BOWLING GREEN, Ky -- Western Kentucky officially named Rick Stansbury its head men's basketball coach in Monday morning.

After Stansbury and WKU officials met this weekend, both agreed to begin the journey.

A formal press conference will be held at 1 p.m. in the Jack and Jackie Harbaugh Club at Houchens-Smith Stadium to introduce Stansbury. The event is open to the public.

Former Hilltopper coach Ray Harper resigned March 17 following the suspensions of three players in freshmen Chris McNeal, Marlon Hunter and junior Fredrick Edmond.

Stansbury, 56, spent 14 seasons as head coach at Mississippi State. In his time at the helm, he won 293 games and was named the SEC Coach of the Year in 2004.

Stansbury is a graduate of Meade County High School and Campbellsville University. Before heading to Starkville, Mississippi in 1998 to begin his tenure, he was an assistant at Austin Peay.

Through 2012-2014, Stansbury took a two year break from basketball after retiring from the Bulldog program. He returned to coaching in 2014, as he joined the staff at Texas A&M as an assistant. This past season, Stansbury served as the associate head coach.

Western and Mississippi State met four times while Stansbury was head coach. He went 3-1 against the Tops, with wins in 2009, 2003 and 1999. Back in 2010, he and the Bulldogs lost 55-52 inside E.A. Diddle Arena to the Hilltoppers.

The final game Stansbury assisted in was an Aggie loss to Oklahoma in Thursday's NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen.

Stansbury is now on The Hill to lead a WKU team that recently completed a 18-16 season.

--Follow InsideHilltopperSports.com columnist Tyler Mansfield on Twitter at Twitter.com/tmansfieldwku.--