Sorrentine comes to the Wizards from Brown University where he was their associate head coach. He is best known as a player who led Vermont to a win over Syracuse in the 2005 NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.
On Saturday, Kevin McNamara, a sports radio host for WPRO-AM/FM of Providence, R.I., reported that Brown University men’s basketball associate head coach TJ Sorrentine will leave the Bears to join the Washington Wizards coaching staff.
Selfishly sorry to hear @CoachTatBrownU is headed to the NBA w Wizards. Great guy, fixture at Brown, really helped the Bears.
News this AM w @ScottCordischi & @NCoitABC6— Kevin McNamara (@KevinMcNamara33) June 29, 2024
Matt Modderno also posted something on X while quoting (f/k/a subtweeting) McNamara’s post.
Great hire by the Wizards, he’s by all accounts been great at Brown. TJ Sorrentine and his ’05 Vermont team with Taylor Coppenrath produced one of the more exciting NCAA Tournament upsets of all-time when they beat #4-seed Syracuse. Welcome to DC! https://t.co/3iz62dszFE
— Matt Modderno (@MattModderno) June 29, 2024
As Matt wrote in his quote-post, Sorrentine is probably best known as the player for the Vermont Catamounts who hit a winning shot against Syracuse in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament. Just go to the 1:03 mark of the video below.
Now, it’s great to be a March Madness legend like Sorrentine, or maybe West Virginia forward Kevin Pittsnogle who was also big in that same year … or Oakland guard Jack Gohlke who was big this year.
As for the other guys I mentioned, Pittsnogle failed to make it in the NBA, but he became a teacher and is now a high school assistant principal in the state’s panhandle. And as for Gohlke, the jury’s out.
But I digress.
Sorrentine did play internationally after playing at Vermont for several teams and was on the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks’ summer league teams. But since 2008, he has been at Providence (as in the city, not Providence College which is a different educational institution) to be on the Bears’ coaching staff. Some of Brown’s best three-point shooters have been developed under his watch.
Given Sorrentine’s shot against Syracuse and his record for developing players’ long range games, I would imagine that he will play a part in that for the Wizards as well.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.