High Point University Head Men’s Basketball Coach Alan Huss announced his first hire to the 2023-24 staff with the addition of assistant coach Mike Nesbitt on Thursday, April 6th.
"We are thrilled to welcome Mike Nesbitt to our coaching staff at High Point University," Huss said. "I had the opportunity to coach Mike in high school and college. As a player, Mike was the ultimate competitor. His competitiveness combined with his excellence as an on-court coach and relentless recruiting abilities make him an invaluable addition to our team. But more than that, his alignment with our values at High Point University is what truly sets him apart. We look forward to the positive impact he will undoubtedly have on our program and our student-athletes."
Over the past two season with the Panthers, Nesbitt helped High Point compile and overall record of 56-15 with a 27-5 Big South record. He helped the staff lead the Panthers to their first ever-NCAA tournament appearance as the No. 13 seed and matched up against No. 4 seed Purdue. Nesbitt helped the staff turn around an under .500 program and guided the Panthers to back-to-back outright Big South Regular Season titles for the first time in program history. High Point became the first team in the Big South since 2011 (Coastal Carolina) to win back-to-back outright regular season titles.
Nesbitt helped the program post two back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in the DI era and the sixth 20-win season in program history. On the home court, the Panthers protected the extraordinary Qubein Center with only three losses, posting a record of 31-3. In back-to-back seasons, the Panthers set the non-conference win record since becoming Division I in 1999, recording 11 wins in 2023-24 and 12 wins in 2024-25.
During the 2024-25 season, HPU finished with an overall record of 29-6, which tied for the most wins in Big South program history (Winthrop, 2006-07) and the most wins in HPU program history. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 26-5 record and a 14-2 league record. The 26 regular-season wins is the most in program history and tied the Big South regular-season wins record with Coastal Carolina's 2010-11 season (26-4). The Panthers also set the best win percentage in Division I era with an 88-percent win percentage in conference play and an 84-percentage win percentage in the regular season.
Prior to High Point, Nesbitt spent the 2022-23 season as the head coach at Panola College in Carthage, Texas. He led the Ponies to a new school record in wins going 28-5 on the year, with a conference record of 17-2 in the NJCAA Region XIV. Following the 2022-2023 season, Nesbitt was named the Region XIV East Coach of the Year. He guided five players to postseason All-Conference honors including two, first team members, one second team member and two honorable mention members.
Nesbitt has had multiple years of experience coaching at the NCAA Division I and junior college levels. Prior to taking over the helm at Panola College, he spent two seasons at Bradley University. He served as the coordinator of player development and video operations in his first season with the Braves (2020-21) before switching over as the director of basketball operations during his second season (2021-22).
During his time at Bradley, Nesbitt helped guide the Braves to 11 conference victories in the 2021-22 season, tying for the programs most conference wins in the last 21 seasons. The team also posted its highest NET ranking in 13 years. Nesbitt worked with three all-conference performers, one league newcomer of the year, and two all-rookie team selections while at Bradley. The Braves also added six MVC scholar-athlete honorees in his two seasons on campus, the most of any school in the conference during that span.
Prior to joining the staff at Bradley, Nesbitt spent one season as an Assistant Coach at New Mexico Junior College (2019-20) and one season at Panola College (2018-19) as the offensive coordinator, academic coordinator, and the oversite for the strength and conditioning program. Nesbitt helped the Ponies to a 23-9 overall record and second place finish in the Region XIV. He recruited and coached four players that went on to play at the Division 1 level (Cleveland State, Prairie View A&M, Mississippi Valley State, and South Carolina State). As the Academic Coordinator, he oversaw a team GPA of a 3.0 in the Fall Semester, which was the highest of any team in the Grant McMillan era at Panola. As the Offensive Coordinator he helped implement an offensive attack that averaged over 82 points per game.
In 2017, Nesbitt was hired on with Southern Utah University’s basketball coaching staff. In his lone season at Southern Utah, Nesbitt was a part of a staff that nearly tripled their Division I win total from the previous season and appeared in the school’s first ever semifinal contest at the Big Sky Tournament. Nesbitt was in charge of preparing opponent scouting reports and film edits. He was also the lead skill developer for the forwards, who as a group combined to average 35 points and 18 rebounds on 52% shooting. Nesbitt also assisted with team academics, served as the Housing Coordinator, and implemented various types of media to help market and grow the program.
Nesbitt started his coaching journey right out of college as a Graduate Assistant at the University of New Mexico in 2016. That season he assisted in all aspects of on-court coaching, prepared film edits, and organized and lead individual workouts.
Prior to coaching, Nesbitt played three seasons at Missouri A&T before transferring to New Mexico for his final season of eligibility. He graduated from Missouri S&T with his undergraduate degree in business management before obtaining a finance MBA from New Mexico. He started his prep career at Evansville Memorial High School where he was a second team-All Area selection as a sophomore and first team All-Conference selection as a junior. He completed his high school career at La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana, where he played for head coach Alan Huss.
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