UMass Lowell Men’s Basketball Head Coach Pat Duquette has announced the addition of Nick Schmidt as an assistant coach ahead of the 2026-27 season. Schmidt, who has nearly ten years of experience coaching at the high school and collegiate levels, joins the River Hawks after spending the last season as an assistant coach at St. Bonaventure University.
“We are excited to welcome Nick Schmidt to our program,” said Duquette. “Nick has experience at both the prep school and college levels in addition to growing up in a college basketball family. We are looking forward to working with him to continue to develop our student-athletes while competing for a championship.”
While at St. Bonaventure, Schmidt assisted the head coach in all aspects with an emphasis on development, recruiting, practice preparation, and game scouting. In his one season there, the Bonnies pulled off a pair of upsets in the A-10 Championship to make a run to the quarterfinals.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to join Coach Duquette and staff at UMass Lowell,” commented Schmidt. “I’m excited to work with great players and coaches and hope to play a part in helping bring an America East championship to the men’s basketball program.”
Prior to his time at St. Bonaventure, Schmidt spent a season at Bryant University, where he continued to put emphasis on development, recruiting, practice preparation, and scouting. While with the Bulldogs, he played a major role in helping the team earn its first America East Regular Season Championship and America East Championship, earning a bid to the 2025 NCAA Tournament. A member of the 2025 America East Coaching Staff of the Year, Schmidt helped develop both the America East Player of the Year and the America East Newcomer of the Year.
Beyond his time at Bryant, Schmidt had a handful of other stops in his coaching career, most notably serving as a National Prep Team Assistant Basketball Coach at Putnam Science Academy from 2021 to 2024, while also taking on the role of the Head Men’s Varsity Basketball Coach there. He also spent a year as an assistant coach for the NY Jayhawks in 2023, Catholic University during the 2020-21 season, and two years as a Graduate Assistant Coach at St. Bonaventure during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.
Schmidt comes from a family with deep roots in basketball coaching. His father, Mark, has been a Division I head coach for 25 seasons, including the last 19 at St. Bonaventure University. His brother, Mike, currently serves as the head men’s varsity basketball coach at Putnam Science Academy.
Schmidt graduated from Alfred University with his bachelor’s in marketing in 2018 before earning his master’s in business administration from St. Bonaventure in 2020.
