• Hamburger enters his second year on the Saint Peters
sidelines, after most recently having served in the role of
assistant coach at Caldwell College.
• A coaching veteran, Hamburger possesses decades of
experience on the sidelines. He was an assistant under P.J.
Carlesimo at Seton Hall for nine seasons, helping lead the Pirates
to the 1989 National Championship game before moving on to become
the head coach at his alma mater Kean University for 11
years. He also coached in the WNBA with the New York
Liberty.
• Assists in all facets of the program, including recruiting,
scouting and player development given his wealth of experience --
working primarily with the Peacock guards.
Diary Series: Bruce Hamburger, Asst. Coach - Saint Peter's
As the start of another college basketball season is a few weeks away, I am reminded of the famous quote from Alexander Pope, “Hope springs eternal”. People always hope for the best. As we come to the end of the second full week of official practice, every college coach in America is hoping for the best, filled with optimism and enthusiasm for the upcoming season.
At Saint Peter’s College, we have a much different team then was last seen playing Purdue in the NCAA tournament in March. We lost five key players from that team, and welcome in two freshmen, a JUCO transfer and a transfer who sat out last year per NCAA rules. While we will play a similar style to last year, we are a different team. This is one of the most challenging parts of being a college coach, finding the way to blend in new players with your returning players.
The start of this season started in late August as our players came back to campus. Once we got them settled into the dorms, got their class schedules in order and worked on other logistical issues, we started with our individual workouts. We worked with our players on skill development, defensive concepts and started putting in our ½ court offensive concepts as well, trying to find a balance of repetition, competition and teaching. Our players also got into the routine of their strength and conditioning programs, along with the balance of their academic lives with study hall and tutoring sessions. Time management is one of the biggest issues that freshman face when they enter college, and this is something that we talk to them about every day.
Besides working as a staff on the basketball side of things, we also have to work daily on recruiting. This consists of going out on the road as much as possible to see pre season workouts, hosting recruits for unofficial or official campus visits, and keeping in touch with recruits and their coaches via phone, email and handwritten letters.
As we work on all of these components, we also meet daily to discuss the X’s & O’s of how we will play this year, how we want our practices to look, and a multitude of things that come up every day.
We are all looking forward to the start of a new year, with all of the twists and turns that occur in a college season. I look forward to sharing an inside look at a college basketball season here at Saint Peter’s College. Best of luck to everyone!
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