New Central Connecticut men’s basketball coach Patrick Sellers instilling ‘blue-collar mindset’ in his players

Patrick Sellers knows what he’s getting into at Central Connecticut State University. He also knows where he wants to take the men’s basketball program and has an idea how to get there.

“Central is a special place,” the Blue Devils’ new head coach said on Monday during the preseason coaches breakfast at Golf Club of Avon to benefit the Jimmy V Foundation’s cancer research.

“Our strength coach, Mike Ericksen, has been there over 20 years, and Mike does the most with the least. So if we coach that mindset into all our guys, that we can do everything we can and not worry about all the fluff and continue to build that blue-collar mindset, that’s how you win at Central Connecticut.”

Sellers, a CCSU alum like Ericksen, has worked long and hard for this first head-coaching opportunity since his playing days at Central ended in 1991. He was an assistant on Howie Dickenman’s staff when the Blue Devils won the NEC and went to the NCAA Tournament in 2000 and 2002.

The school hasn’t had a winning season since 2010-11. In its ranking of all Division I schools, CBSSports.com has the Blue Devils at No. 345 among 358 programs.

“We’re going to get picked last [in the NEC] in every magazine. The coaches are going to pick us last,” said Sellers.

“We’re going to have to earn everything. So the players at Central Connecticut, you’re going to work and earn everything. So the players we bring in, we want guys who are hungry, who have a chip on their shoulder because they weren’t recruited by bigger schools. That’s the mindset we need, that’s the mindset we want, and I think we have a good group of guys like that.”

CCSU went 5-16 last season and 40-104 over the last five seasons under Donyell Marshall. Sellers, a head-coaching candidate in the past, was hired by his alma mater May 10 after a long search. An assistant coach at Fairfield at the time, Sellers was in a staff meeting when he took the call telling him he was the choice.

“When he got the call, they didn’t want him to say anything to anybody, and I was looking for a reaction in his face when he came back into the meeting,” said Jay Young, Fairfield’s head coach. “And I said, ‘Pat I’m never playing poker with you,’ because you couldn’t tell that he got the job. Then I found out later. It’s very emotional. You pay your dues in this business, and you wait a long time for that phone call.”

Young, like Sellers, had worked as an assistant for many years and finally got his opportunity at Fairfield after a few disappointments. Young and his staff led the Stags to the MAAC championship game last March, where they lost to Iona.

“Patrick understands where he is at,” Young said. “That’s important when you’re a head coach, to appreciate what you have, rather than what you don’t have. ... Patrick brings incredible energy to every practice, he’s really well organized, a really smart basketball guy, and he knows the place, knows the strengths and some of the challenges they have there, and he’s back home. It was a home run hire for them.”

Sellers, after a playing career overseas, coached at St. Thomas Aquinas High in New Britain before joining Dickenman’s staff. Then he coached at UMass, at UConn under Jim Calhoun from 2004-10, Hofstra, Creighton, DePaul, Fairleigh-Dickinson and Fairfield.

“I’ve worked at so many different places,” Sellers said. “I’m trying to take some offense from Creighton — Greg McDermott is one of the great offensive coaches in the country — I’m trying to take my defense from Jay Young at Fairfield — he’s one of the best defensive coaches in the country — and I’m trying to take the toughness and competitiveness from Coach Calhoun and Coach Dickenman and put it all together. If you come to practice, you’ll see some of all of that.”

With practices underway, Sellers says he has nine viable rotation players. Junior point guard Nigel Scantlebury had 85 assists to 45 turnovers last season. Tre Mitchell, a versatile junior guard, is the top returning scorer with 9.0 points per game and 40 percent shooting from the floor. Zach Newkirk is a third experienced guard. There are a lot of newcomers, including eight freshmen on the roster.

“The young guys we’ve brought in, we’re excited about them,” Sellers said. “We’ll see how they compete.”

Every school has its unique set of obstacles and resources. Central Connecticut, as a small, state institution, may have more challenges than most but has a coach ready to take them on. He’ll make his debut Nov. 9 against No. 24 UConn at Gampel Pavilion.

“It’s been great,” Sellers said. “I’ve had so many people calling to congratulate me. I’ve got a great staff, Ben Wood, who worked with me at UConn, and Lamar Chapman, who was at Stony Brook. I’m just excited to run my own program.”

Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com.