Monté Ross, who served as an assistant coach at St. Joseph’s University for the last 10 seasons, has been selected as the new head coach of the UD men’s basketball program.

He replaces David Henderson, who was not retained after the 2005-06 season. Ross was introduced to the University community during a press conference April 4 in the Bob Carpenter Center, telling a large crowd gathered for the event that guiding the Fightin’ Blue Hens has long been a dream job for him.

Ross, who spoke with assuredness and humor, says people might doubt him on that score, given the circumstances, but that it is true.

During his successful apprenticeship at St. Joseph’s, Ross says he had long ago begun preparing himself to be a head coach and that he had begun thinking about where he would like that to be. “Delaware has always been one of the jobs I have wanted,” he says. “Delaware and UNC, but I didn’t think head coach Roy Williams would be leaving North Carolina anytime soon.”

Ross was an assistant at Drexel University before joining the St. Joseph’s staff of head coach Phil Martelli, who attended the press conference, and says he found at UD a compelling combination of great location, a beautiful campus and outstanding academics. “It is not a hard sell when you bring a scholar-athlete to the University of Delaware,” he says.

Martelli praised the way UD handled the hiring and predicts success for his protégé. “He will win the personality battles every step of the way,” Martelli says. “He has an ability to interact with young people as a teacher and mentor, and they respond to his style. He’s going to do a sensational job. Delaware got a guy that can represent the University in every way, shape and form in a positive fashion.”

“We are excited to have Monté join the University of Delaware men’s basketball program,” UD Director of Athletics Edgar Johnson says. “During the interview process, we learned that Monté’s contacts and success in recruiting young men from the Mid-Atlantic region are truly superior. He knows the region and its players and coaches, our University and the Colonial Athletic Association. Most important of all, Monté is a talented, personable, hard-working young man who has great rapport with his players. We are confident that he will bring the University of Delaware men’s basketball program to prominence in the CAA.”

Ross says he has been taught along the way that “there are no great people, just regular people who take advantage of great opportunities. The University of Delaware, for me, is now a great opportunity.”

Pointing to the UD players in attendance at the press conference, Ross says they represent his first responsibility. “They have dreams and goals,” he says, adding it is his job to help them make those dreams and goals come true and to help them enjoy their experience at the University.

Ross says he wants to “create a love affair between our program, the community and the campus,” adding he hopes there will “be a waiting list for student tickets, with the stands packed every night.”

To do that, he promises to prepare the team to play hard and to execute well so that when people leave The Bob, they take notice and want to come back. “I want the team to play hard, play smart and play good defense,” Ross says. “I want them to have a winning attitude.”

At the root of his belief system, Ross says, is the desire for his players to improve every day. “I want them to get better every day in practice and in every game,” he says. “At the end of the season, we want to make sure we are playing the best basketball possible.”

Likewise, Ross says he wants UD scholar-athletes to come into the program and to grow academically, socially and athletically.

Ross is a 1992 graduate of Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University, where he played for legendary head coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines. He began his coaching career at Lehigh University in 1993-94 and spent two seasons as an assistant at Drexel University, leading the Dragons to consecutive North Atlantic Conference titles and NCAA tournament berths in 1995 and 1996 under head coach Bill Herrion.

He joined the St. Joseph’s staff in 1996-97 during Martelli’s second season as head coach. The Hawks have risen to national prominence under Martelli and had a particularly memorable 2003-04 season, when they posted a 30-2 record and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.

Ross served as the recruiting coordinator at St. Joseph’s and worked with the team’s point guards. He was instrumental in bringing current NBA players Jameer Nelson, Delonte West and Dwayne Jones to the program. Nelson says his former coach is “well deserving of the job at UD. He is a hard worker. He has been telling me for the past couple of years that he wanted to be a head coach, and now he has his opportunity. He is blessed, his family is blessed, and I know he will keep getting better as a coach.”

Ross, a Philadelphia native who was an all-city selection and city Academic Player of the Year in 1988, and his wife, Michelle, live in Media, Pa., with their children, Justin Monté, 6, and Lauren Noelle, 5. Michelle Ross attended UD for two years before earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees from St. Joseph’s.