Men’s basketball tips off with new coach, 7 new players

By David Elvir

Staff writer

After posting a record of 2-24 last year, the Trevecca men’s basketball team is hopeful that seven new players and a new coach will mean a better season. 

The Trojans had a busy off-season after parting ways with Omar Mance, five-season head coach.

The Trojans’ rebuild began with a new coaching staff led by head coach Kevin Carroll. Unveiled on March 30, Carrol brought 23 years of experience to the Hill, just recently as an assistant coach at Lipscomb University.

“I am honored and excited to be given the responsibility of ushering in a new era of Trevecca Nazarene University men’s basketball,” said Carroll.

Mark Elliott, athletic director at Trevecca, said there was great interest locally, regionally and nationally for the men’s basketball coaching position. However, he said he was looking for something more than a “good X’s and O’s coach.”

“Kevin Carroll fits our Christian-scholar-athlete mission with his well-defined Live Your Legacy program philosophy. In addition, his spiritual leadership, broad coaching experiences, high-level organizational skills, coach-player relationship focus, local recruiting ties and strong family values make him an excellent fit for Trevecca,” said Elliott. 

Carrol’s revolution started with his first recruiting class, welcoming seven new Trojans to the team. He brought in three transfers: Jamal Cannady, Jr. (Bryn Athyn College), Robert Banks (Spoon River College) and Jalen Page (Lee University). He also incorporated four freshmen. He emphasized the need for veteran leadership and additional talented youth for future seasons. 

“Our plan has been that we wanted to get instantly better by bringing in a couple of transfers we thought could help make us instantly better, but we also wanted to be building for the future,” said Carroll. “Along with the guys that are here, a couple of freshmen that we brought in this past recruiting class are all doing pretty well, and in particular, Tommy Gankhuyag, who is probably gonna be our starting center this year as a freshman, at least starting out of the gates.” 

Gankhuyag, a Mongolian native, has had an impressive start to the season, demonstrating his dominance in the paint with his size and versatility with his skill and feel for the game.

“I would say compete, work hard, try to win all games and just try to win a lot,” said Gankhuyag. “It’s a new team so we are just trying to get to one family. I promise it’s gonna be a whole different team, different guys, different system and new coaches, so it’s gonna be a whole different game.”

Carroll said he is not afraid of the challenge of rebuilding a team that had such a negative record last season, as he has done it before. 

“I don’t know if I am the best fit for the situation, but I think I’ve proven in my career I am really good at rebuilding programs. I have been a head coach twice before, and in both instances the year before I arrived, they had single digit wins and within our third year we set a school record for wins in both places,” said Carroll. 

On Oct. 25, the Trojans kicked off their pre-season play with a 61-112 loss against Division I Arkansas State University in an exhibition game at Arkansas. Unhappy with the result, Carroll said it was due to lack of preparation, with only 12 practices. He believes this is part of the process.

The Trojans were able to turn things around with an exhibition home-opener this year on homecoming night. With a 103-63 win against Rhodes College, the Trojans demonstrated promising improvements with fast paced and exciting basketball. 

“I would really encourage people to give this team a chance,” said Carroll.