Marcus Belcher enters his third season as assistant coach with Illinois State, and is in his 11th season as an assistant coach in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Belcher, a veteran of the Missouri Valley Conference as a coach and a student-athlete, came to Normal after spending eight seasons with the Sycamores, the last two as associate head coach. He also spent a season at Evansville, two at Southern Illinois, and was a student-athlete with the Salukis.

Belcher joined the Indiana State coaching staff for the 2011-12 season, as the Sycamores advanced to the CollegeInsider.com tournament. The next two seasons saw Indiana State fall in the NIT first round against Iowa and Arkansas.

He spent one season each at Eastern Illinois (2007-08) and Evansville (2008-09) before beginning a two-season stint at his alma mater of Southern Illinois (2009-11).

The Mexico, Missouri, native started his college coaching career at SIU Edwardsville, under former Evansville head coach Marty Simmons. He helped coach the Cougars to a pair of NCAA Division II tournament berths, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2005-06.

Belcher was the starting point guard on the 2002 Southern Illinois Sweet 16 squad that went 28-8 and won the MVC Co-Championship. He also earned his master's degree in sport management from SIU Edwardsville in 2006.

Belcher will be joined in Bloomington-Normal by his wife Vanessa and son Sebastian.