped sign Bryant McAllister, who ranks 10th on the Dukes’ all-time scoring list with 1,546 points, while one of his players at WIU – Ceola Clark III – was a two-time Summit League Defensive Player of the Year (2010, 2012) and a First Team All-Summit League selection (2010).
In 2006, Perry helped co-found the MOKAN Elite AAU program, which has been the home to some of the best players in the country. He was part of five trips to the Peach Jam Final Four (2012, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022), including three championships (2016, 2019, 2022), while assisting in the development of eight NBA players. He was named the 2016 Indihoops National Coach of the Year while with MOKAN.
Perry began his coaching career as an assistant coach in the Missouri high school system in 1994. He coached at Willard and Springfield Central High Schools before landing his first head coaching position at Purdy High School in Purdy, Mo., in 2001-02. He led Purdy to its best record in 10 years before accepting his first college coaching career as an assistant at Division II Southwest Baptist under head coach Jerry Kirksey in 2002-03.
In 1994, Perry started the Springfield (Mo.) Rockets AAU program, earning 1996 AAU Coach of the Year honors after leading the team to the 1995 AAU national championship. In 10 years with Perry, the Rockets developed 26 players who went on to compete at the college level.
Perry also has extensive experience with USA Basketball, serving as a court coach at the 2016 U17 World Cup training camp, 2018 Junior National Team minicamp and the 2019 U19 National Team training camp. He has coached for the USA Men’s West Team at the 2012 Nike Global Challenge and the 2015 Nike Global Challenge.
Perry was the head coach the USA Nike World Challenge Team, which won the gold medal in 2015 and a bronze medal in 2012, while he was an assistant coach on the gold-medal winning 2016 Team USA U17 and 2019 Team USA U16 World Championship teams.
Perry played collegiately at both Arkansas-Fort Smith (1989-91) and Missouri State (1991-93). He helped the Bears to a pair of postseason appearances, including the 1992 NCAA Tournament under legendary head coach Charlie Spoonhour. He served as co-captain for a MSU squad that posted a 20-11 record and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals under head coach Mark Bernsen.
A two-time member of the MVC All-Defensive Team, Perry led the team in steals in each of his two seasons at Missouri State. He was named to the Missouri Valley (MVC) All-Tournament after leading the school to its first and only postseason conference tournament title in 1992.
Perry earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Education from Missouri State in 1994.
A native of Fort Smith, Ark., Perry and wife, Leslie, have two sons, Darris and Devrin, and a daughter, Darian. The family welcomed their first grandson - Theo.
Coaching Experience
Head Coach, Miller High School, 2006-07
Co-Founder and Head Coach, MOKAN Elite, 2006-16; 2018-19; 2021-22
Assistant Coach, Western Illinois, 2007-08
Head Coach, Kansas City Stars ABA Basketball Club, 2009-10
Head Coach, Avila University, 2010-16
Associate Head Coach, Oral Roberts, 2016-18
Head Coach, Summit Christian Academy (Okla.), 2018-19
Assistant Coach, Kansas City, 2019-21
Head Coach, Link Academy (Mo.), 2021-22
Assistant Coach, Kansas State, 2022-present
Playing Experience
Arkansas-Fort Smith, 1989-91
Missouri State, 1991-93
Education
Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education, Missouri State, 2002
Personal
Hometown: Fort Smith, Ark.
Wife: Leslie
Children: Darris, Devrin, Darian
Grandson: Theo
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