"One City, One Future."

This is the now 22-year-old motto of the City of Monroe, Louisiana. Jamie Mayo, the former Mayor from 2001-2020, inspired the slogan to help encourage civic progress, unify geographic divides, and seek a new economic path forward. Today, "One City, One Future" is part of Monroe's municipal code and appears in community planning initiatives and throughout city branding.

Relatively new UL Monroe AD SJ Tuohy spent much of the 2025-26 college basketball season searching for his own inspiration. Tuohy officially took over as AD on November 28th, 2025. ULM was already 0-6 vs. D1 opposition on his first day on the job. Outside of a win against #365 Mississippi Valley State, Tuohy waited all the way until February 4th, 2026, to witness ULM's only other D1 win.

The Warhawks fell to new lows, going 4-28 on the season, just 2-26 vs. D1 opponents. It became clear that a change in culture, recruiting, fan attendance, and leadership was urgently needed.

Enter Ryan Cross.

Cross has already invested 10 of his 31 years coaching at UL Monroe under Keith Richard. He knows Monroe.

Hired on March 25th of this year, Mr. Cross will tell you that he has been "Drinking from the firehose ever since."

From my personal analysis, Cross is already polished in coach speak because what has been clear since day one is that he had a plan and executed it faster than nearly any other new staff in D1 basketball. Ryan quickly assembled a staff, a substantially creative roster, and a really unique non-conference schedule.

Cross brought in Jermaine Johnson from Memphis to be his right-hand man. Johnson has had several other D1 stops and was a high school coach originally in the Memphis area.

He has Noah Dartmann joining him from UAB. They spent the last six years together under Andy Kennedy. Cross will rave about the lessons to consistently win under Kennedy and his important leadership lessons. Dartmann graduated from ULM, has a lot of Warhawk pride, and spent time on the ULM staff.

Cross made a full-circle hire in Chris Forbes. One of Cross's best friends in the coaching business is none other than Steve Forbes at Wake Forest. Steve gave Coach Cross his first opportunity many years back at Barton County CC in Great Bend, Kansas, ahead of the 1996-97 season. Now, Cross will partner with his son to lead UL Monroe.

Glen Mayo (unrelated to the former Monroe Mayor, we believe) rounded out the core staff. Mayo's background contains several connections to the JUCO world, which ULM's roster is beginning to reflect. He most recently coached at South Plains, where they have had perennial success. He had early coaching stops in Florida's JUCOs and later served as the women's head coach at the University of South Carolina-Salkehatchie, where he later transitioned to the men's head coaching job.

This story is only just getting interesting.

Seven high-level JUCO transfers intend to make some serious noise in the Sun Belt this season. Phillip Tillman, the presumed Warhawk floor general, has the chance to be sensational. Coach Cross loves him, as you'll hear in our exclusive interview.

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Phillip Tillman Clips - Video Courtesy of K8 NEWS

The JUCO acquisition comfort level for Cross and staff is one of the highest you will find this season anywhere in NCAA D1 Basketball. Backgrounds above tell part of the story, but this staff has not lost a step over the years when it comes to evaluating JUCO characters and measuring talent, and UL Monroe serves as a great landing spot in critical JUCO terrain.

Three UAB players- Lance Carr, Dayjaun Anderson, and Quaran McPherson all jumped at the opportunity to stick with Cross and earn a larger share of minutes with ULM at the Sun Belt level. A key to the strategy for Cross is to have a player-led organization to help with the transition and adjust on the fly between the lines.

Last note here is on the schedule. ULM will go and play multiple back-to-back swings, and multiple tight windows to maximize guaranteed game funds for the future of this program.

Coach Cross and I discussed all things "reBOOT" to get you ready for the future of UL Monroe Basketball.

Full Interview Here: