St. Thomas alum Nelson replacing retiring Strand as coach

Longtime St. Thomas Aquinas basketball coach Steve Strand is handing the program off to one of his former players.

The Raiders have named former forward Ed Nelson as the team’s new basketball coach, Nelson and Strand told the Sun Sentinel on Thursday.

“I’m extremely excited to be named the head basketball coach here at St. Thomas Aquinas,” Nelson said. “It’s an honor to replace a legend in Steve Strand, who had such an impact on my life as well as many other basketball alumni throughout the past 30 years.”

Nelson has been an assistant coach under Strand, who announced his retirement in February after 23 years as the Raiders head coach, for the past two seasons, but the St. Thomas job is his first head coaching position. “Through Coach Strand, I learned the selfless effort and time it takes to encourage and motivate these student-athletes,” Nelson said. “I feel St. Thomas has all the resources to be a powerhouse basketball program.”

Nelson takes over the Raiders following a 10-12 season.

“I’m looking forward to just getting with the kids [and] sharing what I’ve learned through my experiences with basketball,” Nelson said. “And like I said, keeping that culture Coach Strand built and moving it forward.”

Nelson won the Class 5A state title with the Raiders in 2001, which remains the program’s only basketball championship. While he was at St. Thomas, Sports Illustrated named Nelson one of the top 25 senior players in the nation, and USA Today named him the Florida player of the year.

After leaving Aquinas, Nelson played for Georgia Tech, where he won the 2001 Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year award. He later transferred to UConn, where he won a national title. Nelson played internationally for more than a decade and then attempted to transition to the NFL with the then-St. Louis Rams, but he did not get into an NFL game.

“I worked with Coach Strand for two years, and in talking with him, I plan to change the identity of the program by implementing what I learned throughout my career as a collegiate and 10-year professional athlete,” Nelson said.

“I played for a Hall of Fame coach in Jim Calhoun at Connecticut and was basically blessed to see basketball played throughout the world.”