Brett MacConnell

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Brett MacConnell
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NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
EducationRutgers University
TitleTed Athanassiades ’61 Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator, Princeton Basketball
Awards2015 NABC Under Armour 30 Under 30

Brett MacConnell is an American college basketball coach currently serving as the Associate Head Coach at Princeton University. MacConnell is in his 11th year at Princeton after joining staff in 2012-13 as Director of Basketball Operations. After his first season at Princeton, MacConnell was promoted to assistant coach.

Princeton

In the ten years since MacConnell joined Mitch Henderson's coaching staff at Princeton, the Tigers have posted an overall record of 165-95 (.636) and an Ivy League record of 87-39 (.690). The Tigers have won the Ivy League regular season twice, 2017 and 2022, winning the conference tournament in 2017. In the summer of 2013, a year after being hired as Director of Operations, Henderson promoted MacConnell to assistant coach. In 2018, MacConnell was again promoted, this time to Associate Head Coach [1].

Princeton's 2022 regular season was one of highest in win percentage during MacConnell's tenure. The Tigers finished the year 23-7 overall and 12-2 in Ivy League play and were crowned champions of the Ivy League regular season. Princeton's offense was the #1 scoring offense in the Ivy League and #8 nationally. Four Tigers earned individual postseason accolades. Junior Tosan Evbuomwan was named Ivy League Player of the Year and joined senior point guard Jaelin Llewellyn as 1st Team All-Ivy League. Senior guard Ethan Wright was named 2nd Team All-Ivy League, while senior Drew Friberg was named to the All-Ivy Academic Team [2].

The 2016-17 campaign had the highest winning percentage of any Princeton team in MacConnell's time. The team finished 23-7, going 14-0 in Ivy League play and winning 19 straight. The team won the regular season crown and the Ivy League tournament championship before a first round NCAA Tournament loss to Notre Dame. That season Mitch Henderson earned the Ivy League Coach of the Year award [3].

Over the last ten years, Princeton has notable victories over high-major programs. These include beating South Carolina, Oregon State, Arizona State, USC, Rutgers, and Penn State. In the 2017 NCAA Tournament Round of 64, Princeton fell to Notre Dame by two points. The year before that, Princeton played in the NIT and took Virginia Tech to overtime before falling to the 3-seeded Hokies in Blacksburg. In 2022, the Tigers made the NIT once again but could not overcome VCU in Richmond [4].

MacConnell has on three occasions been named Princeton's acting head coach, in instances where Henderson has been sidelined due to illness (Trentonian.com). In 2018-19 at Dartmouth and in 2021-22 at Columbia, MacConnell has filled Henderson's shoes and led Princeton to Ivy League road wins [5].

Recruiting Prowess

Princeton's record of winning over the last decade has much to do with MacConnell's eye for talent and prowess as a recruiter. MacConnell's ties to Pennsylvania and New Jersey have proven crucial in finding under-the-radar talent. Myles Stephens '19, Amir Bell '18, Richmond Aririguzoh '20 are among New Jersey standouts that MacConnell recruited. Bell and Stephens both went on to score over 1,000 points and each won Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Stephens was a 1st Team All-Ivy selection his sophomore and senior year and a 2nd Team All-Ivy selection is junior year. Aririguzoh, out of Trenton Catholic Academy, was a First Team All-Ivy selection his senior year. The trio are among the 21 All-Ivy League selections that have played at Princeton with MacConnell on staff. A total of 13 Princeton players have gone on to play professionally throughout MacConnell's tenure [6].

MacConnell and Princeton has been productive in recruiting local talent but also internationally. MacConnell has secured recruits from Canada, Australia, and most notably England. MacConnell was the lead recruiter of Tosan Evbuomwan, the 2022 Ivy League Player of the Year. Evbuomwan started playing basketball at age 14 after years of being an outstanding soccer player (NJ.com). In his junior year Evbuomwan led Princeton to winning the Ivy League regular season, while leading the league in assists and placing top five in scoring, field goal percentage, and steals [7].

