Adam Nelson
Title: Head Basketball Coach/Assistant Athletic Director
Phone: 617-994-6458

Adam Nelson was named Head Basketball Coach and Assistant Director of Athletics at Suffolk University in August, 2005. Nelson is just the fourth head coach in the 50 year history of Suffolk Basketball following Charles Law (30 seasons), James E. Nelson (19 seasons), and Dennis McHugh (10 seasons).

Adam Nelson began his career in college basketball as a student, first at the University of South Carolina (1992– 1994) and then Boston College (1994– 1996). Nelson worked for 1993 National Coach of the Year Eddie Fogler while at South Carolina, and 1999 National Coach of the Year Jim O’Brien at Boston College.

In 1996, Nelson was named Assistant Coach, and later promoted to Associate Head Coach at Curry College in Milton, Mass. Also during this time, Nelson gained valuable experience while serving as the Head Coach of the Southeast squad for the Bay State Summer Games. His team won the gold medal in 1997, and the silver in 1998. After a two year stint at Curry, Coach Nelson moved on to become a Division I Assistant at Holy Cross, and later Northeastern University.

After his time as an assistant, Nelson became one of the youngest head coaches in the country at the age of 26, when he accepted the job as the head coach at Becker College in 2000. While at Becker, Nelson recruited and coached the Rookie of the Year in the North Atlantic Conference in 2 out of his 3 seasons (2000-01 Abel Carmona, 2002-03 Albert Ortiz). The 2002-03 Becker team broke or tied 11 school records and hosted a first round NAC play-off game for the first time ever. The team also ended its 19 game (11 year) drought vs. league rival Mt. Ida College, and halted Lasell College’s remarkable NAC winning streak which extended over two seasons on 1/30/03.

After Becker, Nelson moved on to become the Head Coach Newbury College. There he and his staff successfully recruited the first Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic player (Arch Mitchell) to wear a Nighthawk uniform since becoming a member of the NCAA. Nelson’s run at Newbury was capped off with one of the biggest wins in the programs history - a 76-73 victory over eventual ECAC Champion Wheaton College in February 2005.

Nelson’s first season at Suffolk saw his squad win 11 games while going 9-9 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference. Junior guard John Murphy was named to the all-conference first team, while averaging 21.9 points per game. In April of 2006, Nelson received the Suffolk University Student Government Leadership Award recognizing him as the Outstanding Athletic Coach of the Year. In 2007, Nelson guided the Rams to nine victories and a berth in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference semi-finals after an upset triumph over Emerson in the league quarterfinals.

Nelson has gained great visibility over the past two years in Boston media circles, as he has served as a guest analyst for both the NCAA Basketball Championship and the NBA Finals for New England Cable News (NECN). Nelson has made several appearances on “Good Morning Live”, breaking down the brackets during NCAA "March Madness", as well as providing analysis during the Celtics run to the NBA Championship last season.

Nelson and his wife Deb live in West Quincy, Mass. with their children AJ, Jack and Mollie.

Rich Fazzi
Title: Associate Head Coach

Rich Fazzi returns for his fifth season on the Suffolk staff after rejoining head coach Adam Nelson at Suffolk during the 2005-06 season. Before coaching at Suffolk, Fazzi was an assistant men's basketball coach and assistant men's soccer coach at Newbury College. Fazzi played for Coach Nelson at Becker for three seasons. He was a three year starter and two year captain while at Becker. He also set numerous NCAA records for the Hawks including career Field Goal Percentage (56%) and a single game record for field goal's when he went 9/9 vs. Lasell College on 2/7/04. He graduated as the Hawks 8th all-time leading scorer. While at Becker, Fazzi also played golf and was a team captain. in 2004, Fazzi graduated from Becker College with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Fazzi graduated from Paul VI High School in Haddonfield, NJ where he played for Mike Gallagher who is the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Wilmington University.

During the summer, Coach Fazzi works at numerous basketball camps in the area including Hoop Group, Hoop Mountain, Boston College, and for the Adidas Top 100.  Fazzi currently lives in Quincy, MA

Jeff Kotkowski
Title: Assistant Basketball Coach

Coach Kotkowski enters his first season as an assistant coach at Suffolk University. Kotkowski played at Becker College were he was recruited by Coach Adam Nelson.  Kotkowski started at Becker for three seasons. His senior season he was third in the Nation in rebounding finishing the season at 13.5 RPG. He saved his best efforts of his college career for his last three games where he was named ECAC/ NAC Player of the Week while averaging 20 points and 25 rebounds. Kotkowski played for Hall of Fame Coach Nick Papas at Melrose High School. He currently resides in Saugus

Kevin Blake
Title: Assistant Men's Basketball Coach

Also entering his 1st season on Nelson's staff is Kevin Blake.  Blake, a native of Milford, CT played for 4yrs under Coach Nelson at Suffolk, and graduated in May with as marketing major with a BS/BA in Business Administration.  On the hardwood Blake appeared in 53 games for the Rams while making two starts.  Off the court at Suffolk he served for 3 yrs as an Admissions Ambassador.  Although Blake enters his 1st year on the bench, coaching is in his blood, as his father Tom is the former Coach at Men's Wheaton (Mass.) College (1994-97) and Albertus Magnus College (1989-94).  Currently his father is an assistant on the Women's staff at Quinnipiac College.  His father also spent time as an assistant with the men's programs at both Manhattan College, and Fairfield University.  Away from his coaching duties Blake is employed by Bank of America, and is resides in South Boston.