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HIGH POINT — Safe to say, no other coach in NCAA Division I basketball knows more about forklifts than Scott Cherry.

Also safe to say, those three years between his playing and coaching days, when he worked as a forklift salesman in Greenville, are not why High Point University hired Cherry this week.

Something else on Cherry's resumé prompted High Point administrators to give the former North Carolina shooting guard his first job as a head coach.

"He's won every place he's ever been," Panthers athletics director Craig Keilitz said, "and that's no coincidence."

High Point introduced Cherry as the university's 11th men's basketball coach Thursday afternoon at the Millis Athletic Center in a lavish ceremony complete with cheerleaders, rousing music and swirling spotlights on the darkened gym floor.

Cherry comes to High Point after 10 winning seasons as an assistant coach at George Mason, Tennessee Tech, Western Kentucky and most recently South Carolina. Those programs went a combined 210-107 with the former Tar Heels player and forklift salesman on staff.

Cherry spoke to a crowd of about 300 gathered in the Millis Center bleachers. Dressed in a dark gray pinstriped suit with a new HPU lapel pin and a Panthers' purple tie, the new coach was all business.

He promised hard work for the 13 players gathered near him on the court. He promised the crowd an up-tempo style of play and to break Winthrop's recent choke hold on the Big South.

And he promised the High Point administration "at least and hopefully beyond" a four-year commitment in the contract deal struck Wednesday.

"We have to protect High Point," Keilitz said. "We want someone who wants to be here as much as we want him to be here."

Salary figures were not disclosed, but Cherry's four-year contract contains a hefty buyout clause in the event he chooses to leave before the deal runs out.

"The reality is there is life-changing money out there," Keilitz said. "You have to realize there are fewer Division I men's basketball head coaches (343) in this country than there are U.S. Congressmen (435). You could make the case that it's easier to win a seat in Congress than to get one of these jobs, so it's very competitive. I'm surprised more schools don't demand buyout clauses to protect themselves if someone comes along and offers (a coach) life-changing money."

To get such a deal, a coach has to win. And Cherry has a chance to win right away in his first job as a head coach.

"I wasn't looking for any old job, just so I could say I was a head coach," Cherry said. "... There's high expectations here, and there should be. It can be done here. Look around at the campus and you see the commitment. It can be done here, and there's no question in my mind this is the best job in the Big South."

Cherry takes over for Bart Lundy, who was fired 18 days ago after six seasons as High Point's coach. In his first five seasons with the Panthers, Lundy averaged 171/2 victories and coached three Big South players of the year. But his young team struggled to a 9-21 record this season, 4-14 in the Big South.

Even so, the cupboard is far from bare. Cherry inherits a team that loses just one senior, a team that included eight freshmen and four sophomores. All nine of High Point's top scorers from last season are eligible to return, and three of the top six were freshmen.

The banner on the Millis Center wall shows High Point's last championship season as 1997 — in the Division II Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference (now known as Conference Carolinas).

The Panthers haven't won a league title or advanced past the Big South tournament since making the move to Division I for the 1998-99 season.

"I think," Cherry said, "it's time for a new banner."

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com