Jeremy Shulman – UT Martin Head Coach

Moving Up from Junior College Ranks

(St. Louis, MO) – After 346 junior college basketball coaching wins and an .806 winning percentage, Jeremy Shulman has moved the Division 1 level. He is the new UT Martin head coach. He replaces the popular and successful Ryan Ridder who left for a head coaching position at Mercer.

Shulman’s time at Eastern Florida College was extremely successful and Tennessee Martin administrators believe his coaching and recruiting experience make him the perfect fit for the Ohio Valley Conference school. Ridder also possessed a junior college background before coaching briefly at Bethune-Cookman.

After Ridder departed, Director of Athletics Kurt McMuffin began a search that resulted in Shulman and two other main candidates. Shulman believes one of his selling points was his junior college experience of needing to recruit all new rosters virtually every season.

 

 

Eastern Florida College won eleven of its last twelve conference championships. Sixty-two of his former players went on to play in Division 1 programs.

The Nashville-born Shulman says ‘coming home’ to Tennessee and to a great institution like UT Martin is a ‘dream come true’. He has recruited the area and sent some of his former players to the Skyhawk program.

 

 

Shulman’s ability to re-tool a roster during the ‘portal pandemic’ is a key strength. His junior college contacts reach far and wide and relationships with D1 coaches are significant. However, he also wants to recruit overlooked high school players.

The new UT Martin head coach has already signed his first recruit. Lamine Niang is a 6’10 redshirt sophomore from Cal State Northridge.

UT Martin Head Coach Philosophies

His Eastern Florida teams played fast and scored a lot of points, but Shulman takes great pride in his teams’ defensive abilities. Shulman’s defensive strategies earned his team a top eight ranking nationally for the past eleven seasons. While his teams score well, his offensive philosophy is about ‘speed and space’.

 

 

Shulman’s teams play a unique brand of defensive basketball. He says his man-to-man defense often looks like a zone and he also employs some ‘matchup zone’ principles and strategies. He says it may take his new Skyhawk players a little time to master the defensive ideas and that coaching against D1 players could alter some of his strategies.

Shulman loves the defensive side of the ball.

 

 

Away from the wins and losses, Shulman focuses on developing his players. He wants them to grow as young men and as basketball players. He is deeply committed to his players getting better. Shulman wants every player to have the opportunity to play professionally after leaving UTM. Over forty of his former players have played professional basketball.

He believes the development part is part of what he is selling during the ‘portal pandemic’ era. Shulman believes players can invest in themselves and the long term benefit will be better than the instant gratification of NIL money. He insists the NIL benefits should be used to reward and retain players, rather than recruiting new ones.

 

 

Mentors and Continually Learning

Shulman is a basketball junky. He loves to continually learn about the game’s nuances and strategies. While it is always evolving, the game of basketball has some timeless elements too. While he routinely quotes famous coaches, his thirst for basketball understanding sends him to coaching clinics and reading books.

One of the most influential people in his coaching life is Tom Wasdin. The former Jackson University coach was hall-of-famer Artis Gilmore’s college coach and two of his three head-coaching seasons, the Dolphins played in the NCAA Tournament.

Shulman had weekly breakfast engagements with the elderly Wasdin and continues to speak with his mentor often.

 

 

Shulman and the university are putting the finishing touches on his coaching staff. Reporter Jeff Goodman says the entire staff has been hired.

Head here to view our entire conversation. 

Morehead State just hired its new coach Jonathan Mattox, so two of the OVC’s top programs have new young coaches. College basketball is continually changing.

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Editor: Cover photo courtesy of utmsports.com.