SALEM, Va. – The Roanoke College athletic department announced the promotion of Perry Ayers to Associate Head Men's Basketball Coach Wednesday.

The Maroons have had outstanding seasons in Ayers' first two years with the program as an assistant coach under head coach Clay Nunley. Roanoke is a combined 48-13 and 26-6 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in that span. RC won the ODAC title this season for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign and earned NCAA Tournament bids in each of the last two seasons.  

"I've been blessed to have outstanding assistant coaches from the very beginning of my time at Roanoke, and Coach Ayers falls right in line on that list," said Nunley. "He has an uncommon enthusiasm and energy that is contagious and has positively impacted our culture in a significant fashion to help make our players and team better. He has been a critical piece to our success since his arrival.  This appointment is a no-brainer and well-deserved."

Ayers came to Roanoke College in the spring of 2024 as an assistant coach. He had served as the graduate assistant coach at Trevecca Nazarene University (Tenn.) for two seasons, and was the Director of Basketball Operations and Head Coach for the JV team. He also was the head boys' basketball coach for the seventh and eighth grade teams the last four years at Bowling Green Junior High School.

Ayers, a 1,000-point scorer at Centre College (Ky.) earned all-conference first-team honors two times and second-team accolades twice. He was named the Southern Athletic Association Tournament MVP in 2020, leading the Colonels to the championship.