Lamar Chapman Named Men's Basketball Assistant Coach

Central Connecticut men's basketball head coach Patrick Sellers has added Lamar Chapman to his staff as an assistant coach for the 2021-22 season it was announced Monday. Chapman was most recently associate head coach at Northern Illinois University, where he was interim head coach during the 2020-21 season.

"Lamar is a proven winner and has experienced tremendous success everywhere he's been," Sellers said. "He will be an integral part to helping us build back our championship culture that the University and state of Connecticut has grown accustomed to. Coach Chapman will play a major role in both recruiting and developing our student-athletes and will be a great mentor to them. I'm very excited to have him on board."

Chapman joined the Northern Illinois staff in 2017 and set about making an impact with the Huskies' program. During his time in DeKalb he coach the program's all-time leading scorer (Eugene German) and helped the Huskies win a share of the MAC West Division title in 2019-20. That season, NIU won its most conference games in 14 campaigns and German became the eighth player in program history to earn All-America recognition. The Huskies also recorded their first win over a ranked opponent since 1973 (Jan. 22, 2018 vs. #14 Buffalo) and advanced to the MAC semifinals for the first time since 2003 during Chapman's time on staff.

Prior to NIU, Chapman spent nine seasons at Stony Brook University. He helped the Seawolves to four regular-season conference titles, one America East Tournament championship and seven postseason appearances, including the school's first NCAA Tournament bid in 2016. During Chapman's nine years at Stony Brook, the Seawolves had six 22-plus win seasons and he recruited the 2010 conference Player of the Year and 2012 Defensive Player of the Year, in addition to three all-league performers.

Chapman's collegiate coaching career began with three seasons at Central Michigan University before he went to the University of Toledo for two seasons. He helped develop a First-Team All-MAC performer at CMU and helped the Rockets win their first MAC regular-season title in 26 years during his first season with the program.

His coaching career began with a highly-successful two-year run as head coach at the high school level with Muskegon Heights, MI. He coached the Tigers to a 42-9 record and an appearance in the Class B state final and Class C state semifinals during his tenure. Chapman guided Muskegon Heights to a 21-5 record in 2001-02 and was named the Class A & B Coach of the Year by the Muskegon Chronicle. In 2002-03, the Tigers were 21-4 and repeated as district and regional champions, earning a state runner-up finish. 

A native of Muskegon Heights, MI, Chapman graduated from Lane College in 1993 with a degree in health and physical education. He was the school's Athlete of the Year in 1991 and 1992.