CAA Men's Basketball Head Coaches: 5 Things To Know

Here are 5 things to know about the 14 head men's basketball coaches within the Coastal Athletic Association.

Jan 30, 2024 by Deondre Hayes

CAA Men's Basketball Head Coaches: 5 Things To Know

The CAA basketball conference is home to 14 programs across the East Coast. Each of these programs is led by highly distinguished coaches with various levels of experience and backgrounds. Amongst these coaches' coaching careers is also a great deal of playing experience at the collegiate levels and NBA that may be unknown to fans of the CAA.

As of 2024, half of the CAA’s Head Coaches have joined within the past five years. Although the conference features newer faces at the helm their impact is relevant, Charleston's Pat Kelsey winning the 2023 Conference Title in his second season is a prime example. With such a variety of seasoned and newer Head Coaches in the CAA, here are some things to know about these coaches as the season unfolds.

Here are 5 things to know about every CAA Basketball Head Coach:

Pat Kelsey - College of Charleston

Played point guard collegiately for the University of Wyoming and finished his career at Xavier from 1995-1998.
Led the team to a 2023 CAA Conference Tournament title, only the second in school history.
He is the fifth all-time winningest coach in the history of the Big South Conference, where he coached Winthrop from 2012-2021.
Served as an Assistant Head Coach at his alma mater, Xavier, from 2009-2012.
Career honors include 2023 NABC, USBWA District Coach of the Year, 2023 Naismith Coach of the Year Watch List, and 2021 Big South Conference Coach of the Year.

Kevin McGeehan - Campbell

He is going on his 11th season as Head Coach at Campbell.
Played four seasons of Division III basketball at Gettysburg, and he served as the captain of the men’s basketball team his senior season in 1995.
McGeehan falls under the Chris Mooney coaching tree after spending eight seasons at Richmond from 2005-2013.
He guided his squad to three consecutive postseason berths from 2017-19, the first time that has been accomplished in the program’s NCAA Division I era.
McGeehan guided the Camels to a school Division I era record 9-game win streak to reach the 2021 Big South Championship game.

Martin Ingelsby - Delaware

He is going on his 8th season as Head Coach at Delaware.
Helped recruit the Blue Hens' first-ever player to reach the NBA, Nate Darling.
Played point guard at Notre Dame from 1997-2001.
Assistant Coach at his alma mater, Notre Dame, from 2009-2016 including eight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Ingelsby started for Notre Dame as a freshman and sophomore and led the team in assists during three of his four seasons.

Zach Spiker - Drexel

He is entering his 8th season as Head Coach at Drexel.
Led the Dragons to their first-ever CAA tournament title in 2021.
Spiker's team rallied from a 34-point deficit to defeat Delaware at the DAC on Feb. 22, 2018. That marked the biggest come-from-behind win in NCAA history.
In seven seasons as Army head coach, won 102 games and led the Black Knights to the 2016 CIT.
He is the only coach in Army history to win 15 or more games in four consecutive seasons, a mark the program has not achieved — even under multiple coaches — since 1920-24.

Billy Taylor - Elon

Taylor was named the Head Coach at Elon in 2022 and has 14 years of experience.
Over his three seasons at Iowa, Taylor and the Hawkeyes have been a mainstay in the national rankings and NCAA Tournament, winning the 2022 Big Ten Tournament championship.
Taylor began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Notre Dame in 1998-99.
Taylor played forward for Notre Dame from 1991-1995 and started in 79 career games.
His first head coaching opportunity came in 2002-03 at Lehigh, where he went 81-69 in five seasons; he was also a 2x Patriot League Coach of the Year.

Edward Joyner Jr. - Hampton

Joyner Jr. comes from a family of coaches including his father and uncle, the three Joyners have amassed more than 1,000 wins on the collegiate level.
He played Division 2 basketball at Johnson C. Smith under his uncle, leading the Golden Bulls to three CIAA division titles, earning 2X Defensive Player of the Year, and among the school’s top 10 assist leaders.
He served as an assistant men’s and women’s basketball coach at his alma mater for 11 years.
Joyner was an Assistant Coach at Hampton from 2006-2009 before taking the Head Coach Position.
Joyner’s Hampton teams won two MEAC regular-season titles and three MEAC tournament crowns.

Speedy Claxton - Hofstra

Claxton played for Hofstra from 1996-2000 before being a first-round draft pick (20th overall) to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2000. Claxton would go on to play a decade in the NBA including tenures with the 76ers, Spurs, Warriors, Hornets, and Hawks.
He had his number 10 jersey retired by Hofstra and was inducted into the Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010.
Claxton joined the Hofstra staff in 2013 as a special assistant to Head Coach Joe Mihalich after spending three seasons as a scout with the Golden State Warriors of the NBA.
Claxton has worked with four CAA Player of the Year award winners while coaching at Hofstra.
In 2023 Claxton led Hofstra to a Regular Season Championship and was named Coach of the Year.

