Patrick Sellers has endured a long journey to end up as the head coach of the Central Connecticut State University men’s basketball program.

Through his first year as coach, he has made noticeable strides in helping to improve the program. Sellers has served as an assistant coach for 21-years with eight different college programs.

Sellers played on the CCSU men’s basketball team from 1987 to 1991. He played in various places such as the National Basketball Association and overseas in Europe. Sellers developed a strong bond with C.J Jones, who was once the athletic director, which molded him into becoming a coach someday. Sellers would hone his skills as an assistant coach under legendary head coaches such as Jim Calhoun, Howie Dickenman, and Greg McDermott. His long tenure as an assistant coach has given him the experience needed to become the head coach of the CCSU men’s basketball team.

Sellers’ message from day one has been about being a family and being all in together. This message has resonated with the team and not just on the court but also off.

“We want to be good and compete for NEC titles. Most importantly, we want to graduate our students,” Sellers said. “Last semester (Fall semester), the players on our team earned a combined 3.02 GPA. We had three players who made the dean’s list and one who made the president’s list.”

Sellers preach that the goal was always to compete for a Northeast Conference title every year. The Blue Devils currently hold a 7-21 overall record, including a 5-11record within the NEC, and now sit in 7^th place in the conference standings. However, Sellers believes that the future is bright because they have many freshmen on the team.

“We have a lot of freshmen getting better because they are growing and maturing every day because of the older guys,” says Sellers when asked about the future of the freshman in the program.

Sellers always described CCSU as home. When he started as a player at CCSU, at 18, he began to develop so many memories.

“I have made lifelong friends here, who now have kids that I recruit to play for the CCSU basketball team. There is no place like home”, says Sellers.

Sellers describes a CCSU community that has a lot of down-to-earth people. Most importantly, the community as a whole can be described as having a blue-collar mentality that shows hard work and grit in everything they do.