Brett Nelson is in his first campaign as an assistant coach at UCF. He spent the past three campaigns at Marshall, serving as an assistant under current UCF head coach Donnie Jones.
A former standout student-athlete at Florida, Nelson helped Jones turn around the Marshall program. In 2009-10, the Thundering Herd posted a 24-10 mark and advanced to the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The appearance was the first trip to the postseason for Marshall in 22 years. The Herd finished the campaign 11-5 in Conference USA play, tying the team for third in the league and serving as the school[apos]s best conference finish since 2000-01.
Marshall had one of the top offenses in the country and led C-USA in scoring at 79.9 points per game. The Herd scored a program record 2,717 points during the year.Nelson was part of a staff that attracted several top recruits to Marshall, including Hassan Whiteside, who led the nation in blocks in 2009-10. The post player recorded 182 blocks - the fourth-most in NCAA single-season history.
Whiteside was named both the C-USA Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year, and garnered Freshman All-America Second Team honors from The Sporting News. Both Whiteside and Tyler Wilkerson were selected to the 2009-10 All-C-USA Second Team and Dago Pena was named the league[apos]s sixth man of the year.
Before coming to Marshall, Nelson spent the 2006-07 campaign as the director of operations at VCU, working under Anthony Grant. The Rams went 28-7 that season and posted a victory over Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Nelson began his coaching career in 2005, spending a year at Colorado State as the program[apos]s director of operations.
Nelson starred at Florida from 1999-03, while Jones served as one of the program[apos]s assistant coaches. He was a member of four NCAA Tournament squads, including the 1999-00 team that advanced to the national championship game.
Nelson appeared in 127 career games, making 77 starts, and averaged 11.0 points.He ranks second all-time at Florida in 3-pointers made (274) and attempted (689). He is also second on the school[apos]s all-time list in steals with 199 and sixth in career assists per game at 3.16. Nelson established the school record for consecutive games with a 3-pointer (33), marking the sixth-longest streak in Southeastern Conference history.
In 2000-01, Nelson earned Associated Press All-America honorable mention honors and was also selected to the NABC District VI First Team, the USBWA District IV First Team and the All-SEC First Team after averaging 15.3 points and 4.3 assists. The following season he earned all-conference second team honors.
After concluding his collegiate career, the St. Albans, W.Va., native spent a year playing professionally in Sweden.
At St. Albans High School, Nelson set the West Virginia state career scoring record by totaling 2,199 points in three campaigns. As a senior, he averaged 31.9 points, 7.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds and was named the state player of the year. Nelson was a McDonald[apos]s All-America selection and competed in the Magic Johnson Roundball Classic.
Nelson received his bachelor[apos]s degree in sociology from Florida in 2004. On May 31, 2008, he married the former Jamie Witt of Bedford, Va.
(updated 4/6/10)