Delaware Valley University announce that Mark Seidenburg has been named the new head men’s basketball coach of the Aggies. He replaces Casey Stitzel, who became the head men’s basketball coach at Division II Millersville (Pa.) in May.
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It is the first head coaching job and a return home for the 32-year-old Seidenburg, who played high school basketball at Cardinal Dougherty in the Philadelphia Catholic League. He also has family in Philadelphia as well as Bucks and Montgomery Counties.
"To see something you’ve worked and sacrificed for over the last seven years come to fruition is a dream come true," Seidenburg said. “For it to be at a school and with a basketball team that has established itself as a championship program over the recent years and for it to be back home has made this opportunity even more special.”
Seidenburg takes over an Aggie team that is coming off a record-breaking season in 2015-16 as they went 20-8, were regionally-ranked for the first time in program history and captured the MAC Freedom championship for the third time in the last six years. They dropped an overtime decision to SUNY Oswego in the opening round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
"My first task is to develop a relationship with the current players,” Seidenburg said. “Before we do anything on the court, before we deal with wins and losses, our focus has to be coming together as a team and developing the values and expectations of the program."
Seidenburg comes to DelVal with seven years of Division III coaching experience, including the last four at fellow MAC school Messiah College (Messiah competes in the MAC Commonwealth in men’s basketball). He was the associate head coach and junior varsity head coach with the Falcons as they went 51-28 over those four campaigns, including a memorable 19-win season in 2013-14.
In 2013-14, Messiah got off to a program-record 12-0 start and was ranked as high as 15th. The Falcons finished with a 19-5 mark in the regular season and was seeded third for the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. They dropped a four-point decision at eventual conference champion Alvernia University in the semifinals.
With Seidenburg on the staff, Messiah had five all-conference performers and a trio of 1,000-point scorers. One player – Brad Bolen - was recognized on the D3hoops.com all-region team and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) all-district team. The Falcons also performed in the classroom as the team grade point average (GPA) was above a 3.2 every semester since Seidenburg’s first year. They had the highest single-semester team GPA in three of the last four semesters while Bolen was a 2014 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-American.
Prior to Messiah, Seidenburg was an assistant coach and recruitment coordinator for Penn State Harrisburg for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 campaigns. The Lions went 26-6 in North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) play over the two years and they captured the conference title in 2011.
Seidenburg’s first collegiate coaching position was at Dickinson College in 2009. In his lone year with the school, Seidenburg helped recruit the class that eventually went to the NCAA Division III Elite Eight and produced two All-Americans. He also spent time as an assistant at Northern York High School and Middletown High School.
Seidenburg was a captain as a freshman member of the Manor Junior College basketball team before playing one season with Elizabethtown College. He graduated from Elizabethtown with a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in business administration in 2006. He and his wife, Misty, have two children: daughter Camryn (3) and son Christyan (1). The couple is also expecting a daughter in November.
"We’re very excited to have Mark join Delaware Valley University as our new head men’s basketball coach,” Director of Athletics Steve Cantrell said. “He has a clear passion and energy about the position here at DelVal and for mentoring young men for success both on the court and in the classroom. We feel that he is the right fit for the department and the institution in leading our men’s basketball program forward."