Interview w/ Josh Merkel (Head Coach at Randolph-Macon)

2021-01-04

Coach Josh Merkel shares his journey from his playing days to his numerous individual and team accolades he's received as a NCAA Head Coach. He played HS basketball at St. John Prospect Hall and then continued his career at Salisbury. While at Salisbury he played under two Head Coaches and had a successful college basketball career. After graduating cum laude in 2001 you returned to St John’s Prospect Hall and coach the JV team and assisted with the Varsity from 2001-04. Coach John B...

Coach Josh Merkel shares his journey from his playing days to his numerous individual and team accolades he's received as a NCAA Head Coach.

He played HS basketball at St. John Prospect Hall and then continued his career at Salisbury. While at Salisbury he played under two Head Coaches and had a successful college basketball career. After graduating cum laude in 2001 you returned to St John’s Prospect Hall and coach the JV team and assisted with the Varsity from 2001-04.

Coach John Beilein hired him as a Graduate Assistant at West Virginia and he parlayed that into a GA position at Eastern Kentucky - where you remained on staff afterwards as an Assistant Coach for five seasons.

He returned to his D3 roots joining the coaching staff at Randolph Macon during the 2010-11 season under Nathan Davis. After a successful stint at R-MC as an Assistant Coach his alma mater named him Head Coach after his former HC retired.

After four successful seasons in Salisbury, Randolph Macon hired him their Head Coach - just the 5th for the R-MC Basketball program since 1956. He discussed how tough of a decision it was to leave his alma mater and what led him to leave for Randolph Macon.

In his 1st season at R-MC the team posted a 13-3 conference mark and shared the ODAC regular season title with Guilford. The Yellow Jackets went 17-9 overall. In his 2nd season he was named the ODAC Coach of the Year after leading R-MC to a 12-4 record in conference play as well as winning the ODAC regular-season title. The 2018-19 season resulted in a 27-4 overall record including a 15-1 ODAC record, the team's 3rd straight regular season title and R-MC returned to the NCAA Tournament advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. You’re again named ODAC Coach of the Year

This past season the team goes 28-2 (15-1 in the ODAC) prior to COVID ending the NCAA Tournament prematurely. Coach Merkel talks about he's been able to transform R-MC into a team routinely ranked high in the NCAA rankings not being able to finish the the NCAA Tournament after capturing both the ODAC regular-season and tournament titles after winning their 1st two NCAA games.

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