Galen Young enters his second season as the Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach for the Lane College Dragons. A native son of Memphis, TN, he graduated from Hillcrest High School where he played basketball under the tutelage of Coach John Anderson. After graduation, he attended Northwest Community College in Senatobia, MS, where he led the Rangers to a sixth place finish in the NJCAA National Tournament. As a sophomore, he was named the team’s Most Valuable Player and a two-time selection for All-State. He was a NJCAA All-American and named to the All-Tournament Team.
Coach Young took his talents to UNC-Charlotte after transferring from Northwest where he would lead the 49ers to two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. During his senior season, UNC-Charlotte won the Conference USA Championship, where he was selected as the team MVP, Conference USA Tournament MVP, and was named to the All-Conference Team.
Coach Young was selected in the second round of the 1999 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. After a brief stint in the NBA, he took his talents all over the world playing professional basketball in eight different countries to include the CBA, ABA, NBDL here in the United States for a period of thirteen years. Young has been a part of two National Championships in his career. In 2007, he was with the Yakima Sunkings when they won the CBA championship, and he was selected as Player of the Year. In 2010, he was a NBL Champion with the Perth Wildcats. In 2011, Young was a Player/Coach for the East Kentucky Energy of the ABA where he led them to an ABA final four. He was named one of the ABA’s East All-Star Team Coaches for the 2011 ABA All-Star game. After retiring in 2012 with the birth of his twin sons Grayson and Ellis Young, he returned to UNC-Charlotte to complete his degree in Criminal Justice.
October of 2015 Coach Young was named to the Northwest Community College Sports Hall of Fame ranking in the top 10 in several categories, second all-time in total rebounds and free throws.
