By: Cheyenne Lazarus & Kennard Squirrell

“Coaching was something I always wanted to do. Just being apart of a team that’s what life is all about so I started right away.” – Coach Dean Burrows, Wesley College Men’s Basketball Head Coach

Wesley's Men's Basketball Coach

Wesley’s Men’s Basketball Coach

Dean Burrows was born to coach basketball.

“Growing up in a family where my dad was a coach, my uncle was a coach and my grandfather was a coach sports was something I was born to play,” said Burrows, Wesley College’s new head men’s basketball coach.

“Coach Kobasa taught Coach Burrows a lot,” Freshman Daquan Martin said. “I feel like he knows the game well and knows what he’s doing on the court.”

The team, however, needs more than one year to gel.

Despite beginning the season with a buzzer-ending win against the No. 2 team in the nation, the team ended 10-16. It made it into the Capital Atlantic Conference, but lost the first round to Mary Washington on Feb. 23.

Eric Selby

Student Coach Eric Selby / Wesley Athletics Page

Coming into the season student assistant coach, senior Eric Selby, had high expectations for the team. He said that overall the team should have done better.

“There should have been better leadership from the upperclassmen,” Selby said. “They should have been better basketball players defensively.”

But there’s a lot of hope for next season because only two seniors are graduating this year.

Christian Chaney

Freshman / Wesley Athletics Page

Freshman, Chris Chaney, said the team needs to be more consistent at times.

“We had team chemistry off the court, but sometimes we couldn’t transition it to the court,” he said.

Senior Anthony Bowers agreed that consistency would have given them a better showing in the playoffs.

Anthony Bowers

Senior / Wesley Athletics Page

“Coach Burrows needed to stay consistent with the starting five, so we can have more of a bond with each other,” he said.

Despite the disappointing season, Burrows said he was proud about his players and staff.

“You wouldn’t know what our record was if you walked into the gym three weeks ago or today or yesterday because we still understood we had an opportunity to get into the CAC tournament and we didn’t think there is anybody better than us,” he said.

Burrows was assistant coach for three years under Jerry Kobasa before he took over the team this fall.

A Delaware native, once he graduated from high school he received offers to play Division III basketball and baseball but instead got right into coaching.

“Coaching was something I always wanted to do,” he said. “Just being a part of a team, that’s what life is all about, so I started right away.”

Burrows said Kobasa gave him the opportunity to have a voice with everything that went on with the basketball program here at Wesley.

“I wish it was just X’s and O’s and basketball,” Burrows said. “You’re kind of a CEO of your own organization as a head coach.”