This past summer, Marist men’s basketball head coach John Dunne added another star to his already talented coaching staff in former SUNY Purchase head coach Dan Bozzelli.
Bozzelli has experienced a winding road throughout his coaching career, but he arrived at Marist after spending the previous four seasons leading Division III Purchase College.
At the helm, Bozzelli increased the team’s win total each season, moving from 6-18 in season one to 13-12 in season two. Despite his team’s growth, leading the Panthers was no easy feat.
The first hurdle for Bozzelli was navigating the COVID-19 pandemic in his first season. He began the job believing he could build his program around a talented returning class.
That did not happen.
The 2020-21 season was the first regular season in Division I basketball after COVID-19 halted college sports before the NCAA Tournament in March 2020. However, in Division III, the entirety of the 2020-21 season was canceled.
“It was during COVID, so there was no season. I took the job thinking, okay, there’s a lot of returners coming back, we lost [our] player of the year, but I got there and I was [only] able to keep three players,” said Bozzelli.
The team lost senior captain and All-Skyline Conference member Elijah Lott to graduation the year before Bozzelli’s arrival in the 2019-2020 season.
In the years leading up to the pandemic, the Panthers program held a good standard not finishing below .500 since the 2014-15 season. Purchase advanced to the Skyline Conference championship game in their last season before the pandemic, losing to Yeshiva University.
But by the time the Panthers took the court after the pandemic and with Bozzelli leading for the first time, they were an almost entirely different team.
Bozzelli knew it would take three to four years to return the program to its pre-COVID standard. He wanted to build something from the bottom up with student-athletes who had strong character and genuinely wanted to work hard.
“The first two years it was getting them to learn how to play, be good teammates and enjoy the process of getting better,” said Bozzelli.
In year three, 2023-24, the goal was to compete for a conference championship. The team dealt with injuries throughout the season that prevented them from reaching that goal; however they did improve their record for a third straight year under Bozzelli and finished above .500 for the first time since before the pandemic.
“If I was there for a fourth [non-COVID] year, [the team] had a shot to win the league,” said Bozzelli.
Despite not winning their league, Bozzelli’s squad succeeded during the 2023-24 season in the Medgar Evers College Tournament, an in-season tournament played in Brooklyn, New York.
Purchase secured a win against Mount Aloysius College and a rout against Vermont State University Castleton in the championship game, emphasizing the team’s strides in Bozzelli’s three years.
But for Bozzelli, it was more than on-court success that mattered. He ingrained himself into the campus community. He was on multiple committees, including being a student-athlete mentor. As he put it, he “wasn’t just the basketball coach”.
Without question, leaving the Purchase community that he was so active in was a challenge for Bozzelli. However, he had his eyes set on a return to Division I.
“To get back to Division I, for me, was a dream come true. But to do it at a place like Marist and with a coach like John Dunne and the people in the program was a no-brainer,” said Bozzelli.
Bozzelli’s Marist arrival marked his return to Division I and an incredible 10th stop for him as a coach. Before his four seasons leading SUNY Purchase, Bozzelli spent two seasons as an assistant at Division III Vassar College, Marist’s Poughkeepsie neighbor. Before that, he made his only other Division I stop as the Director of Operations at Eastern Kentucky University.
Before Eastern Kentucky, he bounced around between several Division III schools cutting his teeth in the New York region.
During his first stint in Poughkeepsie as an assistant coach at Vassar College, he helped the Brewers to their first-ever NCAA tournament. His time at Vassar also introduced him to Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley.
“I liked Poughkeepsie as soon as I got here, I loved the opportunity of being a train ride from the largest city in America,” said Bozzelli.
Bozzelli’s first major New York experience was finagling a last-minute ticket just after he arrived at Vassar to see Serena Williams battle it out in Queens at the U.S. Open.
He knew there was something different about Poughkeepsie than his other coaching stops. The convenient MetroNorth Railroad, the Walkway Over the Hudson, the local community that shows up to home games, and the distance to everything important are some of his favorite aspects of Poughkeepsie.
So when the opportunity to join the staff at Marist presented itself, Bozzelli remembered his experiences in Poughkeepsie from his time at Vassar. Bozzelli was genuinely interested in the Poughkeepsie area and the betterment of his family and personal life that could stem from a return.
Naturally, it was not only Poughkeepsie that drew Bozzelli to Marist; it was the quality of the Red Fox basketball program. Bozzelli watched the early part of John Dunne’s head coaching tenure.
“I was at Vassar, and watching from afar and just seeing how good of a coach [John] is, how good of a teacher he is, and how good of a mentor he is,” said Bozzelli.
Bozzelli was also familiar with more than just the head brass. He knew Marist associate head coach Dalip Bhatia; Bozzelli — as one of his close friends worked with Bhatia at Rutgers. Bozzelli was amazed by Bhatia’s work ethic and ability to run a practice. When Bozzelli met assistant coaches, Drew Metz and Brandon Hall, he realized how special this season could be.
Aligning with the coaching staff that Director of Athletics Tim Murray and Dunne put together, Bozzelli continues to preach that chemistry off the court is just as important as X’s and O’s, especially with how well this season has started.
“I think it’s just about showing them that you care. It has nothing to do with the knowledge of basketball I might know, it’s about showing them I care about them as a person, as a student and about their families,” said Bozzelli.
When Bozzelli first arrived on the Marist campus, it was move-in day for summer school. He did not know the student-athletes but still wanted to assist in the move-in process, regardless of whether they knew him.
“I think that’s why we get into coaching and teaching…it’s because we are trying to help them be the best version of themselves,” said Bozzelli.
Bozzelli says that the Red Foxes will learn that basketball can help them be successful no matter what direction their future takes them. His brother Andy, based in Chicago, loves hiring former student-athletes because they understand how to work with a team and be leaders.
As Marist continues to improve on its 13-2 record, Dan Bozzelli is truly excited to be part of the journey.
“I’m learning from [the coaching staff and athletes] every day, and that’s why you come to a place like this, to work with great and special student-athletes. But more importantly, with the people around you,” said Bozzelli.
Edited by Max Rosen and Marley Pope
Graphic by Victoria Guardino; Photos from Marist Athletics and SUNY Purchase Athletics
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