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Chris Bartley |
Head Men's Basketball Coach cbartley@wpi.edu 508-831-5760 |
Now in his ninth year at the helm, Chris Bartley has built WPI into one of the top programs in New England. A three-time NEWMAC Coach of the Year, Bartley has led WPI to six straight NEWMAC regular season championships as well as NEWMAC conference tournament championships in 2005 and 2006.
During the last six seasons, WPI has compiled an impressive
131-33 record (.798 winning percentage) which includes trips to the
NCAA Tournament the past five seasons and the ECAC Semifinals
in 2004.
Further, WPI has captured six consecutive Worcester County Tip-Off
Tournament Championships and have won the prestigious Milwaukee
School of Engineering and Williams Tournaments. Over the
last five seasons, the WPI program was ranked #1 in the
Northeast Region and garnered multiple top 25 national rankings by
D3hoops.com. The Crimson and Gray won NCAA Tournament
contests in 2005, 2006 and 2009, including reaching the Sweet 16 in
2005. The last three years, the Engineers have proven to be a
national success story, as they have garnered three consecutive
at-large Pool C bids.
In addition to his own NEWMAC Coach of the Year selections in 2004, 2005 and 2008, his players have been honored with many awards. Ryan Cain won the prestigious Jostens Award in 2007 as the top Division III student-athlete in men's basketball. Cain also garnered All-American and All-New England accolades throughout his career and was the NEWMAC Player of the Year in 2005 and 2007 and the Rookie of the Year in 2006. Other NEWMAC Players of the Year include Mike Prestileo in 2004 and Antoine Coleman in 2008.
In 2004, WPI was 20-8 and reached the ECAC Tournament semifinals while being voted "The Most Improved Team in New England" by the New England Basketball Coaches Association. Before Bartley arrived in 2001, WPI had suffered through 27 straight losses.
Constructing quality programs has been a trademark for Bartley as all three colleges he has coached earned the Most Improved Team in New England Award within three years of his arrival. Previous to WPI, he played a major role in building programs at Babson and Wentworth. As top assistant at both schools, he helped lead each to NCAA and ECAC post-season tournament berths while implementing a nationally-recognized defensive system.
From 1994-97, Wentworth skyrocketed from a 2-23 record to seasons of 19-8 and 20-8, including regular-season and conference tournament championships and an NCAA Tournament berth in 1997. As full-time assistant men's basketball coach and recruiting coordinator at Babson, he helped lift that program from a 9-16 record and 5th place NEWMAC finish in 2000 to an 18-11 record and second-place regular-season finish in 2001. That Babson team then made trips to the NEWMAC finals and ECAC New England semifinals in 2001.
A graduate of UMass-Lowell, Bartley was a successful head coach at Medford High School from 1997 to 1999, posting an impressive 41-5 record and winning two Greater Boston League championships. He earned recognition as the Boston Globe's Division I Coach of the Year in 1998 when he led his team to the North Sectional title and a trip to the Boston Garden for the State Semifinals and Eastern Massachusetts championship.
Bartley is on the Board of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization of Central Massachusetts and his teams are involved in numerous community service projects. In April of 2008, Bartley received the Denise Nicoletti Trustees' Award for Service to Community during the university's annual Honors Convocation. Established in 2003 in memory of WPI's first tenured female faculty member in electrical and computer engineering, it is presented to a member of the faculty or staff in recognition of passion and action in serving the needs of a community.
The awards don't stop there. In the spring of 2006, the team was honored at the State House for this work with Big Brothers. In 2005 the team was the proud recipient of the prestigious Edwin Coghlin Community Service Award for outstanding work with the Big Brother organization and the Elm Park Community School of Worcester. Also in 2002, the team received an award for their participation in the Worcester Neighborhood Clean-Up project.
Coach Bartley is also a frequent speaker at basketball camps and
clinics throughout New England.
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Rob Southall |
Assistant Men's Basketball Coach southall@wpi.edu 508-831-5147 |
The 2009-2010 campaign will mark the third season for Rob Southall as an full-time assistant coach for Chris Bartley and the WPI Men's Basketball program. The program has enjoyed tremendous success with Southall on the bench, compiling a 87-21 (.806 winning percentage) record with four NEWMAC regular season championships and four appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Southall arrived at WPI after spending a season assisting Joe Reilly at Bates to its best season in school history (19-8). Bates reached the NESCAC Tournament final before falling to Amherst.
A graduate of Springfield College, Southall played basketball for two seasons and was a graduate assistant coach there under Charlie Brock for two more years. At Springfield, he was also the head JV basketball coach and heavily involved in recruiting and game preparation. Southall owns a Bachelor of Science ('02) and a master's ('04) degree from Springfield.
Southall also assists the athletic department as a photographer for the Sports Information office and plays a significant role in organizing the Athletic banquet each April.
Chris Bartley's comments on Rob Southall:
"Rob has developed a reputation as a hard worker with talent in
recruiting and teaching the game. He has worked for two coaches I
respect and he truly loves the game. Rob will be involved in all
aspects of the program with particular emphasis on player
development and recruiting."
|
Ryan Hopkins |
Assistant Men's Basketball Coach hopkins@wpi.edu |
Hopkins begins his fourth year as an assistant coach for Chris Bartley and the WPI Men's Basketball program.
Hopkins joined Bartley's staff after a standout career at Worcester State College. He earned All-MASCAC honors in 2005-2006 after helping the Lancers reach the conference tournament final. Hopkins averaged 11.0 points a game during his career at WSC, while dishing out 93 assists and notching 71 steals in 46 games.
Before coming to WPI, Hopkins had coached three seasons of AAU basketball for the CMAC organization. He had also worked basketball camps at Holy Cross, Assumption, Worcester State, Clark, Oxford High School and Millbury High School. During the summer of 2009, Hopkins was tabbed to coach the scholastic central Massachusetts boys team at the prestigious Bay State Games and led his squad to the bronze medal.
Hopkins, a native of nearby Oxford, has also in the past guided
the Oxford varsity program over the summer.
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Bill Gibbons |
Assistant Men's Basketball Coach |
Bill Gibbons starts his second season as an assistant coach at WPI. Gibbons, who served as a coaching intern last winter, is responsible for game preparation, on-court coaching and teaching during practice and advanced scouting.
A standout football player at Burncoat High School in Worcester, he is currently pursuing a degree in sport management at Anna Maria College in Paxton. He has worked countless basketball camps and clinics at Holy Cross over the last seven years.
The name Gibbons is synonymous with basketball coaching in
Central Massachusetts. His father Bill is in 25th year as the
head women's coach at Holy Cross. His Crusaders are perennial
challengers in the Patriot League and have appeared in 11 NCAA
Championships. His grandfather Bill is a legendary college
and high school coach and official in the area is now the venerable
PA voice of WPI men's and women's basketball. Finally, his
Uncle Tom is the successful head boys basketball coach at Wachusett
Regional High School.