Head Coach Randy Nesbit and Roane State’s 1992-93 men’s basketball team. (Photo courtesy Roane State Community College)
Roane State Community College is celebrating 25 years with Men’s Basketball Head Coach Randy Nesbit on Saturday, January 28, when the Roane State Raiders take on Dyersburg. The game is at 4 p.m., with a reception to follow.
A 1980 graduate of the Citadel, Nesbit began his Roane State coaching career in the fall of 1992 after serving as assistant to Citadel’s Head Coach Les Robinson. A three-year starting point guard on Robinson-coached basketball teams, Nesbit was a key member of The Citadel’s 1979 team that won 20 games, a first for the college. Captain of the 1980 team, Nesbit was selected to the 1979 and 1980 All-Southern Conference second team and paced the 1978 team with a 54.0 field goal percentage and a 92.5 free throw percentage in 1980, which was the second-best in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. He tied a school mark with 13 assists in a 1979 game against Marshall, and established the school’s season record of 120 dishes that season, holding the school’s record for most career assists (324). Nesbit played only three years after having transferred from Gulf Coast Community College.
He later served as an assistant to Robinson, and coached the Bulldogs from 1986-92, at which time he became Roane State’s head basketball coach. He was inducted into the Citadel’s Hall of Fame in 2011.
“Coaches have a tremendous influence on a player’s life, and Randy Nesbit has been influencing Roane State student athletes for 25 years,” said Teresa Duncan, vice president of Roane State’s workforce development and student affairs.
“The special thing about Randy is his ability and willingness to build strong men as well as strong athletes,” Duncan said. “He is a competitive person, but doesn’t let that competitive nature get in the way of building student athletes who can also be competitive in life. Whether he helps them move on academically and athletically to play at a higher level beyond Roane State or get ready to enter the workforce, his players are better at the sport and at life when they leave his watch.
“Roane State and all former players, their familiesm and the general public are invited to come honor Coach Nesbit on his 25 years of coaching, while making a difference in so many lives.”
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