Credit: Jay Bendlin, ASP Sports
By: Sara Morris | March 19, 2021
Dwayne Killings has been hired as the newest head coach of the UAlbany Great Danes Men’s Basketball team announced in a press conference Thursday afternoon.
Fresh out of a three-year coaching stint with the Marquette University Golden Eagles as the associate head coach, this will be Killings first time holding the head coach position. Killings will be the fourth head coach of the Great Danes since the move to the Division 1 level in 1999, following Will Brown’s departure after his contract expired.
“He looks good in purple,” UAlbany athletics director Mark Benson said at the press conference. “In short, I think we found someone who embodies our motto as great leaders, great champions and Great Danes.”
Killings graduated from Hampton University in 2003 with a degree in sports management. He began coaching right out of college with becoming the NBA’s then-Carolina Bobcats video coordinator and assisted in player development.
From the Bobcats, Killings entered his 15-year NCAA coaching career as the director of basketball operations for the Temple Owls in 2006. Killings has worked as an assistant coach for four NCAA basketball teams, including Temple, Boston, UConn, and Marquette.
Killings joined the Marquette coaches in 2018 as an assistant coach to the Golden Eagles. The team made a March Madness appearance in 2019. At the seasons conclusion, Killings was promoted to associate head coach during the 2020 season, where he assembled a top-20 recruiting class.
“When I watched the team, there was a toughness that I really enjoyed,” Killings said at the press conference. “Now what can we do to make us better, to make us American East Champions, that’s my job
As a nationally respected recruiter, Killings is young head coach with a bright future ahead of him. As he replaces Will Brown as the head coach of the Great Danes for the 2021-2022 season.