Brett Nelson (basketball)

Brett Nelson

Current position
Title	Assistant Coach
Team	UMass
Conference	Atlantic 10
Biographical details
Born	(1980-10-22) October 22, 1980 St. Albans, West Virginia, U.S.
Playing career
1999–2003	Florida
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2007–2010	Marshall (assistant)
2010–2011	Arkansas (assistant)
2011–2013	Drake (assistant)
2013–2014	Ball State (assistant)
2014–2017	Marquette (assistant)
2017–2019	Marquette (Associate HC)
2019–2023	Holy Cross
2023–present	UMass (assistant)
Head coaching record
Overall	27–84 (.243)

Brett Nelson (born October 22, 1980) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach at UMass under head coach Frank Martin.

Playing career

A 1999 McDonald's All-American, Nelson was a standout at Saint Albans High School in West Virginia and was the state's player of the year his senior season. Nelson would play college basketball at Florida under Billy Donovan where he was a three-year starter and member of the Gators' 2000 NCAA tournament runner-up squad. He ended his career as a two-time All-SEC selection as well as the school's leader in three-pointers made and attempted. At the time of his graduation, Nelson finished with career averages of 11.0 points per game and ranked second in steals and fourteenth in points scored in school history.

Coaching career

Nelson would briefly play professional basketball overseas in Sweden, but left to pursue a career as director of basketball operations at Colorado State and then at VCU for a season each from 2005 to 2007. His first assistant coaching position was under Donnie Jones at Marshall, who was an assistant at Florida during Nelson's playing days. After three years with the Thundering Herd, Nelson had a one-year stop as an assistant at Arkansas under another former Florida assistant, John Pelphrey, before a two-year stint at Drake.

After one year as an assistant at Ball State, Nelson joined the staff at Marquette in 2014, where he was on staff for two Golden Eagles NCAA Tournament squads. On July 9, 2019 Nelson was named the 18th head coach in Holy Cross history, replacing the retiring Bill Carmody.

In his first year as head coach, Nelson led a rebuilding Crusaders team to a record of 3-29, with his first victory as a head coach coming on December 2, 2019 against Mercer.

On March 10, 2023, it was announced that Nelson would not return, after 4 seasons.

On May 31, 2023, UMass head coach Frank Martin announced the hiring of Nelson as an assistant coach on his staff.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Holy Cross (Patriot) (2019–2023)
2019–20	Holy Cross	3–29	2–16	10th
2020–21	Holy Cross	5–11	5–11	4th (North)
2021–22	Holy Cross	9–22	7–11	T-7th
2022–23	Holy Cross	10–22	7–11	T-6th
Holy Cross:		27–84 (.243)	21–49 (.300)
Total:		27–84 (.243)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion