Mocs graduate and standout guard, Tyler Kelly, was been named as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Florida Southern by head coach Mike Donnelly in July.
Kelly will be specializing in coaching hoops.
“I’m really looking forward to games,” Kelly said. “It’s going to be totally different sitting on the bench the entire time and helping coaching instead of playing. I enjoy the process of becoming good and becoming great. I think I’ll enjoy it and we’re going to have a great season.”
According to a press release by the FSC Athletic Department, Coach Donnelly said it was important for him to find someone that could help himself and his other assistant Mike Makubika ease into their transition with the Moccasin program.
“I don’t know how many guys go from playing to coaching, but we all have a mutual respect and they know I’ve wanted to coach for awhile, Kelly said. “We’ve talked about it last year, and things would be a little different with me coaching. They all really respect that, they’re all just really good guys, so it’ll be easy to transition and they will make that easier.”
Both Donnelly and Kelly are looking forward to another successful Mocs season.
“We are very fortunate to add Tyler Kelly to our coaching staff here at Florida Southern for a number of different reasons,” said Donnelly, who is entering his first season with the Mocs in 2015-16. “It was very important for us as a new staff to embrace the culture that has been established here and with T.K. coming off winning a national championship and having a remarkable four year career, he is really going to be beneficial to our staff.”
The team is currently preparing to their first biggest games against Duke University and Syracuse University. Traditionally, Duke always plays the national champions from division two. Coach Makubika made possible the Syracuse after working there for several years.
“I think if anything, we’re going to take it as, ‘it’s going to prepare us for the season,’” Kelly said. “I don’t think in any of the teams we’re going to play in division two any them are going to be as difficult as the two teams we face at the beginning of the season. It’ll really prepare us, it’s just a really good experience.”
There are seven new players on the team this season. Kelly looks forward to the experience to coach new guys and to participate in the recruiting process next season.
“It sucks sometimes when they’re playing and I wish that I could still be playing,” Kelly said. “I think that this is what I wanted to do for a while now and it’s just good that I get to stay around basketball and start a career. It’s something that I love and I get to enjoy doing every day.”
