Beyond the Box Score Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Coach Chris Acker shares his journey from growing up in Compton, California to becoming the Head Coach at Long Beach State.

He was a member of the Chaminade team that knocked off Villanova in the 2003 EA Sports Maui Invitational. Chris played professionally in Portugal and Greece before returning to the US to play in the Continental Basketball Association.

After finishing up his playing career, he embarked on his coaching career. He was on staff at Citrus College then led West Los Angeles to great success. Coach Eran Ganot hired Chris to his coaching staff at Hawaii.

Following two seasons on staff at Hawaii, then Boise State he joined Coach Brian Dutcher's coaching staff at San Diego State in 2019.

Coach Acker immediately helped elevate San Diego State, the Aztecs started the season 26-0 and finished the season going 30-2 including 17-1 in league play prior to the NCAA Tournament being cancelled due to COVID.

The Aztecs went 134-34 (69-16 in conference) during Coach Acker's time on staff. They won two regular season Mountain West Conference (MWC) championships, three MWC tournament championships, four NCAA Tournaments, a National Championship appearance, then a Sweet Sixteen last season.

Coach Acker was hired as the Head Coach at Long Beach State on April 2, 2024.

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2024 Southern Conference (SoCon) Men's Basketball Media Day:

Dwight Perry (Wofford)

Ed Conroy (The Citadel)

Bucky McMillan (Samford)

Brooks Savage (East Tennessee State)

Mike Jones (UNC Greensboro)

Andrew Wilson (VMI)

Tim Craft (Western Carolina)

*Chattanooga, Furman, and Mercer were unable to schedule interviews this season

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Coach Ethan Kahn shares his journey from growing up in Arizona to becoming a Student Assistant at the NCAA DI level, and eventually becoming an Assistant Coach at Bemidji State University (NCAA DII).

Kahn served as a Student Assistant at Northern Arizona from 2017 until 2021 and moved across the country to become a Graduate Assistant in North Carolina at Catawba College. He served as the Director of Basketball Operations and Video Coordinator in addition to being in graduate school.

Coach Kahn helped with all aspects of the program at Catawba and during the 2022-23 season he served as the Head Developmental Coach for the Red team.

In 2023 he was named an Assistant Coach at Bemidji State University in Minnesota.

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Coach Josh Merkel shares his journey from his playing days to his numerous individual and team accolades he's received as a NCAA Head Coach.

He played HS basketball at St. John Prospect Hall and then continued his career at Salisbury. While at Salisbury he played under two Head Coaches and had a successful college basketball career. After graduating cum laude in 2001 you returned to St John’s Prospect Hall and coach the JV team and assisted with the Varsity from 2001-04.

Coach John Beilein hired him as a Graduate Assistant at West Virginia and he parlayed that into a GA position at Eastern Kentucky - where you remained on staff afterwards as an Assistant Coach for five seasons.

He returned to his D3 roots joining the coaching staff at Randolph Macon during the 2010-11 season under Nathan Davis. After a successful stint at R-MC as an Assistant Coach his alma mater named him Head Coach after his former HC retired.

After four successful seasons in Salisbury, Randolph Macon hired him their Head Coach - just the 5th for the R-MC Basketball program since 1956. He discussed how tough of a decision it was to leave his alma mater and what led him to leave for Randolph Macon.

In his 1st season at R-MC the team posted a 13-3 conference mark and shared the ODAC regular season title with Guilford. The Yellow Jackets went 17-9 overall. In his 2nd season he was named the ODAC Coach of the Year after leading R-MC to a 12-4 record in conference play as well as winning the ODAC regular-season title. The 2018-19 season resulted in a 27-4 overall record including a 15-1 ODAC record, the team's 3rd straight regular season title and R-MC returned to the NCAA Tournament advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. You’re again named ODAC Coach of the Year

This past season the team goes 28-2 (15-1 in the ODAC) prior to COVID ending the NCAA Tournament prematurely. Coach Merkel talks about he's been able to transform R-MC into a team routinely ranked high in the NCAA rankings not being able to finish the the NCAA Tournament after capturing both the ODAC regular-season and tournament titles after winning their 1st two NCAA games.

