Brown men’s basketball coach Mike Martin has named Cooper Handelsman and Sam Hershberger to his 2019-20 coaching staff, with Handelsman being named Assistant Coach and Hershberger the Director of Basketball Operations.
“Our program is very fortunate to be adding Cooper and Sam to our coaching staff,” said Martin. “They both have all of the requisite qualities to have outstanding careers in college basketball. Cooper comes to us from the Hoop Group, where he developed under the terrific leadership of Rob Kennedy and his staff. Sam has spent the last two years learning from Mike White at Florida, a coach for whom I have great respect. Our student-athletes will benefit greatly from the additions of Cooper and Sam.”
Handelsman comes to Brown after working with the Hoop Group as the Director of Hoop Group Elite since December 2016. He had responsibilities of recruiting over 3,000 student-athletes to Hoop Group Elite Camps each summer. Handelsman also established and grew the new Chicago based Elite Camps and Tournaments and promoted a platform to showcase student-athletes during live recruiting periods.
A 2015 graduate of Kenyon College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, Handelsman twice set the program single season assist record and was team captain as a senior. He also worked as Video Coordinator at Lehigh University from August 2015 to April 2016, managing all video-related operations, including game, scouting, practice and recruiting film.
Hershberger worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Florida from 2017-19, assisting the Director of Basketball Operations and serving as the Florida Basketball Camp Commissioner. He also led individual skill workouts with guards, wing players and big men.
Hershberger graduated from Elon University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and earned a M.S. degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology from the University of Florida in 2019. At Elon, Hershberger joined the team as a non-recruited player and was voted team captain as a senior, lettering in all four years. He received the Coach’s Award for outstanding work ethic and enthusiasm in 2016, and earned the Elon Athletics Browne Memorial Award for displaying exemplary qualities of sportsmanship.
