Per GoCreighton.com – Creighton University will add former Hofstra Interim Head Coach Patrick Sellers to the men’s basketball coaching staff.
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New Creighton Assistant Coach Patrick Seller (photo courtesy of: nhregister.com)
Creighton’s move to the Big East brings many challenges, one of which includes recruiting. While Creighton’s current coaching staff has excellent ties to the east and northeast, the addition of Sellers will make Creighton a major player in the recruiting scene in the Atlantic time zone.
Sellers served as Director of Basketball Operations for Jim Calhoun and UConn from 2004-2007 and was promoted to Associate Coach, a position he filled for three seasons. Sellers was instrumental in recruiting a number of the players the 2010-2011 National Championship team including Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier, Tyler Olander, and Roscoe Smith. During his three seasons as an Associate Coach, Sellers was in charge of working with frontcourt players including future NBA players Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien.
Prior to UConn, Sellers spent time at UMass as their lead recruiter. He was also coach of St. Thomas Aquinas high school in Connecticut. Sellers is very plugged into the Northeast Prep basketball scene, which includes, Brewster Academy, New Hampton, Tilton School, Worcester Academy, Cushing Academy, Notre Dame Prep, and Kimball Union Academy to name just a few. These schools continually yield some of the top players entering college basketball every season.
Sellers was also part of the UConn staff that recruited the infamous Nate Miles. Miles, a top 80 player in the 2008 class, is best remembered for the major violations between he and the entire UConn staff, particularly with Josh Nochimson, the team’s manager turned agent. The NCAA charged the entire UConn staff with eight recruiting violations following their investigations. Eventually the buck was passed to Sellers. Following a string of resignations, that left Sellers as the fall guy for the situation. He, too, resigned from UConn following the 2010 season. Sellers was exonerated by the NCAA in February of 2011. Following his exoneration Sellers told ESPN.com, “I was embarrassed. When this came out, it put me in a bad light. I’ve never been in a bad light. I think I’ve only had about three speeding tickets in my life. I was sad. I was down. I’ve always tried to do things the right way. Coaches would ask me for advice coming up. I was always trying to help people and then this happens and you’re just so embarrassed. I felt like I didn’t do anything and I couldn’t believe my name was in it.”
Sellers bounced around following his resignation at UConn, ending up in China helping coach defense for Shanxi Zhongyu, a team in the top flight division of their basketball league. Sellers returned to coaching in America in 2011 getting a job with Hofstra as an Associate Coach. Sellers was named Interim Head Coach following the firing of Mo Cassara on March 22, 2013.
Sellers will no doubt help Creighton recruit the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. He has ties to a number of the top AAU programs out East. Creighton hopes that Sellers can rekindle these connections and bring quality student athletes to the Midwest.
He will assume the role previously occupied by Steve Merfeld, who was promoted to the newly created position of Director of Player Development. Merfeld’s new role gives Creighton in essence two head coaches on the staff, as he’ll be involved in putting together a plan for players to develop from a fundamental, social and academic standpoint, according to the release from Creighton.