The college basketball coaching circle can be a small world.
When Chris Holtmann worked as an assistant coach at Gardner Webb in the early 2000s, he got to know Jon Coffman, who at the time was an assistant coach at Stetson. In the early 2010s, Holtmann put in a good word for Coffman at Purdue Fort Wayne, which had an assistant coach position open.
“In a small way, I helped Jon get hired at IPFW as an assistant,” Holtmann said. “I called on his behalf to Tony Jasick, who is now the coach of Jacksonville, who was the head coach there and kind of introduced him, or recommended, Jon for that job.