Eastern University Men’s Basketball Head Coach and Interim Athletic Director Eric McNelley has picked Dan Pruessner as his top assistant for the 2018-19 Men’s Basketball season. Pruessner joins the Eastern basketball family from Freedom Christian Academy in Fayetteville, N.C.
“I am thrilled to have Dan on staff with us,” McNelley said. “He has a great understanding for the concepts of the game and an ability to teach them. Our players will benefit from his experience in player development and team leadership.”
Pruessner led the basketball program at Freedom Christian for four years. Before that, he was the head coach at Florida Christian in Miami. While at Florida Christian, Pruessner coached against McNelley and had current Eastern forward Gabe Perez on his roster.
His arrival was made more important for the program by McNelley’s promotion to lead the Department and the departure of all four assistants from the last two seasons over the summer. The Eagles won more conference games than any team in the league over the last two years and hosted postseason games in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.
“Each of those guys left to do something great,” McNelley said. “To see Colin [Campbell] and Ryan [Nemetz] leading high school programs and Justin in charge at PSU-Brandywine is a great indicator of the health of the program. When Trey Montgomery got the job at Penn, I realized that this hire was going to be critical. Dan will make me a better coach and will help our program continue to develop.”
In addition to his experience running high school programs, Pruessner has developed camps and tournaments and was the Head of Basketball Operations at the FCA/ Freedom Courts Sportsplex in Fayetteville.
“Dan understands Eastern’s mission and is committed to Christian education,” McNelley continued. “He and his family will be a great addition to our department. I am thrilled that it worked out for him to be here as my Associate Head Coach.”
https://goeasterneagles.com/news/2018/10/17/pruessner-joins-mens-basketball-staff.aspx
