List of Le Moyne Dolphins men's basketball head coaches

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The Le Moyne Dolphins men's basketball team plays at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the Northeast Conference (NEC). The Dolphins originally did not play within any athletic conference.

In 1950, Le Moyne became a charter member of the Eastern Catholic Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.[1] After only one season, the ECIAC ceased publicizing itself as a conference and became an association of its member schools with no champion crowned, leaving Le Moyne an independent again for 1951–52.[2]

In 1955, Le Moyne became a charter member of the new Middle Eastern College Athletic Association (MECAA).[3] The MECAA included teams that were also members of other conferences, a practice not uncommon at the time. When the NCAA split its members into the College Division and University Division in 1956, the MECAA included four teams (St. Francis Brooklyn, Iona, St. Bonaventure and Siena) that were placed into the University Division, while Le Moyne and Saint Peter's were placed into the College Division. St. Francis was also a member of the Metropolitan New York Conference, and St. Bonaventure was also a member of the Western New York Little Three Conference. Nevertheless, all six schools initially continued their affiliation with the MECAA, after the split. Le Moyne remained a member of the MECAA, until it was dissolved following the 1975–76 season. The MECAA awarded its championship based on regular-season winning percentage and did not conduct a post-season tournament. The Dolphins took the title six times during their 21 seasons of membership, the most championships of any member. Since conference membership crossed NCAA divisions, the MECAA champion was not awarded an automatic bid to any NCAA tournament. In December 1960, the MECAA conducted an in-season Christmas tournament that included five of its six teams as well as three non-members. Le Moyne defeated Saint Peter's, Iona and Long Island to win the tournament title.

Le Moyne became a Division II institution, when the College Division was split in 1973. Following the dissolution of the MECAA, the Dolphins played as an independent until joining the Mideast Collegiate Conference (MECC) in 1983, and remained a member of that conference, until it dissolved in 1991. After playing the 1991–92 season as an independent, Le Moyne joined the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) in 1992. In 1996, the Dolphins joined the Northeast-10 Conference (NE10), where they remained until beginning reclassification to Division I as a member of the NEC in 2023. The Dolphins play their home games on Ted Grant Court in the Le Moyne Events Center.

There have been nine head coaches in the history of Le Moyne basketball. The program has played 1,886 games across 74 seasons from the program's inaugural 1948–49 campaign through the end of the 2022–23 season.[4]

Tommy Niland had the longest tenure at Le Moyne, coaching for 25 seasons, and is the all-time leader in games coached (536) and wins at the school (326). Niland led the Dolphins to six NCAA tournament appearances, the most of any Le Moyne head coach.

The current head coach is Nate Champion, who played for the Dolphins from 2010 to 2014.

Statistics[edit]

Key
# Number of coaches
GC Games coached
OW Overall Wins
OL Overall Losses
O% Overall Winning Percentage
CW Conference Wins
CL Conference Losses
C% Conference Winning Percentage
RCs Regular Season Conference Champions
CCs Conference Tournament Champions
D2s NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances
CCOYs Conference Coach of the Year Awards
Statistics are correct as of the conclusion of the 2023–24 college basketball season.
# Name Term GC OW OL O% CW CL C% RCs CCs D2s CCOYs
1 Tommy Niland 1948–1973 536 326 210 .608 58 40 .592 7[a] 1[b] 7[c] 4[d]
2 Thomas Cooney 1973–1979 144 81 63 .563 5 10 .333 0 — 0 0
3 Michael Lee 1979–1983 101 34 67 .337 — — — — — 0 –
4 John Beilein 1983–1992 257 163 94 .634 49 36 .576 2[e] 1[f] 1[g] 1[h]
5 Scott Hicks 1992–1997 143 87 56 .608 50 34 .595 0 2[i] 2[j] 0
6 Dave Paulsen 1997–2000 81 42 39 .519 24 32 .429 1[k] 0 0 0
7 Steve Evans 2000–2015 421 210 211 .499 151 175 .463 0 0 1[l] 0
8 Patrick Beilein 2015–2019 118 77 41 .653 55 25 .688 2[m] 1[n] 3[o] 2[p]
9 Nate Champion 2019–present 117 61 56 .521 43 31 .581 1[q] 0 0 1[r]
Totals 1,918 1,081 837 .564 435 383 .532 13 5 14 6
Notes
  1. ^ 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969 and 1973 MECAA championships. Le Moyne finished tied with Iona in 1959, and lost the only head-to-head matchup, 58–54, at Iona on February 14, 1959. Nevertheless, the MECAA recognized both teams as co-champions.[5] Le Moyne finished tied with Saint Peter's in 1969, and won the only head-to-head matchup at home on December 3, 1968. Nevertheless, the MECAA recognized both teams as co-champions.[6]
  2. ^ 1960 Middle Eastern College Athletic Association Christmas Tournament, which included all but one of the conference teams as well as three non-member guest teams.
  3. ^ 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969.
  4. ^ 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1964 MECAA Coach of the Year. Also named 1960 Catholic Small College Coach of the Year.
  5. ^ 1984 and 1988 MECC championships. 1988 title was shared with Gannon.
  6. ^ 1988 MECC tournament.
  7. ^ 1988.
  8. ^ 1988 MECC Coach of the Year.
  9. ^ 1996 NECC and 1997 NE10 tournaments.
  10. ^ 1996 and 1997.
  11. ^ 1998 NE10 championship shared with Assumption and Stonehill.
  12. ^ 2014.
  13. ^ 2017 and 2018 NE10 Southwest Division championship and best over all conference record. Also won 2019 NE10 Southwest Division championship.
  14. ^ 2018 NE10 tournament.
  15. ^ 2017, 2018 and 2019.
  16. ^ 2019 and 2019 NE10 Coach of the Year.
  17. ^ 2020 NE10 Southwest Division championship and best over all conference record.
  18. ^ 2020 NE10 Coach of the Year.

References[edit]

General
  • "NE10 Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Northeast-10 Conference. 2023. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
Specific
  1. ^ "Le Moyne is Founder-Member of E.C.I.A.C. As 1950–51 Conference Plans are Charted" (PDF). The Dolphin. September 20, 1950. p. 3. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  2. ^ Butler, Jack (March 8, 1952). "Scholastic Slants". The Tablet. Brooklyn, New York. p. 18. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  3. ^ "New Loop". Daily News. New York. June 4, 1955. p. 37. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
  4. ^ "Men's Basketball Year-by-Year Coaches Records". Le Moyne Dolphins. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  5. ^ "One-Point Win for MECAA Tie". The Tablet. Brooklyn, New York. March 7, 1959. p. 18. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  6. ^ "St. Peter's Five Wallops Siena". The Troy Record. Troy, New York. March 5, 1969. p. 24. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
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