Jesse Bender has been named the next assistant coach of the SUNY Canton men’s basketball program, as announced by Head Coach Dylan Seikel in August 2023.
The Roos posted double digit wins (10) in Bender's first year as an assistant improving by four wins from the previous season. Eli Larson was named NAC Third Team All-Conference following the 2023-24 season. Larson was also recognized on the D3hoops.com National Team of the Week as well as the NAC Defensive Player of the Week (both 1/16/24).
Bender joined the Roos after serving as an assistant coach at Arapahoe High School last season in Centennial, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. Arapahoe is a 6A school in the Centennial League, one of the toughest in the state of Colorado.
"We are thrilled to welcome Coach Bender to the SUNY Canton men's basketball family,” Seikel said at the time of his hiring. “Jesse's experience coaching multiple levels of basketball will greatly assist our program moving forward. Coach Bender has a wealth of knowledge and is eager to help our players improve on and off the court."
Prior to his time in the greater Denver area, Bender was an assistant coach with the International Sports Academy (ISA) at Andrews Osborne, a prominent prep basketball academy in Cleveland, Ohio. During the 2021-22 season the team played a national schedule that took them to 11 different states playing high-level competition.
While in Cleveland he also spent time as a head coach at Luke Toth Basketball, an AAU program run by Luke Toth, a skill development coach for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers. Before joining the staff at ISA, Bender was an assistant varsity and head junior varsity coach at Denver West High School.
"I am extremely excited to be joining the SUNY Canton's men's basketball staff for the upcoming 2023-24 season,” Bender said when hired. “I hope to bring enthusiasm and intensity to our program and help our student-athletes achieve success. I am ready to work with Coach Seikel to build something special with him in the North Country."
(Updated 12/19/24)
