Delaware State University Men's Basketball

Stan Waterman finished his fourth season as the head men's basketball coach at Delaware State University in 2024-25. The Hornets went 16-14 (8-6 MEAC) in 2024-25. As the third seed in the MEAC tournament, they would fall to North Carolina Central. The Hornets placed four players on the All-MEAC list: Martaz Robinson (First Team), Robert Smith (Second Team), Kaseem Watson (Third Team), and Ponce James (All-Rookie). In his first three seasons at the helm, Waterman ignited a turnaround, improving the program’s win totals in each season. This included a 15-win season in 2023-24 and a spot in the MEAC tournament championship game. The success of the 2023-24 season did not go unnoticed, as the Hornets received an invitation to participate in postseason competition in the College Basketball Invitational Tournament, featuring sixteen teams from across the country. The Hornets were seeded 14th. The acknowledgments and awards continued as Waterman was named the 2024 Male Coach of the Year at Delaware State University.   Waterman, a legendary First State high school coach and administrator, USA Basketball Coach, and former collegiate player, was announced as DSU’s men's basketball head coach on June 4, 2021. In his 29 seasons at the Sanford School (Hockessin, DE), Waterman led the program to 571 wins, 10 state championship game appearances, winning eight state titles, including his last two seasons in 2019 and 2021. His 2020 team reached the state semifinals before the tournament was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Waterman also served as the Dean of Students and Assistant Director of Athletics at the school.   In 2016, after leading the Warriors to a sixth state championship, Waterman was honored by the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association as the recipient of the Tubby Raymond Delaware Coach of the Year Award. Waterman led the Warriors to state titles in his inaugural campaign in 1992, 2002, and for three consecutive seasons from 2010-12.   Waterman has also served as a member of the prestigious USA Basketball coaching staff. He was an assistant coach on the gold-medal-winning 2018 USA Men’s U17 World Cup Team and the 2017 USA Men’s U16 national team. Waterman was an assistant coach for the 2020 Nike Hoop Summit Team (which did not compete due to the pandemic) and was also an assistant coach for the 2019 USA Nike Hoop Summit team that defeated the World Select team in Portland, Ore.   Waterman played Division I basketball at the University of Delaware under head coaches Ron Rainey and Steve Steinwedel, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Sociology (1989).   Former Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright, a two-time NCAA champion and 2021 Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee said, “Stan is an outstanding leader in our game. His basketball knowledge and experiences are elite. Delaware State has made a great choice in Stan Waterman."   Waterman and his wife, Robyn, are the proud parents of daughter, Paris Waterman-Dupree, son-in-law Vernon Dupree, and grandson Cairo Dupree (4).

Shahid Perkins joined the Delaware State men’s basketball staff in July 2021. A high school and college standout player, Perkins also competed professionally in Europe before a successful career as a high school teacher and coach in the First State. In addition to teaching, Perkins was a key member of Delaware State head coach Stan Waterman’s staff at Sanford School (Del.) from 2015-21, helping lead the team to three state championships during his tenure. Perkins played collegiately at Hagerstown Community College in Maryland before enrolling at East Tennessee State. While at Hagerstown, he earned All-America honors and was nominated for the school’s Hall of Fame. Perkins was team captain and ETSU’s leading scorer in his senior season. He earned a bachelor’s in Physical Education from East Tennessee State in 1996. Perkins played professional basketball in Iceland and England before returning to the United States to begin a career in public education. He also returned to his alma mater, Glasgow High School in Delaware, where he was varsity boy's head basketball coach for 15 years before joining Waterman at Sanford. While at Glasgow, Perkins earned four Blue Hen Flight A Coach of the Year honors, in addition to leading the program to one state tournament Final Four berth and four Final Eight appearances. Perkins is also the founder and executive director of the Perkins Basketball Camp, a summer for up to 100 youngsters, aged 7-17 at Glasgow High School.  

Vernon Dupree begins his fourth season with the Delaware State coaching staff for the 2024-25 season, marking his fifteenth season in collegiate coaching.   Last season, Dupree and the Hornets produced the program’s highest win total (15) in the last nine years, culminating in a strong performance during the MEAC tournament. The team advanced to the championship game, narrowly missing the title by just a few points. This season also marked the best start for the program in over two decades.   Since joining Delaware State, Dupree has been instrumental in the development of six All-MEAC selections, as well as recipients of both Rookie of the Year (2023-24) and Defensive Player of the Year (2021-22) honors.   A native of Wilmington, Del., Dupree’s coaching journey began at Wilmington University, where he served as an assistant coach from 2010-21. His tenure there included a remarkable run to the conference finals in 2014-15 and the successful recruitment and development of numerous All-League players, including Tyaire Ponzo-Meek, the 2016-17 Central Athletic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Player of the Year.   Dupree began his collegiate playing career at American International College in Springfield, Mass. during the 2005-06 season before transferring to Wilmington University in 2008. He earned All-CACC honors and was awarded the Philadelphia Small College Basketball Association’s Sam Cozen Award.   Dupree graduated from Wilmington University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in 2010 and later obtained a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in Organizational Leadership in 2014.   Vernon resides in Wilmington with his wife, Paris, and their four-year-old son, Cairo.

Horace "Pappy" Owens, a former National Basketball Association (NBA) draft pick and McDonald's collegiate All-America, joined the Delaware State staff in July 2021.     Owens previously spent 14 years as an assistant coach at La Salle University before shifting roles in the 2019-20 season to serve as a special assistant, contributing to game preparation, player development, and mentoring.   Owens was instrumental in La Salle’s 2012-13 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 season. The Explorers won 24 games that season, including three in the NCAA Tournament (vs. Boise State, Kansas State and Ole Miss).   La Salle also recorded wins over #9 Butler, #16 VCU, and #12 Kansas State. They finished third in the Atlantic 10 Conference, ranked as the seventh-best conference in the nation, during the 2012-13 season. He played a key role in the Explorers’  2011-12 campaign season. The team won 21 games and reached the NIT First Round, the first postseason appearance for the program in 20 years. The 21 wins were also the most since 1990. Owens entered the collegiate coaching ranks after 14 years as a juvenile probation officer for the city of Philadelphia. As the North Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the renowned Sonny Hill Basketball League, Owens has been a fixture in Philadelphia high school basketball. He coached the Philadelphia Phoenix AAU teams for six years, mentored stand-outs Michael Blackshear (Simon Gratz/Temple), Wayne Marshall (Martin Luther King/Temple), Chaz Crawford (Northeast/Drexel), Steve Smith (Northeast/La Salle), and Troy Roundtree (Northeast/Delaware State), among dozens of others who have played Division I basketball. Owens stands as one of the all-time greats at the University of Rhode Island (1979-83), where he is seventh on the all-time scoring list (1,750) and is second all-time in field goals. He averaged 22.3 points per game as a senior to earn an Honorable Mention All-America citation and First Team All-Atlantic 10. He was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 1996. Owens was the 44th pick of the NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets in 1983 and was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he spent one season at the professional level. An outstanding player at Philadelphia's Dobbins Tech, he was named First Team All-City in 1979 and Second Team in 1978. Owens was the Daily News and Markward Club Player of the Year in 1979 after averaging 29.3 points per game. He averaged 25.0 points per game as a junior. His 1,420 career points rank second in Dobbins history behind Bo Kimble. Owens was named to the Second Team All-City in the Daily News' look back at the past 35 years. He was also First Team All-Public in 1978, and in 1979, he was First Team All-Public, First Team All-City, Player of the year in the area, and First Team All-State.