Congrats Pat Kelsey

Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Corporal James Dowling (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions from August to October 1868 in Arizona. His citation reads:

Bravery in scouts and actions against Indians.

Private William Downey (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on May 24, 1864 at Ashepoo River, South Carolina. His citation reads:

Volunteered as a member of a boatcrew which went to the rescue of a large number of Union soldiers on board the stranded steamer Boston, and with great gallantry assisted in conveying them to shore, being exposed during the entire time to a heavy fire from a Confederate battery.

Sergeant Henry W. Downs (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on September 19, 1864 at Winchester, Virginia. His citation reads:

With one comrade, voluntarily crossed an open field, exposed to a raking fire, and returned with a supply of ammunition, successfully repeating the attempt a short time thereafter.


Congrats to new Winthrop Men’s Basketball Head Coach Pat Kelsey. Here is a copy of the press release:

ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop Athletic Director Tom Hickman announced on Thursday that 36-year-old Pat Kelsey, a former assistant coach at Wake Forest and an associate head coach at Xavier University in Cincinnati, has been hired as the sixth men's basketball head coach in school history. He will be formally introduced to the media and Winthrop supporters sometime next week.

Kelsey, a former Xavier team captain spent eight seasons at Wake Forest (2001-09) under the late Skip Prosser and Dino Gaudio and two years on the staff at Xavier (2009-11) under Chris Mack.

“We were fortunate to have a large group of highly qualified and successful coaches in the candidate pool for our head men's basketball coach,” said Hickman. “Our vacancy created a lot of interest in the basketball coaching community. Pat Kelsey emerged as a dynamic and energetic leader who has had a rich background in working for and learning from highly successful coaches. President DiGiorgio and I were highly impressed with all of our final candidates, but Pat really stood out during the interview process. We look forward to having him join the Winthrop family as our next head men's basketball coach and know that he will excite our fan base.”

Kelsey says he is thrilled and honored to be the head coach at Winthrop and part of such a traditionally rich program that has made nine NCAA tournament appearances over the past 14 years. “Winthrop has a powerful name with its' history in the NCAA tournament and the successful program it has built. I am not only looking forward to continuing the winning tradition, but hopefully helping the program to rise to levels never seen before.”

“Winthrop has hit a grand slam with Pat Kelsey as its head coach,” said Mack. “Pat is really good at what he does and he's as hard a working and dedicated coach as there is in college basketball. Kids will love playing for him.”

Mike Bobinski, the Xavier athletic director and vice chairman for the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Selection Committee, also has high words of praise for Kelsey. “Pat is a very dynamic coach who has been around nothing but success as a player and a coach at both Wake Forest and Xavier. He knows what it takes to win. He's a high energy, high integrity person who leaves no stone untouched to get the job done right. Winthrop has made a great choice and he's a guy that will represent the university in an absolute first class manner every day. I look forward to following his success,” he said.

Winthrop fans can look for their new coach to feature a fast paced offense, but they can also expect Kelsey to place a strong emphasis on defense.

“My mentor, Coach Prosser who I played and worked under for more than a decade was famous for saying 'the older I get the faster I want to play '. I think that applies to me a little bit. Our brand offensively will be one that emphasizes playing with 'pace'. “We will be a tough, defensive-minded team that will play with a fast, 'downhill' offensive mentality. That is who we will be” said Kelsey. “We will push the ball, give our players freedom, but also execute in the half court.

“The thing that I think is most important in winning championships, however, is a team that can defend with great toughness, with great intensity and great resolve,” he says. “The combination of these things is what defines me as a coach.”

College Bound Hoops ranked Kelsey eighth in the nation among college basketball assistants. In addition to his recruiting prowess, Kelsey is also recognized as an excellent teacher and tactician in terms of player development, scouting and game preparation.

Kelsey also earned a reputation as an innovative marketer during his time in Winston-Salem. He worked with current XU head coach and former Wake assistant Chris Mack and Wake marketing to produce the "Tie-Dye Nation" campaign, which still thrives today as the heartbeat of the Wake Forest fan base.

Kelsey began his coaching career at his prep alma mater, Cincinnati's Elder High School, from 1998-2001 as an assistant coach. Kelsey went to Wake Forest in 2001 as director of basketball operations under Prosser. After three years that position, Prosser promoted Kelsey to assistant coach prior to the 2004-05 season.