Coach Brian Eskildsen shares his coaching journey from playing JV basketball at WT Woodson High School to becoming the top Assistant Coach at Harvard.

Brian grew up in Fairfax, VA and attended WT Woodson High School where he was cut from the freshman team, led the JV team in scoring, and then was cut from the varsity team. After graduating in 2005 he attended Tennessee and tried to walk-on the team, after not making the team he began playing intramurals and caught the eye of the Lady Vols coaching staff. They invited him to be a practice player and serve on their "Scout Team". He shares some stories about the late Pat Summit and how he was a member of two NCAA National Champion teams.

In 2009-10 Joe Pasternack hired him for his first college coaching job at the University of New Orleans as their Director of Basketball Operations, he plateaued that unpaid coaching job into a full time position at Stanford University working under Johnny Dawkins. After serving as their Video Coordinator and helping them to back to back NIT appearances - including winning the 2012 NIT Championship. After leaving to become an Assistant Coach at Rice University, Stanford benefited from the foundation he helped build and Stanford made the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

At Rice University they didn't have the level of success that they had hoped for, but he gained experience recruiting and working at another high academic college basketball program. Fellow WT Woodson graduate Tommy Amaker hired him to join the coaching staff at Harvard and they've gone on to have unprecedented success in Cambridge. Recently Brian was named one of the top assistant coaches in the Ivy League in a poll of Ivy League coaches. The Crimson are recruiting nationally ranked players and consistently playing in the postseason.

Coach Chuck Henry shares his journey from growing up in the DMV area and how basketball has taken him around the world and now is the Head Coach of the Fairmont Heights Hornets (2017 Maryland 1A State Champions).

Coach Henry grew up in the DMV and excelled at multiple sports, he ended up going to Morris College and then transferring to Barton College where he played under the legendary Ron Lievense, After graduating from Barton he ended up playing overseas where he averaged nearly a triple double, including a league best 33PPG, 16RPG, 8 Steals in 2008-09. He also recorded 4 triple-doubles and had three 50-point games, while in Germany he began coaching and training youth basketball.

He returned stateside after an injury and joined the coaching staff at Barton College under Coach Lievense, Coach Henry helped lead them to a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA D2 National Tournament before moving back to the Washington DC area where he became a teacher and coached at Catholic University under Steve Howes.

After coaching at the NCAA D2 and D3 level, Coach Henry got hired at Longwood (D1) and shares how that was arguably the lowest point on his life. He shares in depth about the depression he suffered from after the first time in his life that he didn't achieve a high level of success. He began coaching at Caesar Chavez HS as an Assistant Coach and then taking over at Fairmont Heights HS the following season. Coach Henry has already led them to one state championship and he continues to pour his heart and soul into coaching those young men - as well as the Team Takeover AAU team that he coaches too.

Coach Chris Cottrell shares his coaching journey from growing up in New York to becoming a NCAA basketball coach and now being back in New York  and running his own HS basketball program.

Chris is the son of a coach, and always knew that he wanted to coach basketball at some level. He attended High Point University and became a Student Manager under Bart Lundy during his first season at HPU. While at High Point he worked alongside guys like Josh Schertz, Don Burgess, Sean Woods, Justin Furr, and some solid managers. He quickly took on the role of a Student Assistant, he was able to manage his time with being in a fraternity, being a high academic student, and working long hours with High Point MBB. Coach Lundy gave Chris the opportunity to become the program's first Graduate Assistant in the long and storied history of HPU Hoops.

When Josh Schertz was named the Head Coach at Lincoln Memorial University (D2), Chris was one of his 1st hires and worked relentlessly to build LMU into the national powerhouse that it is today. Coach Cottrell accepted the HC position at Davis & Elkins College (D2) in West Virginia in 2013 and he did a very good job during his tenure. We talk about him offering me my first college basketball coaching job and reminisce on working camps together. Chris left D&E and took a year off from coaching, then returned to LMU for one final season before moving back to New York.

He left the NCAA ranks to takeover a HS basketball program and become a teacher. Recently Coach Cottrell began The Bonafide Basketball Podcast which is dedicated to covering and promoting NCAA D2 basketball.

