Donald Copeland, a former Seton Hall men’s basketball All-BIG EAST performer and Jersey City native who helped the Pirates reach a pair of NCAA Tournaments, is returning to his alma mater and joining head coach Kevin Willard‘s staff as an assistant coach, Willard announced Thursday. Copeland spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach at Wagner College.
Copeland becomes the 10th former Pirates men’s basketball player to then become an assistant or head basketball coach at Seton Hall. The list includes current associate head coach Grant Billmeier, who was Copeland’s teammate from 2003-06.
“We are thrilled to bring Donald back home to Seton Hall, where he had so many great memories,” Willard said. “Donald’s a terrific coach, and his work ethic and deep knowledge of the basketball scene here in the state of New Jersey will help us continue to identify, recruit and develop the area’s talented players.”
Copeland spent a total of six seasons at Wagner, the last four as assistant coach and the first two as graduate manager, and played an integral role in the Seahawks’ recent success. Over the course of those six seasons with Copeland on staff, Wagner won three Northeast Conference regular season championships, advanced to the NEC Tournament final twice, appeared in the NIT twice, including an upset win over top-seeded St. Bonaventure in 2016, and compiled an NEC league record of 64-44.
Copeland’s first season as an assistant coach at Wagner in 2017-18 was one of the best in Seahawks program history as the team went 23-10 overall and 14-4 in the NEC and set the program record for most home wins and most consecutive home wins with 16, which was second-most in the NCAA that season. That year, Copeland also completed his Master of Business Administration at Wagner.
Prior to starting his coaching career, Copeland enjoyed a prosperous professional playing career both overseas and in Puerto Rico, where he won championships in 2011 and 2015.
At Seton Hall, Copeland appeared in 108 career games for the Pirates, and his 754 career points currently rank him 77th all-time in program history. He helped The Hall reach the NCAA Tournament in both 2004 and 2006, and in his senior season of 2006, he more than doubled his scoring output from the previous season and ended up leading the Pirates in scoring (16.1 PPG), assists (4.5 APG), steals (1.4 SPG), three-pointers made (71) and free throw percentage (.844).
In 2006, Copeland graduated Seton Hall with a degree in communications and media studies, was a second-team All-BIG EAST and All-Met Writers selection and was voted Seton Hall’s Senior Male Athlete of the Year.
Before accepting a full scholarship at Seton Hall, Copeland played for legendary head coach Bob Hurley, Sr. at St. Anthony, helping lead the Friars to New Jersey State Championships in 2001 and 2002, with the latter team ranking No, 2 in the nation. He earned first-team All-State and first-team All-Tri-State honors following his senior season of 2001-02.
Copeland joins the perennial BIG EAST contending Pirates, who are coming off their sixth straight top-four finish in the league that includes winning the 2016 conference tournament championship and 2020 regular season title. Looking ahead to 2021-22, the Pirates return four of their top six scorers from last season, add three transfers who have combined for over 1,400 career Div. I points scored and bring in a top-25 rated freshman recruiting class that will help Seton Hall once again compete for another conference championship and NCAA Tournament bid.
Donald Copeland Returns to Seton Hall as Assistant Coach
