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Nick Patella, an Elkins native son who went on to play for former Head Basketball Coach John Beilein at West Virginia University, has been named Head Basketball Coach at Davis & Elkins College effective immediately.
In making the announcement, D&E Director of Athletics Jamie Joss, said, “With the resignation of former head coach Chris Cottrell, we reached out immediately to Nick to share the vision and mission of the college and our athletic program, and to explore his possible interest in joining us. Once President Smith and I learned how closely-aligned Nick’s personal philosophies, goals and expectations are with ours, we arranged for him to meet with members of the team.
“Nick’s vision for the men’s basketball program embodies the spirit of hard work and perseverance he gained from being raised in the Elkins community, the state of West Virginia and his pursuit to play NCAA Division I basketball at WVU,” Joss added. “We quickly realized we had our next head coach right here in our own back yard.”
Patella was an invited walk-on who earned a scholarship at West Virginia University and played from 2002-2005 under one of the nation’s top college basketball coaches, John Beilein, now head coach at the University of Michigan. Despite his playing career being cut short due to a series of concussions, Patella continued with the team throughout their best 2004-2005 Elite 8 season, shifting his focus to coaching and absorbing as much knowledge as he could from Beilein.
“I have always been involved in basketball,” Patella stated. “I started out coaching at the college level then made a decision to help develop younger student-athletes at the high school level. I am blessed to be afforded this opportunity to return to college basketball in my hometown. It’s where I belong and it’s where my heart is.”
After graduating with a Multidisciplinary Studies degree in 2007 from WVU, Patella was an assistant for head coach Bill Lilly at West Virginia Wesleyan College. After spending three years at WVWC and earning his MBA degree, Patella shifted his coaching focus to AAU basketball with Halo Hoops in Wilmington, N.C. He spent four years with Halo helping youth basketball players achieve their goals of playing collegiate basketball.
Most recently Patella coached at his alma mater, Elkins High School. Prior to that he served three years as Head Men’s and Women’s Golf coach at West Virginia Wesleyan College as well as the college’s Sports Information Director in 2013-14.
http://senatornation.com/sports/mbkb/2015-16/releases/patella
