Eastern Illinois men’s basketball coach Marty Simmons has completed his coaching staff for the upcoming season with the hiring of Nate Michael as an assistant coach on the Panthers staff.
Michael joins the EIU staff after working the past two seasons on the staff of Daniyal Robinson at Cleveland State where the Vikings made back-to-back appearances in the CBI post-season tournament. While on the CSU staff Michael worked as the Director of Student Athlete Development and Video Coordinator. The program posted back-to-back 21-wins seasons with Tristan Enaruna earning first team All-Horizon League honors both seasons before signing recently as a free agent with the Boston Celtics.
Prior to his stint at Cleveland State, Michael worked for three years at Kansas State on the staff of head coach Bruce Weber. Michael’s first two seasons at KSU were as a graduate assistant student manager while his third season was as the team’s video coordinator. Michael would complete his master’s degree from Kansas State in 2021.
He played college basketball at McKendree for five seasons and ended his career ranked in the Top 20 for career scoring and Top 10 for career 3-pointers made. Michael earned his bachelor’s degree from McKendree in 2018 and completed his first master’s degree from McKendree in 2019.
In addition to his playing and coaching staff experience, Michael has worked summer camps with some of the top programs in the nation including time at Purdue, Oklahoma, Creighton and Northern Iowa.
He and his wife Sesely recently welcomed a son, Trace, to their family.
Simmons also announced the hiring of Carlos Cortez as the Panthers men’s basketball graduate assistant. Cortez has served as the Panthers lead student manager the last two years prior to graduation from EIU in May.
Nate Michael named Assistant Basketball Coach at Eastern Illinois
