Chuck Benson Position: Associate Head Coach Experience: 2nd Year

Associate head coach Chuck Benson enters his third season with the Eagles for the 2008-2009 campaign.

Benson returned to Carson-Newman in late August 2006 15 years after graduating and making several stops in his coaching career. Prior to graduation and his start in the collegiate ranks, Benson created the Tennessee Travelers summer basketball program in 1987 and coached within the organization during his college years. Benson spent the 1990-'91 season as the head boys basketball coach at Morristown Covenant Academy in Morristown, Tennessee. The team advanced to the championship game in the TANAS State Tournament while compiling an 18-10 overall record.

Starting in the fall of 1991, Benson spent time on staff at Lincoln Memorial University ('91-'92), Carson-Newman ('92-'93), and Tennessee ('93-'96). While at Tennessee, Benson was a part of a National Invitational Tournament appearnace ('95-'96) and helped produce two Top 20 recruiting classes.

In the spring of 1996 Benson accepted the head coaching position at Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, Tennessee. Martin Methodist College was a part of the strong Transouth Athletic Conference which, at that time, included three schools (Belmont, Birmingham Southern, and Lipscomb) that would eventually become NCAA Division I schools. Prior to Benson's arrival, MMC endured ten consecutive losing seasons as well as limited palyer retention and graduation. Under Benson's direction, Martin Methodist established itself as a program of distinction on a national level.. In seven seasons, Benson led MMC to a 137-95 overall record, including a 110-55 mark his final five seasons. The program averaged 20 wins a year over Benson's last six seasons and had four consecutive seasons of 21 or more wins (23, 23, 25, and 21 wins, respectively). During this stretch, MMC earned its first of three cosecutive berths in the NAIA Naitonal Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 round in 2001 and 2002. The team was listed in the NAIA National rankings for 40 weeks between 1999-2003 and earned its highest ranking at #4 in December 2002. Four MMC players were named NAIA All-American during Benson's tenure, a first for the small rural institution with less than 500 students enrolled. Off the floor, 16 men's basketball players graduated from MMC during Benson's seven-year tenure. Benson implemented the NAIA's "Champions of Character" initiative as a way to emphasize character both on and off the court to his student-athletes. Aware of his responsibility to the institution as a whole, Benson served on one SAC's accreditation committee and was a member of the Vice President for Academic Affairs selection committee.

He returned to Tennessee for a two-year stint ('03-'05) after Buzz Peterson asked him to help bolster recruiting efforts. The Vols earned a National Invitational Tournament bid for the '03-'04 season. After a coaching change in Knoxville, Benson moved on to UNC-Charlotte for the '05-'06 season. The 49ers were a preseason Top 25 nationally ranked team and earned an NIT bid in the '05-'06 season. In April 2006, Benson accepted a position at UNC-Wilmington and served there until he received the call from head coach Dale Clayton with the opportunity to come back to Carson-Newman.

A native of Newport, Tennessee, Benson graduated from Cocke County High School in 1987 and earned a B.A. degree in History from Carson-Newman in 1991. He earned a Master's degree in Educational Curriculum and Instruction from Lincoln Memorial University in 1996. Benson and his family reside in Jefferson City.