Compiled from reports
Mater Dei Preparatory Academy, Middletown, has appointed Dennis Kazimir as the new boys’ head basketball coach.
Kazimir, who grew up in Brick and graduated from Donovan Catholic High School, Toms River, has 15 years of coaching and management experience on the collegiate and high school level and recently completed four seasons as the assistant coach and interim head coach at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
“This is a great day for the Mater Dei Prep basketball program as Coach Kazimir brings an extensive resume of coaching and managing in the NCAA ranks to our school,” said Robert Eriksen, Mater Dei’s athletic director
School officials said Kazimir’s attention to detail and experience will add to the Seraph’s successful basketball program, which has competed in the Shore Conference Championship for the last three years, winning two championships.
“The overriding factor in the decision to hire Coach Kazimir was his organizational skill set and our focus on wanting to build a program with a long-term view,” school president Don Galante said. “Our ultimate goal … is to position our student-athletes for success at the college level in academics as well as athletics. Coach Kazimir has the talent to bring that to fruition.”
Kazimir was a graduate assistant men’s basketball coach for Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., under head coach Shaka Smart. He also served at Seton Hall University, South Orange, for two seasons under head coach Bobby Gonzalez as the Pirates’ director of basketball operations. Kazimir also coached at Tiffin University, Tiffin, Ohio, as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator; Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, under Paul Biancardi as an administrative assistant, and Rhode Island College, Providence, R.I., as an assistant coach.
Kazimir graduated Seton Hall University in 2002 with a bachelor of science in sports management; he earned a master of education in sports leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2013.
“To come back home to New Jersey and be part of a dynamic and cutting-edge academic institution is truly an honor,” he said. “I am looking forward to working with the entire Mater Dei Prep community and grateful to be doing so at an institution that empowers young men and women to make a difference in the world.”