Sellers introduced as CCSU coach
Former Blue Devil returns to school after nearly 20 years away
NEW BRITAIN — Back at Central Connecticut after nearly 20 years, Patrick Sellers had stories to tell from his travels. There were people to acknowledge from Fairfield and Storrs, even Omaha and China.
The temporary landing spots of his life as an assistant coach provided experiences that were worthwhile enough on their own, but mostly because they helped him return to his alma mater to run the program he loves.
A ceremony to mark Sellers’ hiring as the 11th coach in CCSU men’s basketball history Friday morning was a reunion, of sorts. Sellers spoke to a scattered crowd as Detrick Gymnasium that included many familiar faces from his days as a student that began in the late 1980s and his stint as an assistant coach that began in the late 1990s.
“It feels great to be home,” said Sellers, a 1991 CCSU grad. “I felt like LeBron James going back to Cleveland. Something in my heart told me I might have a chance to come back at some point. I’m not going to say it’s surreal, but it feels good to be home.”
Sellers was on Howie Dickenman’s staff in 19992003, winning NEC Championships and making NCAA Tournament appearances in 2000 and 2002. In the years since, he has coached at UMass, UConn, Creighton, Fairleigh Dickinson, Fairfield, DePaul and Hofstra, and one year in China.
That nomadic chapter is over now.
Sellers, 52, was hired from a pool of over 80 applicants that was narrowed to five finalists, including: St. Bonaventure associate head coach Steve Curran, Brown associate head coach T.J. Sorrentine, Gannon coach Kelvin Jefferson and Seton Hall assistant Grant Billmeier. Sellers, Curran and Sorrentine were most seriously considered.
“We knew we needed a leader of young men who would be guided by the principal of preparing those young men for their future, both on and off the basketball court,” interim athletic director Tom Pincince said. “Someone asked me last week how we were able to decide. I told them it was difficult but easy at the same time. In the end, it was important to differentiate from those who wanted to be a head coach and those who wanted to be the head coach at Central Connecticut. We have found that coach.”
Sellers has work to do. Central was 40-104 under Donyell Marshall the past five years and hasn’t had a winning season since 201011. Of the 11 players the Blue Devils could have returned from last season, four are on board and seven are in the transfer portal. Sellers said he is interested in convincing three who have entered the portal to stay, and he’ll have to recruit another 4-5 players.
Sellers, originally from Florence, S.C., talked at length about his Central pride, telling a story about randomly seeing a child wearing a CCSU Basketball shirt in a village in Northwest China a few years ago, and his days as a player under Bill Detrick, C.J. Jones and Mike Brown.
Then he mentioned Dickenman.
“He taught me how to recruit, how to coach, how to work guys out — everything about this business,” Sellers said. “Since I left Central Connecticut as a coach, it’s been easy because of the foundation I got from Coach Dickenman. If a young coach is trying to learn how to do it the right way, Coach Howie Dickeman is the guy you need to talk to.”
Dickenman, who coached 20 years at Central, as his alma mater, was in attendance.
“He always represented the program, the school, first-class, the way he speaks, the way he presents himself,” Dickenman said of Sellers “He’s always positive, upbeat and serious. I’m proud of him. I know he’s going to work. He’s going to be successful. The level of that success depends on a number of things. But he knows how to work, and he’s a very loyal person.”
Every member of the championship staffs Sellers was part of were also on hand Friday. Steve Pikiell is now the coach at Rutgers. Anthony Latina is now the coach at Sacred Heart. Chris Casey, now a Fairfield assistant under Jay Young, was previously the head coach at LIU Post and Niagara. All of these coaches huddled in a CCSU hallway long after Friday’s press conference, looking a team photos from 20002002.
“You want to be at the top of your profession,” Sellers said. “Anthony, Steve, Chris Casey, all those guys became head coaches. I was like, ‘I hope I get an opportunity.’ But in the meantime, I just put my head down and went to work.”
Sellers was a finalist — Young was, too — when Marshall got the job in 2016. He called that tough pill to swallow, having passed up a job in the Houston Rockets front office to continue pursuing the CCSU job. Instead, he wound up at Fairleigh Dickinson and won a NEC championship under Greg Herenda.
Five years later, Sellers is home. He will model much of the Central offense on the philosophies of Creighton coach Greg McDermott and much of the defense on the philosophies of Young.
Sellers has yet to name a staff. Baba Diallo, an assistant under Marshall since 2018, has been retained to help with the transition but his long-term status is uncertain. Marshall wasn’t retained when his five-year contract expired. Central would not disclose the length of Sellers’ contract. Sellers added that Sal Cintorino, CCSU’s COO, said Pincince’s interim tag would soon be lifted.
Sellers, the older brother of former UConn player Rod Sellers, became a father to a son, Jaden, 15 months ago.
“We’re going to get really good on the defensive end, we’re going to rebound the basketball and we’re going to push the ball,” Sellers said. “I think our fans and the players will really like the way we play offensively, because we’re going to run it and play with some space and pace. It’s going to be a fun brand of basketball to watch.”