GW men’s basketball coach Chris Caputo continued assembling his initial coaching staff at GW on Thursday with the addition of Cooper Handelsman as the program’s Director of Basketball Operations.
“Cooper has the diversity of experience we were looking for in the role of Director of Basketball Operations,” Caputo said. “He was not only an outstanding player at Kenyon College, but his organizational skills developed at the Hoop Group, and his work at two highly competitive academic institutions like Lehigh and Brown make him the perfect fit to run our daily operations for GW.”
Handelsman has spent the last three years as an assistant coach at Brown under head coach Mike Martin. Under Handelsman’s guidance, Jaylan Gainey was twice named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and Kino Lilly Jr. earned Rookie of the Year honors this past season.
“I’m grateful to join the George Washington community and work with Coach Caputo,” Handelsman said. “The combination of Washington D.C., and high-level academics will allow us to attract some of the best student-athletes to the university. Coach has a vision of how to build a successful program, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Prior to his time at Brown, Handelsman spent three years as the Director of Hoop Group Elite, where he was responsible for recruiting over 3,000 student-athletes to Hoop Group Elite Camps each summer. He also established and grew the Chicago-based Elite Camps and Tournaments and promoted a platform to showcase student-athletes during live recruiting periods.
Handelsman began his coaching career as a video coordinator for one season at Lehigh in 2015, managing all video-related operations, including game, scouting, practice and recruiting film.
Handelsman graduated from Kenyon College in 2015 with a degree in Economics while also shining on the court. During his career, he twice set the program’s single-game assist record and was named a team captain as a senior.
Handelsman Joins Men’s Basketball Staff as Director of Operations
