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| Matt Goldsmith has had a variety of coaching experiences in his young career. He played for one Amherst national champion team and coached for the other. Amherst athletics photo |
Amherst assistant men's basketball coach Matt Goldsmith has been named the head coach at The College of New Jersey.
Goldsmith excelled as a player and coach with the Lord Jeffs, and was instrumental in both national championships (2007, 2013). He helped guide the Jeffs to national prominence, and has been a member of NCAA Tournament teams in all seven years with the program, including five Final Four appearances.
Goldsmith replaces Kelly Williams, who led the Lions to a 15-11 record this past season, their best year since TCNJ went 17-9 under John Castaldo in 2005-06. Williams has taken a senior associate athletic director job in the department. He was 64-111 as a head coach.
"I am extremely grateful to Amherst College for giving me the opportunity to come back and be a part of the athletic department for the past three years," said Goldsmith. "Playing for, and coaching with David Hixon, has been an invaluable experience I plan on taking with me to The College of New Jersey. It was an honor to be able to represent my alma mater on the coaching staff, and is something I will never forget."
A pivotal member of Amherst's 2007 national championship team, Goldsmith was a four-year letterwinner and played an instrumental role in helping the Jeffs capture a pair of conference titles (2005, 2006), while also helping the team to a national runner-up finish in 2008. Continuing his career after graduation, he played professionally in Germany for TV Werne 03 during the 2008-09 season, before returning to his native New Jersey to serve as an assistant to alumni and development at the Delbarton School. A political science major, he was also an assistant men's varsity basketball coach at Delbarton before returning to his alma mater.
In his first year coaching with the Jeffs, Goldsmith helped guide Amherst to a 30-2 overall record en route to its second national championship in program history. Last year, his second with the program, the Jeffs reached their fifth Final Four appearance as they finished the season 27-4, while becoming the first team in NESCAC history to win three consecutive conference titles.
"Amherst will always hold a very special place in my heart. I will miss every student-athlete and member of the athletic department that I was fortunate enough to work with here at Amherst College, but I am extremely excited to be taking over the TCNJ men's basketball program and to become part of the TCNJ family!" said Goldsmith.
In addition to his success with the Jeffs, Goldsmith spent time as a volunteer assistant coach for USA Basketball during the past two summers. In June 2013, he assisted the men's 2013 FIBA world champion USA Under-19 National Team while learning from top Division I men's basketball coaches; Billy Donovan, Shaka Smart and Tony Bennett. This past summer he helped with individual workouts during practice, among other duties assigned, while volunteering with the 2014 gold medal-winning men's national team. While volunteering with the team, Goldsmith learned valuable lessons from coaches Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Tom Thibodeau and Monty Williams.
"I'm extremely proud of Matt as he moves on into his first head coaching job at TCNJ," said Hixon. "He's 100 percent ready and will do a great job for them. I can't thank him enough for what he did in his tenure at Amherst for our program and our players."