Former NBA standout Monta Ellis, who played in the league for more than a decade without playing college basketball, will serve as general manager at Alcorn State this season, the school announced Friday. Alcorn State, an HBCU that finished 9-23 last year, is near the home of the Mississippi native who starred at Lanier High School in Jackson, Mississippi, before the Golden State Warriors selected him with the 40th pick in the 2005 NBA draft. Since leaving the NBA, Ellis said he has focused on his family including guiding his son, Monta Ellis Jr., a 2028 recruit with multiple Division I offers.

Ellis said the opportunity to help one of Mississippi's historically Black colleges and universities will also enable him to give back to a community he loves. "Well, this opportunity came to me. Coach Jake Morton reached out and said they were thinking of this idea of me being a general manager. And I was shocked about it at first, but then as I thought about it, I was like, 'This would be a great opportunity for a lot of kids that would be left out,'" he said. "I have an opportunity to give to some kids that never felt like they had an opportunity to play Division I or go to a college."

E. D'Wayne Robinson, Alcorn State's athletic director, said Ellis gives the school credibility with future recruits. "It's almost like an endorsement from someone that endorses a brand product," Robinson said. "With Monta having the type of gravitas that he has from being a player -- he's been a good guy over the years -- the program benefits from his brand." Ellis, who earned Most Improved Player during the 2006-07 season, played with Steph Curry before he became the superstar who led the Warriors to multiple NBA titles. Ellis was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2012 for Andrew Bogut.

Ellis said the Warriors teams in the years that preceded that run set the stage for what Curry & Co. accomplished. "That's what I dealt with. And people know that," Ellis said. "If you switched me and Steph out with the team that won the championships, it'd be the same thing." Now, however, he said he's focused on bringing more attention to Alcorn State basketball. "This will be a big, big boost for the basketball side to get recognized," he said.