Shiva Senthil enters his third season as the head coach of the SUNY Canton men's basketball program during the 2021-22 academic year.
Senthil led the SUNY Canton men's basketball program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth as the team captured the 2020 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championship with a 72-71 road win at Maine Farmington on February 29, 2020. The Roos ultimately fell 74-49 to No. 17 nationally-ranked Springfield College in the NCAA Tournament First Round after earning just the second ever NCAA Tournament berth in school history for the Roos after the women's lacrosse team captured the 2019 NAC Championship.
Coach Senthil led SUNY Canton to a 16-12 overall record and 10-4 mark in NAC play during the 2019-20 season earning the two seed in the conference tournament in his first season as a collegiate head coach. Following the Roos NAC championship Senthil was named the HoopDirt.com NCAA D-III National Coach of the Week. Senthil saw four of his players earn All-Conference honors headlined by NAC Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference recipient Andrew Fitch. Quran DuBois also earned First Team All-Conference accolades, while Joseph Werner and Danny Santana earned Second Team All-Conference nods.
Other season highlights included Coach Senthil defeating Clarkson University (60-52) for his first collegiate win, where he spent two years as an assistant. The Roos also defeated crosstown St. Lawrence University (97-87) for the first time in a game that saw SUNY Canton hit an NCAA D-III era program record 17 three-pointers.
The Roos finished the 2019-20 season ranking highly in NCAA Division III in a number of categories both as a team and individually. The team was fifth in field goal percentage defense (38.0), fifth in blocked shots per game (5.5), fifth in total blocks (155), sixth in defensive rebounds per game (31.64), 11th in total rebounds (1,221) and 12th in total rebounds per game (43.61).
Individually Fitch was second in the nation in blocks per game (3.50) and total blocks (91). Werner ranked 28th in total rebounds (264) and 30th in offensive rebounds per game (3.46), while DuBois finished 37th in total steals (58).
In the summer of 2020 Senthil was one of just 30 honorees nationally across all divisions to be named to the 2019-20 Under Armour 30-under-30 team. The Roos also earned the NABC Academic Excellence award for having a 3.2 or higher team GPA for the 2019-20 academic year and saw five different players (Brandon Averitt, Brandon Blaker, Andrew Fitch, Ibu Smith, Joseph Werner) named to the NABC Honors Court. Fitch also became the first SUNY Canton basektball player to be named CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District.
Following a national search, Senthil was named SUNY Canton's Head Men's Basketball Coach in July 2019. Senthil spent the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach with the University of Chicago of the University Athletic Association (UAA), one of the premier conferences in NCAA Division III men’s basketball.
“Shiva stood out in an extremely competitive applicant pool after coaching and playing at the highest levels of NCAA Division III basketball,” Athletic Director Randy Sieminski said at the time of Senthil's appointment. “His work last season at the University of Chicago, his experience in the North Country at Clarkson and success at Hartwick where he was a part of three Empire 8 Championships is impressive. He shows a great ability to connect with student-athletes both on and off the court, and we are looking forward to working with him to grow SUNY Canton basketball.”
Prior to UChicago, Senthil was the assistant coach for two seasons at Clarkson University, where he helped the Golden Knights improve both their overall and conference win totals. He also aided in the development of three all-conference performers.
Senthil also served as assistant coach at SUNY Purchase in 2015-16, as the Panthers enjoyed a four-game win improvement to finish 13-13 overall and 11-9 in the Skyline Conference. Prior to his season at Purchase, Senthil coached for one year at the University of Michigan-Dearborn where the team enjoyed the second-best mark in program history.
"I would like to thank President Szafran, Randy Sieminski, and the rest of the search committee for trusting me to be the next head men's basketball coach at SUNY Canton,” Senthil said. “I am very excited to return to the North Country, and I look forward to coaching at a tremendous institution in SUNY Canton. I cannot wait to meet the players as we look to lead the program to the top of the North Atlantic Conference."
Senthil attended Hartwick College, where he was a member of two NCAA Tournament teams and was a student assistant for another one. During his sophomore season, the team finished 23-4 and hosted the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Senthil's senior class graduated among the winningest classes in Hartwick history with a mark of 70-37.
Senthil graduated from Hartwick College in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. He went on to earn his MBA from Clarkson University in 2018.
(Updated 8/30/21)
