The Ohio Dominican University men’s basketball program will have a new leader as the athletic department announced a new head coach.
Casey Kaufman has been appointed head coach, as announced by Jeff Blair, the Ohio Dominican Athletic Director. Following an eight-year stint at Malone University, Kaufman joins the Panthers as the 15th head coach in program history, replacing Kelly Winter after his four seasons with the Panthers as head coach.
“We are excited to welcome Casey Kaufman to Ohio Dominican as our new men’s basketball head coach,” said Blair. “Casey has tremendous experience coaching in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference; we are looking forward to seeing what the future holds for our men’s basketball program with Casey at the helm.”
Kaufman was the head coach of the Malone Pioneers for the last eight years, leading the Pioneers to seven Great Midwest tournament appearances. Of the seven appearances, Malone advanced to the semifinals four times (2017, 2020, 2021 and 2023). The Pioneers won the G-MAC title in 2021 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
“I am excited to a part of the Ohio Dominican and Columbus community,” said Kaufman. “I would like to thank President Connie Gallaher, Jeff Blair, Sandy Rowley and the entire hiring committee for choosing me to lead the men’s basketball program. We aim to build a blue-collar program that puts value in our collective goals over our individual efforts. We are excited to get to work.”
Over the course of eight seasons, Kaufman and the Pioneers had seven seasons with teams above .500 and at least 17 wins in five seasons. He has developed 18 All-Conference players, including 12 First Team accolades.
Prior to his time at Malone, Kaufman was an assistant coach at the College of Wooster for three years. In all three years, the Fighting Scots qualified for the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
He earned three letters at Heidelberg, including being a team captain as a senior. Kaufman graduated with a bachelor’s degree in History in 2012.
