Wentworth Institute of Technology: Athletics > Varsity Sports

The Program at a Glance

In 1984, men’s basketball became one of Wentworth’s first teams to be elevated to NCAA status. Despite several years of growing pains, the Leopards have gained regional and national respect during the last few seasons and men’s basketball has become an exciting sport on the Wentworth campus.

Wentworth made its first Commonwealth Coast Conference finals berth in 1989 and then did not advance to the title game again until the 1995-96 season. The Leopards finished 19-8 that season, a far cry from the 2-23 campaign suffered a year before. The Leopards showed that the 1996 season was not a fluke, winning consecutive CCC titles in 1997 and 1998. The 1997 team earned the Institute’s first-ever NCAA Division III Tournament berth, while the 1998 team was a semifinalist in the ECAC Division III New England Tournament, finishing with a 22-7 record, the best in school history.

Nine seasons would pass before Wentworth would claim its third conference title and earn the program’s second berth in the NCAA Tournament, when, in 2007, the men's basketball program capped off three highly sucessful recruiting classes with a somewhat non-traditional road to a championship. Playing without a home gym for the majority of the season, the nomadic Leopards upset three top higher seeds to win the conference championhsip, capped off by a 98-90 win at Curry. While the Leopards outlasted the Colonels to post an eight-point win, the road to the championship featured a three-point, overtime at Roger Williams and a one-point win at Gordon in which the game featured 20 lead changes. Of the 29 games played that season, three were physically played on the Wentworth campus.

The 2008-09 edition of the Leopards was a tale of two halves. Wentworth began the season with a 2-9 record, with four of those nine losses coming by a total of 10 points. A non-league win against Newbury snapped a two-game losing streak and was followed by an exciting, three-point overtime win over Gordon to open conference play. Two losses by a combined five points would put the Leopards at 4-11. Winners of five of their last six games with the lone loss coming to eventual conference champion University of New England, Wentworth was back in the hunt for a fourth consecutive playoff berth. Despite dropping three of their last four games, Wentworth earned a post-season berth but fell at Colby-Sawyer, 81-73, to conclude the season at 10-16. The 10 wins marks just the second time in the program's history where the team has won 10 or more games in four consecutive years.

Individually, senior Todd Doyle (Mystic, Conn.) became the fifth player in the program's history to win conference player of the yar honors. Doyle average 20.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. His shooting numbers were impressive, as he connected on over 50 percent of his shots from the floor, including 45 percent from three-point land, and his .926 free throw percentage was second in Division III. Junior Matt Abbott (Falmouth, Mass.) was named Second Team All-The Commonwealth Coast Conference Player of the Year after averaging 13.5 points and 9.3 rebounds, while shooting over 56 percent from the floor, while senior Brad Bryant (Livermore Falls, Maine) was named TCCC Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Bryant averaged 3.2 points anda team-high 2.6 assists per game. Bryant was also the recipient of the department's Carl A. Swanson Senior Scholar-Athlete Award.

Five players graduate from this year's squad, including two of the team's top five scorers both starting guards. However, a solid nucleus of players return in addition to what could be one of the more talented recuriting classes in recent memory and should help the Leopards be in the hunt for a fourth conference title.

Distinguished Players

Since the 1984-85 season, five players have been recognized as the TCCC Player of the Year. Jeff Bell was the first, earning the honor in 1985. Two players, Ludger Bain and Sterling Marshall, were two-time CCC Players of the Year. Bain captured the honor in 1996 and 1997 and Marshall in 1999 and 2000. Sherrad Prezzie-Blue would take home the honor in 2007, two seasons after being named the league’s rookie of the year, while in 2009 Todd Doyle capped off his brilliant career with the league's top honor, after being named TCCC Rookie of the Year in 2006. Kevin Hanlon earned the distinction of being the school’s first two-time Academic All-American, earning third-team honors in 1999 and first-team honors in 2000. Marshall’s 1,933 career points rank him tops all-time. Bell and former Coach Frank Nestor were inducted into the first Wentworth Athletic Hall of Fame class in 2001, while Bain and Tim Joyce ’87 were enshrined in 2003 and former standout Fred Bortolussi ’54, was voted with the 2004 class. Marshall and Hanlon joined this exclusive club in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Schedule

The Leopards play a 25-game schedule, which includes 13 CCC games against such teams as Colby-Sawyer, Endicott, Curry, Roger Williams, and the University of New England. The non-league schedule consists of games against such schools as Coast Guard and RPI. Wentworth will be playing in a pair of tournaments next season at Ramapo College and New York University. Over the course of the last 10 seasons the Leopards have played in tournaments in Las Vegas, Nev. (1999-2000; 2008-09), Daytona Beach, Fla. (1996-97), Monterey, Calif. (2001-02), and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (2007-08).

Meet the Coaching Staff

Tom Devitt (Boston College '93) is entering his eighth (2000-01; 2003-present) season as the Leopards' head coach. The 2007 CCC Coach of the Year, Devitt has been a member of the Leopards' coaching staff since the 1999-2000 season, including serving as the interim coach during the 2000-2001 season. Prior to his arrival at Wentworth, he had served as an assistant coach at both American University and Boston College. He is assisted by Chris Cullinan (Marist '96), Anthony Leonelli (UMass Boston '06), and L.J. Harrington (Whittier '85)