Head coach Mark Schmidt has announced the addition of Dana Valentine to the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball coaching staff. Valentine will serve as an assistant coach beginning with the 2023-24 season.
“Dana is a young, up-and-coming coach and we are really lucky to be able to have someone of his caliber joining our program,” Schmidt said. “He has a lot of recruiting ties and is extremely well-connected in the New York/New Jersey and New England areas and has a great understanding of how the recruiting process works. He has also been key to an incredible run of success at Putnam Science Academy. He’s going to be a really good mentor to our young guys and will work closely with our wing players. We’re really excited about having him join us.”
Valentine comes to Western New York after serving on staff at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut. He helped guide Putnam to back-to-back prep national championships as an assistant coach with the Mustangs, working with all aspects of one of the nation’s best prep programs.
This past season, Valentine helped to lead Putnam to a 39-3 record and a 21-game winning streak en route to the fourth national championship in school history, all coming in the last six seasons. The previous year, Putnam went 38-0 on the way to the national title.
In addition to working as an assistant with the prep team, Valentine also worked as compliance director/travel coordinator and was the varsity team’s head coach from 2018-21.
His roles at Putnam saw him work with Mustangs student-athletes both on and off the court as he also ensured that students were meeting NCAA academic requirements while supporting their transition to the next level through the college admission process.
Prior to his arrival at Putnam, he was an assistant on the staff at Notre Dame Prep in 2016 and 2017 and also coached with AAU New England from 2016-21, serving as head coach of the 15U team, assistant coach for the 16U and 17U squads and was the program’s recruiting coordinator.
Valentine was a collegiate football student-athlete at Worcester State University including his junior season when he rushed for 674 yards and six touchdowns as a running back. He is originally a native of Roxbury, Mass.
He joins assistants Sean Neal and Chris Lowe as well as director of operations Matt Pappano and video coordinator Colden Dwaileebe on Schmidt’s staff.
Story: Scott Eddy, SBU Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Communications
