Monroe Ingram coached basketball at Southern Arkansas University for 17 years (1980-97), and was the Mulerider baseball coach from 1971-77. Ingram posted a 257-193 record as the Mulerider head basketball coach, the second most wins in school history. He was associated with SAU from 1970 until his retirement at the end of the 1996-97 season. Ingram served as an assistant to the late W.T. Watson, who was head basketball coach from 1963-80. When Watson became full-time athletics director in 1980, he turned basketball duties over to Ingram.

Ingram won the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) basketball championship in 1989-90, and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) District 17 championships in 1982-83 and 1989-90. He was twice named both the AIC and NAIA District 17 Basketball Coach of the Year.

Ingram also coached the Mulerider baseball team to three AIC championships in 1974, 1975, and 1977. His brilliant pitching staff of 1975 led the nation (NAIA) with a 1.16 earned run average. Ingram was named the AIC Baseball Coach of the Year three times, and NAIA District 17 Baseball Coach of the Year in 1977. His teams won 107 games and lost 86 for a .554 percentage, second most in school history in both wins and percentage. Ingram also coached two AIC All-Star teams in games against the Arkansas Travelers Class AA professional baseball team.

In his collegiate playing days, Ingram was a center for the University of Central Arkansas, earning All-AIC honors in 1957-58, and 1959-60, scoring 1,062 points in 51 games, for a 20.8 average. He came to Central Arkansas from Arkansas State-Beebe Junior College. Before his SAU career, Ingram coached high school basketball at Little Rock McClellan, Waldo, and Camden.