ROME – Shorter University head men's basketball coach Chad Warner announced several major changes on his staff on Monday morning.
 
In lieu of the recent departure of longtime assistant coaches Tyler Murray and Tyler Watkins, Warner has promoted former graduate assistant Mario Moore to the position of assistant coach and hired Keegan Bell to fill the second coaching vacancy.
 
Moore, who already has two seasons on the Hawks' staff under his belt, will take on new duties as a full time assistant.
 
Moore enjoyed a stellar playing career at Vanderbilt where he scored over 1,000 points for the SEC hoops power. Upon graduating from Vanderbilt, Moore played professionally in Poland before returning to the States to coach on the AAU circuit and direct a number of individual skills academies for prep student-athletes.
 
"It was an easy decision to promote Mario," Warner said. "He is an incredibly intelligent individual with an intense desire to be a great coach. He has been a great role model for our players and is a living example of a student-athlete achieving great success in each realm. I am thankful to have him on our staff."
 
"I am blessed and extremely excited to take on a new role as assistant coach on the men's basketball staff," said Moore. "I look forward to building on the success our basketball team has had over the past years and continuing to develop and mold young men through Christ."
 
Filling the final vacated position is Bell, a native of Huntsville, Ala., who as a collegiate student-athlete first attended Vanderbilt prior to transferring and finishing his basketball career at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, where he departed as the program's all-time assists leader.
 
After graduation, Bell played professionally in Iceland before returning home to coach one season at Shorter's Gulf South Conference rival Alabama Huntsville. Bell spent last season on the staff at Lincoln Memorial where enjoyed incredible success.
 
"I have really enjoyed getting to know Keegan," Warner said. "For us to be able to lure him here is a great coup for us. He is extremely personable and very well thought of in this business by many. I am so thankful that our players will be able to learn and grow from his experiences as a player and as a man."
 
"I am so thankful to be a part of the Shorter family," said Bell. "I feel like it is a great privilege to join Coach Warner and this successful basketball program. I am thankful to join a mission that challenges all of us to pursue excellence in all areas through Christ. I love the vision of our program and university and I look forward to contributing in any way I am asked."
 
Warner, who is entering his eighth season with the Hawks in 2014-15, has enjoyed a tenure marked by unprecedented success on the court as well as notable growth on the part of his players and assistant coaches. Murray and Watkins are the latest products of that growth, having moved on to new positions over the past couple weeks.
 
Murray, who spent six years on the sidelines with Warner at Shorter, accepted an offer to become an assistant at Division I Charleston Southern University while Watkins, who had been on the Hawks' staff for three years, is now the head boys' basketball coach at Christian Heritage High School in Dalton. Both served as vital pieces to Shorter's success over the past six seasons.
 
Both also played for Warner prior to being hired by their former coach – Murray at Division III power Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and Watkins at Shorter.
 
"I am sad to see both of my close friends move on in their careers," said Warner. "Both of these guys are great coaches, husbands and men. I am so excited for and proud of them as they move forward and write new chapters in their lives. I love them both and know they will continue to be very successful.
 
"Both Tylers poured their hearts into this program and university," Warner added. "They were a huge part of our success and it is a great compliment to the players they coached that they have both received opportunities to further their careers."
 
The Hawks open the 2014-15 season with seven straight home games beginning on November 14 when Shorter plays host to Spring Hill College at the new look Winthrop-King Centre.