Brian Zoeller enters his fifth season looking forward to the continued growth and evolution of the young Phoenix basketball program. On the heels of the historic 2017-2018 season, Zoeller has greater aspirations for his team.
Zoeller, only the second head coach in Wilson College Men’s Basketball history, has watched the program evolve from a 3-win inaugural season to 20 wins in only the fourth season of the program. Equally importantly, the men’s basketball team has shown tremendous academic growth.
The 2017-2018 Phoenix team re-wrote the program record books. For the first time in program history, the team earned double-digit victories, then kept going. They earned the first .500+ record, then earned a 20-win season. They qualified for their first play-off berth, then made it to the NEAC Final Four and received an invitation to compete in the ECAC tournament as a #1 seed. Ultimately, the team finished the season with 20-8 record. Several individual honors followed as Keion Adams was awarded NEAC 1st Team All-Conference, and Willie McDowell and Rashaan Bean were recognized as 3rd Team All-Conference recipients. Adams also became the first 1,000 point scorer in program history. As only the second, third, and fourth seniors in program history, McDowell, Marquise Beckett, and Martez Beckett left the program in a place few could have imagined a few years earlier. In fact, Marquise and Martez Beckett were the only players remaining from the inaugural 2014-2015 season and became the first two 4th year seniors to graduate as part of the Wilson College Men’s Basketball program. Following the season, Adams, Marquise Beckett, Martez Beckett, and Ian Frazier were named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court as juniors/seniors having a 3.2 or better cumulative GPA, and the entire team was recognized by the NABC with the Team Academic Excellence Award for outstanding academic achievement.
Zoeller believes in a simple concept to guide and define his program: play smart, play tough and play together. The team embodies those three values on the court in their style of play, but they are also translated off the court as life-guiding philosophies. Zoeller emphasizes the two most important pieces of the college experience are academic education and personal social development. He wants his players to excel in the classroom and lead balanced lives with varied interests. Basketball is an important component to players’ college experiences, but their education and personal development remain the top priorities.
Zoeller is a 2005 graduate of The Pennsylvania State University and Valedictorian of the College of Arts and Architecture with a bachelor’s degree in art education and a 2009 graduate of Wilkes University with a master’s degree in educational development and strategies. He is also a 2001 graduate of Chambersburg Area Senior High School. Before coming to Wilson, Zoeller was a high school art teacher for nine years.
Zoeller was a point guard and team captain during his high school career. In college, he was a member of the Penn State Lady Lions male scout team. During that highly successful period of Lady Lion Basketball, Zoeller gained his first experience in women’s basketball and was exposed to a different perspective on the game. Additionally, competing on a scout team for three seasons gave him incredible exposure to a variety of offensive and defensive systems, differing philosophies, and an appreciation for the value of detailed scouting and thoughtful game planning. After college, and prior to entering the college coaching ranks, Zoeller coached high school basketball for seven seasons.
In addition to his coaching duties, Zoeller owns and operates Zoeller Real Estate Company, a real estate holding company, and lives with his wife, Leanne, and daughter, Sophia, in Chambersburg. Additionally, he serves as a board member for the Drew Michael Taylor Foundation and the Chambersburg Council for the Arts.
