Kathan to Play Pro Hoop in England
Keene, N.H., 8/6/09 - Former Keene State College men’s basketball player Tyler Kathan signed a contract to split time between the Leicester Warriors and the Northampton Neptunes of the England Basketball League (EBL) Wednesday afternoon. The Warriors will make the transition from Division II to Division I, while the Neptunes compete in Division II for the 2009-2010 season.
The Ludlow, Vermont, native isn’t nervous about going to play in England and has his family’s blessing too. “I’m just really excited,” said Kathan. “It is something that I have always wanted to do, and it is something that my family and I are really happy about. I think my dad is more excited than I am, because he wants to come and visit and see me play.”
“This is something I know Tyler wanted to do,” said head men’s basketball coach Rob Colbert. “We always knew he had an amazing skill-set, and now he gets to live one of his dreams and continue his basketball career and play against professionals,” said Coach Colbert. The EBL’s season will bring Kathan to England soon, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to tell his former counterparts yet. “The season will go from September until possibly July,” said Kathan, “but I haven’t had the opportunity to tell all my teammates yet - maybe just one or two of the guys.”
Kathan joins Stacey Massiah and Chris Coates as the only other Owls to play professionally since the program has joined Division III in 1997. “I have met both guys,” said Kathan, “but I talked with Stacey more, and he told me that if I got an opportunity to go anywhere to play, I should just take it and do the best I could.”
The process for joining the new team has been a long time in the works and included a little help from some former rivals. “The coach from the Neptunes was interested first,” said Kathan, “and coach Colbert was able to get other coaches from around the league to act as a reference for me. I guess they all had good things to say.”
Kathan’s skills and accolades also helped pave the way for him to continue his basketball career. “Tyler was the first name to come up when anyone talked about our program the past few years,” said coach Colbert. “His ability to impact the game in so many ways helped keep Keene State basketball one of the top New-England programs in Division III.”
Kathan ranks third on Keene State’s all-time scoring (1,805) and rebounding (939) lists. In his senior season, he averaged 18.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game and was named the Co-Little East Conference Player of the Year. He was also named the N.H. DIII Coaches Association Player of the Year and a D3Hoops.com 3rd-Team All American.
