Mark Slessinger became the Associate Head Coach of the Indiana State men's basketball team on May 1, 2024.
Slessinger as head coach left UNO with 171 wins being the most all-time at UNO. His teams have seen postseason play four times since 2017, including back-to-back appearances for the first time in program history.
His 2017 team was the Southland Conference Champions, the first title in 20 years, that season along with others garnered him multiple awards including:
- SLC Coach of the Year
- NABC's Region Co-Coach of the Year
- Louisiana Sportswriter's Association Coach of the Year
- Two-time Louisiana Basketball Coaches Association Major College Coach of the Year
- Eddie Robinson Award Winner – Presented by GNOSHOF – All-State Sugar Bowl
- University of New Orleans Employee of the Year
Before UNO, the Ellettsville, Ind. native was at Northwestern State University as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator from 2000-11. Slessinger saw success at NSU, winning three conference titles, seeing the conference championship game five times, and advancing to the NCAA tournament twice winning a game each trip.
Prior to Northwestern State, Slessinger was in Holbrook, Ariz. at Northland Pioneer College, starting as assistant coach and earning the head coaching title for a season. In his three years at Northland, he was also held the role of Interim Athletic Director for 1.5 years.
Slessinger spent a year at Central Michigan University as an assistant coach, and prior began his coaching career at Aurora University, graduating from Aurora in 1996.
While at Aurora, Slessinger was a two-sport athlete in basketball and soccer, earning the Aurora University Spartan award, the most coveted award at Aurora, given to the top graduating senior in the areas of curricular and extracurricular excellence.
