Zach Settembre, Tallahassee Community College (TCC)’s newest men’s basketball head coach has begun his first week on the job after serving in the interim role earlier this year after previous head coach Mark White stepped down.
Settembre first joined the TCC men’s basketball staff in March 2018 as a volunteer assistant and was later promoted to assistant coach in September 2018 before beginning the interim head coach position.
Before Tallahassee, worked as a high school freshman basketball coach at two high schools and on the coaching staff at Ballard College and Louisville Collegiate School.
“This is an exciting day for my family and me,” Settembre said during a press conference. “When I was a really young guy, I figured out early in life that coaching basketball was my passion. I’ve taken a bit of a circuitous route to get here. I’ve worked in different industries but found happiness, love and home when I got here to Tallahassee in March of 2018. I have to say thank you to the administration and Rob Chaney – our director of athletics – for giving me this opportunity and investing faith in a guy that’s young. I’ll always be grateful for that.”
As interim head coach, Settembre led the Eagles to a 5-4 record during the last two months of the season. The team ended 22-7 overall and third in the Panhandle Conference.
The goal of the Eagle’s staff is to graduate the athletes, Settembre told ABC-affiliate station WTXL.
“Tallahassee is a special place. It’s the best college town in America,” he said. “There’s no reason we cannot win at an exceptionally high level here. It just comes down to us making sure we have the right people in our program. We work tirelessly every day in recruiting. We’ve driven 8000 miles since the season ended. Gosh knows how many hours we spent in the car, but we’re going to do it because we want to make sure we have the right people.”
A Louisville, Kentucky native, Settembre graduated from Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree in public relations and a minor in religion, where he also was a student assistant for hall of fame coach Jim Boeheim from 2009-12.