Brandon Held makes midseason switch from guard to coach for Towson men’s basketball

Brandon Held, a volunteer assistant for Towson men’s basketball, thinks the first person to refer to him as “Coach” was redshirt freshman power forward Cole Paar.

“I was like, ‘Coach Held? Oh wait, I am Coach Held,’” he said. “It was just a strange time in the season.”

Indeed it was. On Jan. 27 at Delaware, Held participated in his final game with the Tigers as a redshirt junior shooting guard. When the spring semester officially began two days later, the Marriottsville native — who graduated the previous month — joined the coaching staff.

It’s a unique situation for Towson coach Pat Skerry, who said he has not had a player switch to coach midway through a season. But he is happy Held gets to conclude the season still connected to the team.

“He’s like a cult hero for doing it,” Skerry cracked. “He does a great job in practice, he’s a likable guy, a responsible guy. He wanted to finish things out. I’m happy to have Brandon around.”

Held’s road to basketball seemed ordained even before he was born. His father Richard was a point guard at Loyola Maryland from 1991 to 1993, and John Miller, his paternal aunt’s husband, was a shooting guard at Mount St. Mary’s from 1988 to 1991.

At Marriotts Ridge, Held scored 1,026 career points and had preliminary talks with the Greyhounds about joining them as a preferred walk-on. He eventually chose St. Mary’s over Salisbury and Scranton after graduating in 2019.

But in his first semester at the college’s campus in St. Mary’s City, Held realized the school wasn’t the right fit for him, and after contacting the coaches at Towson, he transferred there in January 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic sent everyone home two months later.

After proving himself during a tryout in September 2021, the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Held was invited to join the Tigers as a walk-on. Kevin Clark, who was the associate head coach until his retirement after the 2022-23 season, described Held as raw but dedicated.

“He…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/brandon-held-makes-midseason-switch-113000576.html

Author : Baltimore Sun

Publish date : 2024-02-12 11:30:00

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