Quick courtship for Nelson, Holy Cross
WORCESTER — Marcus Blossom had been in his new role as the athletic director at Holy Cross barely for a month before he had to make his first big coaching decision, but it was one he had been preparing for well before he took the job.
So when Bill Carmody announced his retirement last month after four seasons as the coach of the men’s basketball team, Blossom was ready.
“I’ve been around college basketball for 22 years, so I felt like I’ve been looking for the type of coach that I wanted to hire for a long time,” Blossom said.
Blossom fielded many calls and emails, and interviewed numerous candidates for the position, but he never wavered from his top choice. Brett Nelson, who most recently served five years as an assistant at Marquette, was the man he wanted, and after a fairly quick process, Blossom got him.
“My wife probably got tired of me bringing up his name every night, but he was exactly who I was looking for,” Blossom said yesterday at Nelson’s introductory press conference. “Someone that can connect with the players, from a coaching and former player’s standpoint, and someone that was getting better. I wanted someone that was on the rise.”
When Blossom came calling, it didn’t take long for Nelson to be sold. And he got a push from his college coach.
Nelson, who played guard at Florida under Billy Donovan, knew about Holy Cross’ rich basketball history and a phone call to Donovan during the interview process only re-emphasized that.
“He was blown away,” Nelson said. “Like, he just rattled off about 25 names as fast as coach talks in about a minute span. Obviously him playing at Providence, him being from the Northeast, he kept going on and on about the history. And then I really dove in. I was like, ‘Wow, this place has an amazingly rich history.’ ”
Nelson served as the associate head coach on Steve Wojciechowski’s Marquette staff the last two seasons, and Nelson credited his former boss with allowing him to “think like a head coach” over the last five seasons.
“I’ve been preparing for this for 20 years,” Nelson said. “When I look back to my playing career, I always knew I wanted to coach. I was blessed to be around great teammates as a player, but for me, to be able to connect with these guys, I’ve been through everything they’re going through. … I think having that experience is going to help me sitting in this position and being able to put myself in their shoes.”
Nelson already has begun working with his new team, as some players are on campus for summer school. He arrived back to campus with his family at noon Monday for the first time since his interview, and was in the gym with some of his new players for a workout at 3 p.m.
In his first head coaching job, Nelson is tasked with trying to build Holy Cross back into a consistent winner. Though the Crusaders went on a surprise run to win the Patriot League tournamentandearnabidtothe NCAA tournament under Carmody in 2016, they have not won the league’s regular-season title since 2007. Nelson is the fourth coach since.
“I think we have good talent in the program right now,” Nelson said. “I believe in the guys that are on the team. But there’s two things that we have to do each and every day. Number one, we have to evaluate, whether it be in recruiting, what our needs are. You have to be able to assemble a team from an evaluation standpoint. Do they fit the school, do they fit our program? Self evaluating. We have to be able to look in the mirror every day as a coaching staff, we have to continue to grow and get better. … I don’t have all the answers. We’re going to need help and we’re going to need to continue to grow.
“The second thing, we have to develop our players, I have to develop my staff, and that’s an ongoing process.”