PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Matt Langel has been the head men’s basketball coach at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York since 2011. He has turned the Raiders into a dominant Patriot League program, winning three of the last four league titles, and appearing in the last three NCAA Tournaments.
Langel, a Moorestown, New Jersey native, played his college basketball at the University of Pennsylvania where he starred for then-head coach Fran Dunphy, who was just hired at his alma mater of La Salle.
“You start to get recruited a little bit, and then recruited a little bit more and you know, the likes of Fran Dunphy calls and says ‘I'm really interested’ and then you [say] ‘I can be, could be a Division I player in the in the Big 5,’” Langel said.
“I wouldn't be in coaching if it wasn't for Coach Dunphy. I had had fantastic assistant coaches. My teammates, a number of them are lifelong friends, so the relationships are really the most important thing to me, and obviously, the memories that you have. And the experiences you have are significant. I mean, playing in the Palestra, there aren't words to explain what that means to have that place be home.”
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After playing professionally overseas, Langel took counsel from Dunphy about following in his footsteps and becoming a coach.
“Coaching is kind of the second closest thing you can do to being a player,” Langel added. He assisted Dunphy at Penn and Temple, going to multiple NCAA tournaments.
“Under his guidance, there was a chance to join his staff at the time. Those teams had a lot of success so it led to continued opportunity for me and that kind of the rest is history.”