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 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
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
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.












