Shawn Postiglione named men’s basketball coach at Bridgewater College

Bridgewater College director of athletics Curt Kendall has announced the hiring of Randolph-Macon assistant Shawn Postiglione as the school’s new head men’s basketball coach.

Postiglione has eight years of experience as a Division I and III assistant, and over the past five seasons in Division III his teams have compiled a winning percentage of 77.5 and claimed three conference championships.

“Shawn distinguished himself from a competitive pool of applicants with both his experiences as a coach and his drive to succeed,” said Bridgewater College President David W. Bushman. “The men’s basketball program has a long and storied history here at Bridgewater and Shawn is the right person to continue that tradition.”

“We are excited to have Shawn lead our men’s basketball program,” said Kendall. “His teams have achieved remarkable success in recent years and his recruiting efforts as an assistant coach have been a major factor in those accomplishments. He also has extensive experience recruiting and scouting in the ODAC.”

Kendall chaired a selection committee that included Bridgewater staff and two members of the Eagles’ Athletics Hall of Fame- Dr. Jim Upperman, class of 1968 and Dan Rush, class of 1995.

“I am thrilled to be named the head men’s basketball coach at Bridgewater College- this is a tremendous opportunity,” said Postiglione. “I would like to thank Dr. Bushman, Curt Kendall, and the entire search committee for having the faith in me to lead the program. I look forward to building on the hard work of all the players and coaches who have been a part of Bridgewater men’s basketball. Our goal is to operate a program that the Bridgewater College community can be proud of, both on and off the court.”

Postiglione just completed his first year as an assistant at ODAC rival Randolph-Macon College. The Yellow Jackets achieved a #1 national ranking during the season, won the ODAC championship, and reached the NCAA Elite Eight.

R-MC would ultimately go 28-3 in 2014-15, matching the program record for victories in a season. After a 3-2 start, the Yellow Jackets won 25 consecutive games, a school record. R-MC went 16-0 in ODAC contests and became the first school in conference history to go undefeated during the regular season and win the conference tournament. Nathan Davis, head coach of Randolph-Macon, was named ODAC Coach of the Year and recently accepted the head coaching job at Division I Bucknell University- a 2013 NCAA tournament participant.

Postigilione’s duties at Randolph-Macon included recruiting nationally and establishing new recruiting efforts in several states; facilitating the production of daily practice plans and game strategy; generating comprehensive scouting reports and video edits for game opponents; and leading various drills during practice.

Postiglione was an assistant coach at Christopher Newport University for four seasons from 2010-11 through 2013-14. The Captains compiled an 82-29 record over that time, achieving USA South championships and NCAA tournament bids in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

At CNU, he orchestrated all aspects of the program’s national recruiting; the program earned 12 All-Conference selections over that time period. He ran individual workouts for both guards and post players, analyzed game film, coordinated academic support, and administered the team’s travel and budgeting.

After interning with the Wagner College men’s and women’s basketball teams in the summer of 2007 and serving one year as a men’s student assistant, Postiglione became an assistant coach for his alma mater’s Division I program in 2008. He spent two seasons in that role, with Wagner reaching the Northeast Conference (NEC) quarterfinals in 2008-09. The Seahawks were 23-8 and played in the NEC semifinals in Postiglione’s year as a student assistant (2007-08).

Postiglione attended both Lafayette and New York University before graduating summa cum laude from Wagner in 2008. After completing his undergraduate degree in three years while being named to the Dean’s List every semester, he earned his MBA from Wagner in December 2009.