Less than a week after announcing Dana Barros' resignation as head men's basketball coach, Newbury College announced that Pine Manor head coach Rich Fazzi will fill that vacancy.
- Archive: Newbury names former Celtic All-Star as head coach (April 2016)
- Coaching Carousel
College Director of Athletics Jonathan Harper announced the hiring on Wednesday, August 23.
“Coach Fazzi’s impressive success at Dean and in the construction of the Pine Manor program has prepared him well for this opportunity,” said Harper in Newbury's release. “He will utilize his passion and energy on and off the court to establish Newbury as an consistent, hard-working program in the New England Collegiate Conference. I am looking forward to bringing his unique style of defense and offensive fire power to Newbury.”
Fazzi helped launch Pine Manor's men's basketball program in 2014 and went 42-31 in three seasons as the Gators' head coach. Before moving to Pine Manor, he was the head coach for two seasons at Dean College, which will be a first-year provisional member of NCAA Division III in 2017-18. Dean was a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) during Fazzi's tenure.
Fazzi started his coaching career as an assistant at Newbury for one year and then moved to Suffolk University where he was the Rams' associate head coach for five seasons. He then spent two years on Phil Rowe's staff at Endicott College before taking over at Dean.
Fazzi graduated from Becker College in 2004 where he was a two-year captain and three-year starter for the Hawks.
“I would like to thank Jonathan Harper, Paul Martin, President Chillo and the rest of the search committee for this amazing opportunity,” said Fazzi in Newbury's release. “I really enjoyed my interactions during the search process. The whole Newbury Community has a tremendous amount energy and enthusiasm. It’s really a exciting time to be a part of the Nighthawk family. I feel very fortunate to come back to Newbury and build a winning culture on and off the court.”
Fazzi replaces Dana Barros who went 3-21, 3-12 in this lone season as the Nighthawks' head coach. Newbury announced Barros' resignation on August 19 in which he cited the need to spend time on other commitments.
Barros is the latest former NBA player to have a short stint as a Division III head coach. Doug West, who had a 12-year career with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Vancouver Grizzlies, lasted one season at Penn State-Altoona. Further back Rusty LaRue coached at Greensboro for one season in 2004-05 and Armon Gilliam also coached at Penn State-Altoona for three seasons from 2002 through 2005.