Navy men’s basketball assistant coach Ernie Nestor is retiring after coaching college basketball for 40 seasons. Nestor served as a head coach at both George Mason and Elon, and has spent the last five seasons as an assistant at Navy on head coach Ed DeChellis’s staff.

“This is a great opportunity to express my appreciation to Coach Ed DeChellis for the opportunity to coach at the United States Naval Academy, as well as to thank the many coaches that it has been my pleasure to work with during my career,” said Nestor. “The support of my family during my coaching journey has been incredible and impossible to repay. The key to coaching is the young men, who you coach and assist in becoming better people as well as better players. I have developed a great respect for the student-athletes at the United States Naval Academy, as their mission is so much more than just basketball. Their dedication will always be with me as I move to a new chapter in my life.”

“Coach Nestor has been a valuable asset to the Navy basketball program in many ways,” said DeChellis. “He is an outstanding coach and an outstanding teacher. He is a great person who represents all the values and morals of the United States Naval Academy.”

After six seasons as a high school basketball coach in Virginia, Nestor began his college coaching career as an assistant at James Madison in the 1976-77 season. Nestor spent three years at James Madison before beginning a six-year tenure as an assistant coach at Wake Forest in the 1979-80 season.

Nestor served as an assistant coach at California for three seasons before being named the head coach at George Mason. Nestor was the head coach at George Mason for five years (1989-93), leading the Patriots to two 20-win seasons and one NCAA Tournament appearance.

After his tenure at George Mason, Nestor returned to Wake Forest, where he helped develop Wooden and Naismith Award winner Tim Duncan. Nestor was an assistant coach for eight seasons (1994-01) in his second stint at Wake Forest.

Nestor then spent two years at South Carolina as an assistant before being named the head coach at Elon. Nestor led Elon to its first winning season as a Division I program in 2006 and was subsequently named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year. Following his six-year tenure at Elon (2004-09), Nestor spent one season working as an advanced scout for the New Jersey Nets.

Nestor returned to college basketball the following season, joining DeChellis’s staff at Penn State in 2010-11. Nestor also spent one season at Missouri as an assistant in 2011-12 before rejoining DeChellis at Navy for the past five seasons (2013-17).

During his collegiate coaching career, Nestor was a part of 11 teams that reached NCAA Tournament play and eight more that advanced to the NIT. Nestor worked as an assistant coach in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC.

In 2014, Nestor was received a ‘Guardians of the Game’ award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Nestor’s Guardians of the Game honor was awarded for education, which is presented each year to a coach who is committed to continuing education and the development of their profession in order to be better mentors, teachers and leaders.

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