Eric Nitsche and Anthony White have joined Tommy DeSalme’s staff at Hutchinson Community College (KS) as assistant men’s basketball coaches.
Eric Nitsche joins the Blue Dragon men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach for the 2021-22 season, and he brings some high-powered credentials with him.
Nitsche comes to Hutchinson Community College from a successful seven-year stint with Blue Dragon head coach Tommy DeSalme at Cowley College. Hutchinson will be Nitsche’s third Jayhawk Conference assignment, also coaching at Cowley and his alma mater, Kansas City, Kansas Community College.
At Cowley from 2014 to 2021, the Tigers won 133 games, but it was over the last two seasons that the Tiger program reached national prominence by re-creating their identity.
Becoming a high-scoring, full-court pressure team for 40 minutes, the 2019-20 Tigers led the nation in scoring at 109.8 points per game and won the Jayhawk East championship. The Tigers were eliminated in the Region VI Tournament semifinals, but received an at-large bid to the 2020 NJCAA Tournament. That would have been Cowley’s first national tournament appearance since 1957, but the Coronavirus pandemic cancelled the tournament.
The 2020-21 Tigers picked up right where the previous season left off. Cowley was No. 2 in the NJCAA in scoring at 119 points per game. The 2020-21 Tigers went 24-5, tied for the Jayhawk East title, won the Region VI Tournament for the first time since 1957 and advanced all the way to the NJCAA Tournament championship game. The 2020-21 Tigers averaged 14.1 made 3-pointers per game.
Over his time at Cowley, Nitsche coached nine All-Region VI players, 20 All-KJCCC performers, a two-time NJCAA All-American in Daylen Ridgnal as well as numerous all-league and all-NJCAA scholar athletes.
Nitsche started his coaching career as an assistant at Kansas City. From 2010-13, the Blue Devils produced a record of 66-30. He recruited and coached eight all-Jayhawk East and four All-Region VI performers at KCK.
Nitsche, who was an All-City basketball and football player at Shawnee Mission North High School, played his first two years of college basketball at Kansas City before spending his final two seasons at the University of Saint Mary. He led his college teams to 20 plus wins all four years and finished in the top-10 in career 3-point field goal percentage at both schools.
At KCK, Nitsche scored 15 points in a Region VI Tournament win over Hutchinson in 2007. He hit nine 3-pointers in an NAIA playoff game while at St. Mary’s.
Nitsche is a 2005 graduate of Shawnee Missoin north, a 2007 graduate of KCK and a 2010 graduate of St. Mary’s University with a degree in Sports/Business Management.
Nitsche and wife, Hannah, have three sons: Blake (7), Jack (5) and Luke (2).
Jayhawk Conference alumnus Anthony White joins the Blue Dragon Men’s Basketball staff as an assistant for the 2021-22 season.
White is very familiar with Blue Dragon head coach Tommy DeSalme, who was his head coach for two seasons at Cowley College in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
For the past six seasons, White has served as an assistant coach at Friends University in Wichita. Over that span, White and the Falcons made two NAIA National Tournament appearances, won the 2015 KCAC Tournament championship, produced three NAIA All-Americans and 20 Scholar-Athletes.
White as a student assistant at Friends in 2014-15.
White’s collegiate playing career started at Cowley College where he helped the Tigers produce 49 total wins in two seasons. In addition to his on-court success, White was a member of the Cowley Dean’s Honor Roll for two seasons and he was the Cowley Homecoming King in 2012.
White transferred to Friends University as a forward/center. In two years as a player for the Falcons, White played in 53 games, averaging 12.0 points and 7.9 rebounds per game while shooting 64.3 percent from the field.
White was an All-KCAC Honorable Mention selection and a member of the KCAC All-Defensive Team in 2013-14. He came back from a pre-season injury midway through the season to be a major contributor on the Falcons’ 27-7 team that won the KCAC regular season championship (15-3 in conference play) and made it to the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament. The Falcons were ranked no. 8 in the final NAIA poll that season. White was a Second Team All-KCAC selection and the KCAC Defensive Player of the Year in the 2012-13 season.
White was a Friends’ teammate of former Blue Dragon All-American Joe Mitchell.
White is a native of Kansas City, Kan. He went to high school at Sumner Academy, where he won a Kansas Class 4A state championship.
White graduated from Sumner Academy in 2010, Cowley College in 2012 with a bachelor of art’s degree in Pre-Engineering and from Friends University in 2015 with a degree in math.
