Marcus Perez

Marcus Perez, a 1989 graduate of the United States Military Academy, was a basketball coach.

After serving in the United States Army as a Black Hawk pilot and attaining the rank of Captain, Perez pursued a career as a coach. He was an assistant coach at Army, specializing in recruiting.

Perez then moved to Atlanta, Georgia. There, he was the athletic director and head basketball coach for Pace Academy, a private school in the Buckhead community. The basketball program achieved immediate success through Perez's recruiting talents. The two most notable players Perez brought to Pace include point guard Herman Favors, who now plays professionally in Denmark, and power forward Corey Gibbs, who, after leaving Pace his senior year, played for two seasons at the University of Georgia. In April 2000, Perez announced that he would take a position as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri, working for Quin Snyder. Perez was named coordinator of all recruiting efforts, and was instrumental in coaching numerous Missouri post players. Coach Snyder's program was accused of NCAA recruiting violations, and the distractions caused by the investigation ultimately caused the Missouri basketball program to crumble. Snyder and two other assistant coaches were accused of actively or passively taking part in the impermissible behavior. Perez was only accused of improperly offering free meals to recruits at Missouri basketball games, but the University appealed Perez's case to the NCAA. Perez was ultimately distanced from any wrongdoing and resigned a year later.

Perez moved to the Southeast and is currently pursuing opportunities "both inside and outside the game of basketball." According to the Scout network (www.scout.com), his name has been linked to numerous assistant coaching positions that have opened up after the 2005-06 NCAA basketball season, including the job left open by Coach Jeff Jackson at Vanderbilt University. Other schools where Perez is rumored to be a candidate for an assistant coaching position include Georgia Tech, Georgia State, North Carolina State, Tennessee, and Virginia.