Bio

Rusty Elmore begins his second season as the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Garden City Community College. 

Elmore, 46, comes to Garden City after a tremendous three-year run with Colby where he produced a 49-30 overall record. In 2020, the team finished 27-5, captured the program's first regular-season title, and won the Region VI crown for the first time ever. The Trojans finished No. 10 in the final NJCAA poll in 2020 and Elmore was named the Jayhawk West Coach of the year.

During the 22-23 season Elmore’s team finished the season ranked 23rd in the country with a 21-9 record, with Buru Naivalurua earning All American. DaJion Humphrey, Jaborri McGhee and Buru Naivalurua each earned All Conference. Boston Harker, Logan Feltman and DaJion Humphrey earned All Academic. From Elmore’s 22-23 team, five players moved on to sign with D1 schools.

In three years at Colby, he had six players named to the NJCAA All-Academic team while his players posted the 19^th best grade point average in the country. He coached All-American Demarcus Sharp who was also the conference player of the year.

Before arriving in Colby, Elmore spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Moberly Area Community College where the Greyhounds compiled a 54-12 record and qualified for the NJCAA National Tournament in 2019. Prior to that, he was an assistant at powerhouse Vincennes University where in his lone season on the bench, the Trailblazers went 32-3 and finished fifth in the final NJCAA poll. 

Elmore began his coaching career at Lindsey Wilson College in 2010 helping the Blue Raiders qualify for the National Tournament twice. In 2013, Lindsey Wilson finished second in the nation in the final NAIA poll. In 2014, he was hired at Union College where the Bulldogs won a program-best 30 games en route to claiming the Appalachian Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles. He also spent time at NCAA Division-II Kentucky Wesleyan where his team was ranked as high as No. 9 in the country and won the Great Midwest Athletic Conference's regular-season and tournament crowns.

Before getting into coaching, Elmore worked for eight years as a media executive with WGN-TV in Chicago, the Chicago White Sox Radio Network, ABC Asheville, and NBC Atlanta. He earned his bachelor's degree in liberal studies from Middle Tennessee State University and a master's degree in athletic administration from Western Kentucky. He moves to Garden City with his wife, Katie and their two daughters: Elise and Nora.