By Halle Nottage
At the end of the Peninsula College men’s basketball season, there was a lot of uncertainty about what their next season’s coaching staff would look like. Mitch Freeman, the 2017-2018 coach, moved on at the end of the year.
This thrust the current head coach Donald Rollman, into the interim coaching position. When the position was opened up, 94 applications were received, and Rollman’s ended up slam dunking the job.
“I feel good, it feels good to be back, feels good to be able to stick with this group of guys,” Rollman said.
This past 2018-2019 season saw the PC Men’s Basketball Team finish with a 7-10 record during season. They placed in fourth for the North Division, clenching the team a position in the Northwest Athletic Conference, NWAC tournament.
Rollman’s first season of head coaching was described as a “rough year” by assistant coach Nick Camporini. Making it to the NWAC tournament was a notable achievement, which set up coach Rollman with high expectations for next year. Despite their defeat by Green River College during the first round of the NWAC Tournament, there is no doubt in Camporini’s mind that next year has a brighter outlook.
“Definitely got high expectations for next year because we’ve got a lot of returning guys and bringing in a lot of talent next year too. That’ll help them out and be solidifying our culture here,” he said.
As the 2019-2020 season looms on the horizon, Rollman has begun to focus the team on improving themselves both in the classroom and on the court, with special attention to player development.
Many of the players have expressed their excitement about next year. This is specially due to the fact that they have seven returning players. Many of them contributed massively to this past season’s wins and movement into the tournament.
Keith Seldon, freshman out of Las Vegas, Nevada, looks onward to leadership,.
“I’m looking forward to being a leader, the group of guys we have next year, we have a pretty good chance at being a great team, and we want to be leaders to the guys that are coming in,” he said.
In addition to looking forward to next season, the players are also very excited to have Coach Rollman back.
“Coach Rollman has my full support, I’m glad he got reinstated out of all the other candidates. It should be a fun year,” Davien Harris-Williams of Tacoma said.
Keith Seldon agrees.
“Nothing’s changed. We feel like he’s the best guy for the job and we didn’t really want to start over with a new coach, because we’ve already attached to him as a coach,” Seldon said.
Nalu Kahapea of Hilo, Hawaii also captures this excitement.
“I’m super glad he got the coaching job, he knows that he’s my braddah, so shout out to him.”
All in all there is a lot of excitement surrounding the team’s next season, which begins in November.