duckett_headshot

Rick Duckett

Rick Duckett, a coaching veteran with over 30 years of experience, will enter his fourth season as the Associate Head Coach at Charleston Southern in 2020-21 after coming to Charleston via an associate head role at Miami (Ohio).

Duckett's expertise and oversight of the defense helped the Bucs pull off one of the bigger wins in program history Dec. 3, 2019 a 68-60 triumph over Missouri of the SEC. In that win, the Bucs held the Tigers to just .357 from the floor and .154 mark from three-point range. CSU finished among the top-5 of the league once again and committed the fewest fouls per contest in 2019-20.

Charleston Southern’s defense ranked third in the Big South Conference in points allowed per game at 69.7 PPG during the 2018-19 season while leading the league in turnover margin at +3.44. CSU’s size and length provided the second-best shot-blocking squad in the Big South deterring 3.24 shots per contest and picking-off 7.74 steals - tops in the league.

Duckett’s defensive expertise helped a young CSU team win eight of its final 11 games in 2017-18. The Bucs’ stellar late season play was helped considerably by their ability to force turnovers. CSU led the Big South Conference in turnover margin and ranked 17th nationally in forced turnovers, causing 15.6 per game. 

Known as a strong defensive coach, Duckett’s career has included head coaching stints at Fayetteville State, Winston-Salem State and Grambling State, as well as a seven-year stop as an assistant under Dave Odom at South Carolina. He is a 1979 graduate of North Carolina, where he got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant on Dean Smith’s staff in the 1979-80 season.

In his five seasons at Miami, Duckett helped the RedHawks rank top-35 nationally in steals three times. He was also responsible for coaching Miami’s post players. Duckett arrived at Miami on John Cooper’s staff, who he helped to tremendous success at Tennessee State in 2011-12. Tennessee State captured its first winning season in 16 years and first 20-win season in 32 years, going 20-13 while advancing to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament final and earning a spot in the CIT.

As a head coach, Duckett compiled an impressive 156-98 overall record across nine seasons at Fayetteville State (1993-98), Winston-Salem State (1998-01) and Grambling State (2008-09). He posted a 73-19 mark at Winston-Salem State, earning NCAA Division II South Athletic Coach of the Year honors in 1999 and the CIAA Tournament Coaches Award in 1999 and 2000. Duckett piloted WSSU to CIAA championships in both of those campaigns.

Duckett left WSSU to join Odom’s staff at South Carolina in 2001 and remained with the Gamecocks through 2008. South Carolina advanced to the National Invitation Tournament three times in that span, highlighted by back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006.

Duckett has also served as an assistant at Jacksonville (1983-84) and Central Florida (1984-85). After completing his time as a student and graduate assistant in Chapel Hill, Duckett spent two seasons as head coach of the freshman squad at Harvard (1980-82).

Duckett holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UNC. He is married to the former Letita Miller and the couple has two children, Philip and Keigan.