King Rice - Monmouth

Rice is entering his 12th year as Head Coach at Monmouth.
Currently, 11 players who played under Rice at Monmouth are playing professional basketball.
Before joining the CAA, Rice led Monmouth to three MAAC Regular Season Championships.
Played point guard for three seasons at UNC under Hall of Fame head coach Dean Smith, going to the Final Four in 1991.
Rice's first coaching job was as an assistant at Oregon under head coach Jerry Green.

Monte Ross - North Carolina A&T

2023-24 is the first season Ross will be at the Helm for N.C. A&T.
Ross previously coached a decade in the CAA at Delaware, where in 2014 they won the CAA Regular Season Championship, and the CAA Tournament Championship, and Ross earned Coach of the Year.
Ross played for legendary head coach Clarence "Big House" Gaines from 1988-92 at Winston-Salem State.
Began his coaching career in 1993, spending one season as an assistant under Dave Duke at Lehigh and then two under Bill Herrion at Drexel.
Was a part of four NCAA Tournament teams, including the 2003-04 St. Joseph's squad that went 27-0 in the regular season and reached the Elite Eight as a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Bill Coen - Northeastern

Coen is the all-time winningest coach in Northeastern history and has led the Huskies to a CAA-best four regular-season championships since 2006 and two NCAA tournaments over the last nine seasons.
Coen played four years at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. winning three ECAC Championships. As a senior, he served as team captain and led Hamilton to a national ranking.
In his first coaching position at Canajoharie High School as Head Coach, he led the school to a 19-3 mark and was named Coach of the Year.
The Huskies lead the conference with 162 league wins since Coen's arrival in 2005-06 and produced 34 All-CAA first-team selections and nine All-Rookie accolades.
Coen spent nine years at Boston College, the Eagles posted a 175-108 overall record and enjoyed six postseason berths, while winning three Big East regular season crowns.

Geno Ford - Stony Brook

Ford served as an Assistant at Stony Brook from 2016 to 2019 before taking the Head Coach position.
In his first season at the helm of Stony Brook in 2019-20, Ford led Stony Brook to its seventh 20-win season in nine years, finishing with a 20-13 record and a berth in the America East semifinals.
In his time at Kent State, he led the team to two MAC Regular Season Championships (2010,2011)
Ford was named Mr. Basketball Ohio in 1993 and went on to play collegiately at Ohio University for head coach Larry Hunter.
Ford worked at ESPN for a year before he was hired as an assistant coach by his former Ohio U teammate, Jeff Boals, at Stony Brook.

Pat Skerry - Towson

Skerry took over as Head Coach in 2011 after Towson had 15 straight losing seasons.
Skerry led Towson to the program's first-ever CAA Regular Season Championship and berth into the National Invitation Tournament during the 2021-22 season.
After winning just one game during his first season, Skerry led the Tigers to an 18-13 record in 2012-13, the largest single-season turnaround in NCAA Division I history.
Played for head coach Bob Sheldon at D-III Tufts, where he set school records for single-season and career assists.
Joined the D-I ranks in 1998, spending the next 13 seasons working as an assistant for various programs including Northeastern, William & Mary, and College of Charleston.

Takayo Siddle - UNC Wilmington

Siddle Joined UNCW as Head Coach in 2020, his first-ever Head Coach position.
Siddle played four seasons at Gardner-Webb from 2005-09, appearing in 114 contests.
In his second year, Siddle led the Seahawks to a CAA Regular Season Championship and was named CAA Coach of the Year; UNCW went on to win the 2022 CBI.
Began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater, Garner-Webb, from 2010-2014.
Formerly was an assistant coach at UNCW where he recruited five All-CAA selections as the Seahawks went 48-14 in his three-year period (2014-2017).

Dane Fischer - William & Mary

Fischer enters his fifth season with William & Mary in 2023-24.
Last season, Fischer led the Tribe to a 7.5-game improvement, finishing with 13 wins and in eighth place in the CAA. W&M's improvement ranked second in the CAA and among the top 30 nationally.
W&M's 21 wins in 2019-20 rank fourth in program history and were the second-most for a rookie head coach in the country. Fischer was named CAA Coach of the Year in 2020
During his playing days at Ithaca College, Fischer was a two-time team captain and graduated ranked among the top 10 in program history in career assists and steals.
Fischer’s first coaching stint came as an assistant at Williams College. In his two seasons, the Ephs went 46-11 and finished as the NCAA Division III National Runner-up in 2004.