Ursinus College Men's Basketball

Tom Primosch returns to the Centennial Conference and Philly region after two seasons in the JUCO and D1 ranks. “I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Tom to Ursinus and our team,” Small said. “Our basketball family is incredibly fortunate to add such a special leader, coach, mentor and person. During our interview process, we were overwhelmed by Tom’s passion for working with kids, his love of basketball, and his commitment to the development of the whole student-athlete.” Primosch is no stranger to the Centennial Conference, as he graduated from Haverford College in 2021. His first coaching stop came as an Assistant Coach at Glendale Community College in Phoenix, AZ. After spending two months interning for highly decorated NBA trainer Phil Beckner during the 2022 offseason, Primosch moved to Portland, OR where he spent the 2022-23 season working as an Operations Assistant for the Men’s Basketball team at the University of Portland. “I feel incredibly lucky and privileged to be joining the coaching staff at Ursinus. Coach Small has done a remarkable job building this program during his time here and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to help our student athletes reach their full potential.  

Kevin Small just finished his 25th season as the head men's basketball coach at Ursinus and 28th season overall in Collegeville. Small has led Ursinus to four Centennial Conference titles, and became the all-time leader in wins with a 77-60 victory over F&M on February 13, 2008. On February 12th, 2022, Small earned his 300th career win as head coach with an 86-75 win over Washington College. He was the sixth coach in the history of the Centennial Conference to earn 300 wins for his career. In 2007-08, Small led the Bears to a school-record 29-4 mark and a perfect 20-0 in the Centennial Conference en route to the school's fourth CC title. Along the way, the Bears finished a perfect 17-0 at home and advanced to the NCAA Division III Final Four. He coached his seventh Centennial Conference Player of the Year as Nick Shattuck repeated the honor in 2007-08. Shattuck joined a long line of players (Richie Barrett; Dan Luciano; Dennis Stanton; Mike McGarvey; Shattuck) who earned POTY honors under Small. A two-time NABC Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year, he was honored in 2008 by the Philadelphia Small College Coaches Association as the Sam Cozen Coach of the Year. Small's teams have also been honored five times by the College Basketball Officials Association with the association's Sportsmanship award (2003, 05, 06 and 08) and won the Schoenfeld National CBOA Sportsmanship Award in 2006 and again in 2019. It didn't take long for Small to turn the program around. In his first season (2000-01), the Bears won the Centennial Conference Eastern Division title and advanced to the conference playoffs for the first time in their history. Two short years later, the Bears captured the Centennial crown with a perfect 15-0 mark and earned a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. Small earned his first NABC Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year honors after leading the Bears to 21 wins, the second-most in the history of Ursinus basketball. In 2004-05, Ursinus went 18-10 and won the Centennial crown, while repeating as conference champions in 2005-06. In addition to the team accomplishments, Small has mentored five All-Americans, two Jostens Trophy finalists, and an Academic All-America (Dennis Stanton). Away from the court, Ursinus has placed dozens of players on the Centennial Conference All-Academic team, which requires a 3.40 GPA or higher. In 2004, Dennis Stanton became the first Ursinus male athlete to be named a first-team Academic All-American and a first-team All-American. Stanton finished as the school and conference all-time leading scorer until his record was broken by Shattuck in 2008. Small's teams have continued to rewrite the school and Centennial Conference record book. He has coached the all-time leader in scoring (Shattuck); rebounds (Steve Erfle); assists and steals (Mike McGarvey); and 3-pointers (Eric Williams). Several players have also set single-season Centennial and school marks under Small. Before stopping in Collegeville full-time, Small had coaching experience in the Centennial serving as an assistant at Haverford (1991-94) and Ursinus (1994-97), and also served on the staff at Swarthmore (1997-99). He has served as chair of the Centennial Conference men's basketball committee, on the ECAC men's basketball selection committee, and on the NCAA men's basketball championship selection committee. "In our basketball family here at Ursinus, we play with passion and with a tremendous respect for the game and for our opponents," said Small when asked about his coaching philosophy. "We take pride in being part of a family, in being part of something bigger than just ourselves. We want to build the premier basketball program in the Centennial Conference and in the Middle Atlantic region. We want to create a basketball family - a group of coaches and young men who are very close, who treat each other with tremendous respect, and who carry themselves with class and dignity at all times. We want to build a program that competes each winter against the toughest competition. And lastly, we want to mentor great men - during their four years in our family, we want our players to grow into great leaders and men of courage, integrity and loyalty." Small is a 1991 graduate of St. Joseph's University, where he also earned a master's degree in education administration. Small and his wife, Kirsten, reside in Narberth with their son Sasha and daughter Karina.