MacConnell has also recruited bigger fish. He played a leading role in recruiting Jaelin Llewellyn, a highly touted 4-star and ESPN Top 100 point guard [8]. Llewellyn, of Ontario, Canada chose the Tigers over the likes of Tennessee, Virginia, Purdue, Wake Forest, Georgetown, and Maryland. MacConnell has also signed nine 3-star recruits, one of which, Devin Cannady, won the NBA G-League Finals MVP for the Lakeland Magic in 2021. Before suffering a knee injury in 2021, Cannady played in 8 games for the Orlando Magic in which he shot almost 38% from 3 and 85% from the free throw line [9].

After the 2015-16 season, MacConnell was named to the NABC's Under Armour 30-under-30 Team, recognizing 30 young coaches across the country. This came after his first season as Princeton's recruiting coordinator [10]

Early Career

MacConnell's college coaching career started at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA. In his first year at Delaware Valley, the program went 13-13 and 8-8 in conference after having only won three games the year before. This was the program's most wins in 22 years and its first trip to the conference tournament since 1969. In his second and final year at Delaware Valley, MacConnell was named associate head coach.

MacConnell's next stop was in 2010-11, at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, PA. In his first year, MacConnell was named recruiting coordinator and recruited a class of starters that in the following year doubled its win total from the previous season. In 2011-12, MacConnell joined a Division I coaching staff for the first time at St. Peter's College. In his time as Director of Operations at St. Peter's, MacConnell broke down video of practice, game, opponents' scouts, as well as coordinated team travel [11].

Personal Life

Brett MacConnell is married to Sarah Samad MacConnell, who was formerly a strength and conditioning coach at Virginia Tech, Maryland, and VMI. Kevin MacConnell, Brett's father, is a career sports administrator, who now serves as Chief of Staff for Rutgers Football [12]. MacConnell is a New Jersey native who attended Montgomery High School and was a four year manager for Rutgers men's basketball. At Rutgers he worked his first two years under head coach Gary Waters and his second two under Fred Hill.

[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

References

  1. ↑ (GoPrincetonTigers.com)
  2. ↑ (GoPrincetonTigers.com)
  3. ↑ (NorthJersey.com)
  4. ↑ (CBSSports.com)
  5. ↑ (DailyPrincetonian.com)
  6. ↑ (GoPrincetonTigers.com)
  7. ↑ (NJ.com)
  8. ↑ (insiderespn.com)
  9. ↑ (DailyPrincetonian.com)
  10. ↑ (NABC.com/30under30)
  11. ↑ (GoPrincetonTigers.com)
  12. ↑ (scarletknights.com)
  13. ↑ https://goprincetontigers.com/staff-directory/brett-macconnell/406
  14. ↑ https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2022/04/devin-cannady-multi-year-deal-orlando-magic-nba-princeton-tigers
  15. ↑ https://scarletknights.com/staff-directory/kevin-macconnell/2675
  16. ↑ https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/gametracker/recap/NCAAB_20220315_PRINCE@VCU/
  17. ↑ https://www.nj.com/sports/2022/03/the-most-interesting-man-in-march-madness-is-drawing-nba-scouts-to-nj.html
  18. ↑ https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2022/02/princeton-mens-basketball-columbia-feb-5-2022
  19. ↑ https://goprincetontigers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/amir-bell/13953
  20. ↑ https://goprincetontigers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/myles-stephens/15501
  21. ↑ https://goprincetontigers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/richmond-aririguzoh/16551
  22. ↑ https://www.trentonian.com/2022/02/06/you-just-have-to-be-ready-brett-macconnell-steps-in-as-princeton-mens-basketballs-acting-head-coach/
  23. ↑ https://ivyhoopsonline.com/2019/03/09/qa-with-princeton-associate-head-coach-brett-macconnell
  24. ↑ https://nabc.com/app/uploads/2021/12/30-Under-20-2016.pdf
  25. ↑ https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/columnists/tara-sullivan/2017/03/14/sullivan-rutgers-princeton-ncaas-macconnell-name-thrives/99176042/
  26. ↑ https://www.app.com/story/sports/college/2022/04/27/fdu-basketball-division-i-greg-herenda/9549663002/
  27. ↑ https://insider.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/evaluation/_/id/230199/jaelin-llewellyn

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