St. Joe's University Names Philadelphia 76ers Assistant Coach Billy Lange As Men's Basketball Head Coach

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - St. Joe's has officially named Billy Lange its new head coach. The Haddon Heights, New Jersey native has been an instrumental leader in the 76ers' recent success as the team's assistant coach.

Lange, 47, was previously the associate head coach at Villanova University under Jay Wright and, before that, the head coach of the U.S. Naval Academy, leading the Midshipmen to their first winning season in seven years (2007-2008).

"Our goal was to find a leader who would build on and add value to the rich history and tradition of our program. It was also very important to provide our student-athletes with a clear vision for the future of the program as quickly as possible. Luckily, Billy Lange emerged as the right leader and coach for the job. He has learned from the best, is deeply rooted in the spirit of Philadelphia basketball, shares family connections on Hawk Hill, and has a proven track record of developing young men on and off the court," said Jill Bodensteiner, Director of Athletics.

Lange succeeds legendary head coach Phil Martelli, becoming the 15th head coach in the program's 110-year history.

Martelli was fired last week after 24 seasons leading the Hawks.

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76ers head coach Brett Brown released the following statement:

"The pairing of Billy Lange as the head coach of the St. Joe's basketball program is an incredibly natural fit. As a Philly native, Billy's basketball experiences as a head coach at Navy, an assistant at Villanova and six NBA seasons on our bench, provides a great base to develop, recruit and stamp his vision on a storied basketball program. I am proud of his appointment and he and his family will be missed as friends and Billy in a professional capacity, very much. He has been with me from day one and to see where he started and now where he has ended up, is a fantastic human and basketball story. We will be following him closely. Go Hawks."

On Thursday coach Brown told reporters Jim O'Brien, the senior adviser would fill Lang's spot on the bench.