During his time in Winston-Salem, Wake averaged nearly 21 wins per year in eight seasons, earning five NCAA Tournament berths, an NIT berth, a No. 1 national ranking in two different seasons and an ACC regular season championship.

Last May, Kelsey stepped away from the coaching profession as he was still dealing with the loss of Coach Prosser and he wanted to spend more time with his family. “The death of Coach Prosser had a profound effect on me and it took stepping away to come to grips with it,” he says. “I'm a teacher, a motivator and a coach and I feel like I do those things at a very high level. Coach Prosser's legacy will live on in people like me who will instill in young men the same core values that he conveyed every day. The pillars of his program were based on his 'ABCs.' That was academics, basketball and character. These three letters were the fabric of what he taught and what he believed in.”

He was first associated with Prosser as a leader in the Xavier backcourt for three seasons (1996 to 1998), helping the Musketeers reach two NCAA Tournaments. The former point guard served as team co-captain during the 1997-98 season and was voted the team's Most Inspirational Player in 1996 and 1998. Kelsey began his college playing career at Wyoming in 1993-94, starting 22 games as a freshman, before transferring back to his hometown to play at Xavier. Prior to college, he earned All-City honors while leading Elder to a 25-4 record and the 1993 Div. I State Championship.

Kelsey, who was born May 15, 1975 in Cincinnati, is a 1998 graduate of Xavier with a degree in business administration and marketing. Kelsey and wife, Lisa, have two daughters, four-year-old Ruthie and three-year old Caroline.


The I’m just sayin… Know Your South Carolina Athlete

Our SC athlete this week is former MLB player Drew Meyer. I have previously shared on here my now famous story on how I once defended Drew in a game by fighting a whole team of punks on my own inspiring him to strive to do great things, so I won’t bother repeating it now. Drew played high school baseball for Bishop England High School where he never beat James Island High School (at least not while I played... might not have ever beaten them, but I know it didn’t happen while I was there). A few short stories about when we played against each other in American Legion. During a pre-season scrimmage, I was playing second base when Drew (a left-handed batter) came up to the plate. He crushed a ground ball to my left that I, with cat-like reflexes, was able to get in front of… only to have it take a bad hop at the last second and hit me in my chest (right over my heart). I had the stitches from the baseball imprinted on my chest for a month after that. In that same game, Drew was pitching when I came up to bat. He threw a slider-like pitch that I fouled off my right shin. It hurt a little (but not as much as I thought it would)… so I didn’t think much about it. I don’t remember exactly what happened after that, but later in the scrimmage when I (along with most of the other starters) was taken out of the game, I was sitting and watching the game when I looked down and noticed that I had 3 knees. After a minute of trying to figure this out, I realized that I had a knee-sized knot on my shin. I put ice on it but that didn’t make it go away. Truth is it didn’t completely go away (bruise and all) until the second semester of my Freshman year at Winthrop.

Anyway, after high school Drew was drafted in the second round of the 1999 draft. Against my advice (which he didn’t ask for), he didn’t sign with the Dodgers and instead went to USC to play for the Revolutionary War Heroes. He did pretty good there. He was an All-American his last season at USC (2002)… the same year USC made it to the National Championship game (which they lost on June 22, 2002). He played in 209 games in a three-year career for the Revolutionary War Heroes only missing one game. I’m not 100% sure if he still does, but at one point Meyer held single-season records at Carolina from 2002 for at bats (334), hits (120) and singles (86) as well as tied for the record in games played (75) with three other teammates from the 2002 squad. He is (or at least was… not sure if he still is) the only player in Carolina history to start 75 games in a season. In addition to his single-season records, Meyer is the school’s career record holder for singles with 209 and he totaled 285 career hits in three seasons, which is third highest in school history. Meyer also is third all-time in runs scored (212) and tied for fifth in triples (9). There’s a chance my info is a little old… so someone last season might have broken these records, but I don’t think so. Anyway, after college Meyer was selected in the first round of the ’02 MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers as the 10th overall pick, the highest drafted player in South Carolina history. Meyer made his MLB debut on April 21, 2006. He didn’t last long in MLB, but he made it longer than I did… so he’s got that going for him. Which is nice. Last I heard, I believe he is at USC as an assistant coach while working to finish his degree.