Coach Ryan Saunders shares his coaching journey from growing up in Florida to becoming the first HC is the history of Converse College's men's basketball program.

After a successful high school playing career,  he attended Barry University and was a three-year captain, helping led them to their first-ever NCAA Division II tournaments appearances. Ryan finished as the all-time assist leader at Barry University after playing under the late Cesar Odio. He stayed eight addition years on staff coaching under Coach Odio for six seasons, and then his final two were under Coach Butch Estes before accepting an AC position at Belmont Abbey. While on staff at Belmont Abbey he served under Martin Unger, Billy Taylor, and then Dan Ficke.  eight addition years on staff under Butch Estes before accepting an AC position at Belmont Abbey. While on staff at Belmont Abbey he served under Martin Unger, Billy Taylor, and then Dan Ficke.

Coach Saunders discussing being passed over for the Head Coach position at Belmont Abbey and how much he appreciated Dan Ficke retaining him, and even promoting him to Associate HC during his final campaign at Belmont Abbey. He talks about how he's gone about building named the Converse College men's basketball program from the ground up, and so much more.

Coach Nate Loesner shares his journey from growing up in Cedar Falls, Iowa to eventually being an Assistant Coach for the Chicago Bulls.

Nate was born without his left hand, but he never let than hinder his love of sports. He went on to earn 11 varsity letters in four sports during his playing days at NU High School. After meeting Tim Floyd at a summer camp, he stayed in touch and decided to attend Iowa State as a Student Manager. Nate attempting to be a walk-on for the Iowa State baseball team he was cut but continued to play in wood bat leagues where eventually he caught the attention of the coaching staff and earned a spot on the team as a senior.

After graduating from Iowa State he returned to NU High School as the Head Coach for both the boy's basketball team as well as the baseball team. He then went on to coach at Ames HS before chasing his dream to coach college basketball. Coach Larry Eustachy met with him prior to moving down to Southern Miss and he agreed to hire him as a Graduate Assistant - he quickly was promoted and ended up spending a total of six years on the coaching staff at Southern Miss.

Fred Hoiberg hired Nate to be a Graduate Assistant at Iowa State, he was then promoted to the Director of Player Development before joining the Chicago Bulls as their Video Coordinator after Coach Hoiberg was hired as the Head Coach. He quickly established himself as a hard worker and the following season he was tasked with being the first Head Coach in the history of the Windy City Bulls (NBA G League), where he had players from other NBA franchises on his roster and was in constant communication with the Chicago Bulls coaching staff and management.

Coach Hoiberg made him an Assistant Coach of the Chicago Bulls in 2018 and despite Coach Hoiberg being let go, Nate was retained and his contract was extended. He's a terrific example of a coach's coach who's also a player's coach at the same time. Coach Loesner will be back on a coaching staff and continuing to impact lives in no time.

Coach Will Martin shares his journey from growing up in Tennessee and going to Kentucky and eventually becoming a Student Manager at UK under John Calipari. He was a part of teams that reached the Elite 8 on three occasions, the Final Four on two occasions and during his time as the Head Manager - the 2012 National Championship! Coach Martin also served as captain of the University of Kentucky Ethics Debate team from 2009-2011.

After Kentucky he helped train the 1st pick of the NBA Draft [Anthony Davis] and lived with him in New Orleans. Coach Martin went on to serve as the Graduate Assistant and Video Coordinator at the University of Tulsa from 2013-2015. He served under Danny Manning during the season that the team won the Conference USA Championship, and then under Frank Haith during his seconds season. If being a Graduate Assistant and Video Coordinator on top of taking care of business in the classroom, Martin also served as Senator for the College of Education during his time in Oklahoma.

From Tulsa Coach Martin moved to San Francisco to be the Director of Basketball Operations on Rex Walters' coaching staff. After San Francisco he drove 30+ hours home to Nashville, then sold real estate and trained kids for free. He was the 4th Volunteer Assistant Coach at his alma mater - Battle Ground Academy and then served as the Director of Athletic Admissions and Assistant Coach at Martin Methodist.

Coach Martin is also involved in a prison ministry project – “Against the Grain” – where he serves as a volunteer teacher of the “180 Project.”