Cleveland State has chosen Dennis Felton as its new basketball coach, the school announced Friday.

"I'm extremely excited to return to the head coaching ranks with this opportunity at Cleveland State University," Felton said in a statement. " Cleveland State is an outstanding university that continues to grow in stature on the national landscape. I'm eager to start working with our players to build a championship program and getting out to share my vision of how we plan to partner with the entire community to do special things at Cleveland State."

Felton, 53, has been an assistant at Tulsa under Frank Haith for the last three years.

He was head coach at Western Kentucky from 1998 to 2003, compiling a 100-54 record, three straight Sun Belt conference titles and three NCAA tournament berths. He was named Georgia's head coach in 2003, inheriting a program that had been crippled by NCAA sanctions. He had a 84-91 record that included the 2008 SEC tournament title and and NCAA tournament berth, but he was fired midway through the 2008-09 season.

Felton also did a stint as director of pro player personnel for the San Antonio Spurs from 2010-13.

"We are very pleased that Dennis Felton will be joining the CSU community and I look forward to cheering on our Vikings as he leads them back to the top of the Horizon League standings," university president Ronald M. Berkman said.

Felton replaces Gary Waters, who recently retired after 11 seasons as Cleveland State's coach.