In his four seasons as the head coach at Wesley College, Jerry Kobasa has wasted no time rebuilding the program at his alma mater. A long-time respected fixture in Delaware sports, Kobasa took a team that had just two winning seasons in 17 years before his arrival and taken them to the NCAA Tournament.
Kobasa's teams have produced an All-American, a conference player of the year, a conference rookie of the year, four ECAC All-Star selections and eight all-region honors. The Wolverines have had a first team all-conference player in each of his four seasons and his tenure also marks as the winningest four-year period in the program's DIII history.
The Wolverines continued their journey to the top with a Division
III school record 18 wins and Wesley first conference championship
in men's basketball in 21 years, resulting in the program's first
bid to the NCAA Championships. The Wolverines led the
conference in scoring average, steals, turnover margin,
assist/turnover ratio, offensive rebounds, and three-point
field goals. Rashawn Johnson was named the CAC Player of the
Year after leading the conference in scoring and was named both
all-region and All-American.
The 2007-2008 season marked the first year of play in the CAC for the Wolverines. The team finished with an impressive 9-7 mark in conference action and led the CAC in both steals and turnover margin. Under his tutelage, Rashawn Johnson earned first team all-conference and was named to a pair of all-region teams after finishing 16th in the nation in scoring.
In each of his first two seasons, Kobasa helped lead the Wolverines to consecutive trips into the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC) Tournament, including a trip to the finals in 2006, resulting in a bid to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Southern Division Tournament that same year.
Kobasa compiled a 249-130 record in 16 years as a head coach at Sussex Tech (182-57) and Smyrna High School. A 1969 graduate of Wesley and member of the College's Athletic Hall of Fame, Kobasa was named Delaware Coach of the Year by the Delaware Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association in 1979 and 2004.
Kobasa's athletic resume is impressive. After a star-studded football and baseball career at Wesley, he served as offensive back and quarterback coach at both Wesley and Delaware State University before accepting basketball and football coaching positions at Smyrna High School. Coach Kobasa has been associated with prominent national coaches such as Bob Huggins (West Virginia University), Mike Brey (University of Notre Dame), Frank Martin (Kansas State University), and Greg Jackson (Delaware State University).
In 1995, he became the head basketball coach at Sussex Tech. In 2004, Coach Kobasa was named the State Coach of the Year for the second time. He has earned Henlopen Conference Coach of the Year honors three times and has been selected as the coach of a team in the Blue-Gold High School All-Star Game three times. At Sussex Tech, he has won four Henlopen Conference Northern Division crowns and four Henlopen Conference Championships. He guided the Ravens to the state tournament every year and earned two final four finishes. His teams ranked in the top 10 in the state final basketball rankings in eight of his ten seasons.
Inducted into the Wesley College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001, Kobasa is also a former member of the Wesley Alumni Association Board of Directors. In addition to chairing the Board of Directors of DIAA, he has been a member of the Board of the Blue/Gold All-Star Basketball game for seven years, is the former chair of the Henlopen Conference Boys Basketball Committee, and is a member of the State Girls' High School Basketball Tournament Committee.
Kobasa was reappointed to the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association by the Governor of Delaware as a public member in June of 2007, and is chairman of the association for the 2007-2008 year. He is a former long-time member of the Delaware Secondary Schools Athletic Association Board of Directors (the organization that preceded DIAA), the Milford Boys and Girls Club Board, and is a former President of the Henlopen Conference and the Henlopen Basketball Coaches Association. He is also a former President of the Delaware Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association.
Year |
Overall |
Pct. |
Conference |
Pct. |
Honors |
| 2005-06 | 16-12 | .571 | 13-5 (PAC) | .722 | PAC Finalists; ECAC South Tournament |
| 2006-07 | 11-15 | .423 | 9-9 (PAC) | .500 | PAC Tournament |
| 2007-08 | 14-12 | .538 | 9-7 (CAC) | .563 | CAC Quarterfinals |
| 2008-09 | 18-10 | .643 | 12-4 (CAC) | .750 | NCAA Tournament; CAC Champions |
| Totals | 59-49 | .546 | 43-25 | .632 |
Coach Coursey finished his third season at Wesley College as an
assistant coach to the men’s basketball team in 2007. Coach
Coursey primarily works with Wesley’s frontcourt players and
the offenses at Wesley and also acts as the recruiting and academic
coordinator for the Wolverines. He is actively involved in working
the Wesley College Team Day Camp, and the individual camps at
Wesley.
Coach Coursey spent the previous six years on the staff at Sussex
Technical High School in Georgetown, DE. He was the head junior
varsity coach for four years and the assistant on the boy’s
varsity staff all six years, while also spending two years as the
assistant varsity baseball coach. Coach Coursey has spent three
years working at the Bob Huggins Team Camp at the University of
Cincinnati and completed his degree in education in May of 2007
from Wilmington University (Delaware).
A three-sport athlete and 1991 graduate of Seaford High School,
Coach Coursey was a member of the Blue-Gold teams in football and
baseball. He currently is the special education teach at Sussex
Technical High School, and the head junior varsity baseball coach.
Ron Allen begins his first season at Wesley College as an assistant coach to the men's basketball team in 2008. Coach Allen primarily works with Wesley's post players and assisting Coach Kobasa with the defense. Coach Allen is very excited about having this opportunity to work with Coach Kobasa again, after beginning his career 32 years ago working as Kobasa's assistant in basketball at Smyrna High School.
Coach Allen has been coaching for over 32 years. Prior to coming to Wesley, Allen was the head basketball and football Coach at Polytech High School in Woodside, Delaware. He was the assistant lacrosse coach and presently teaches Health and Physical Education at Polytech High School. In addition, Allen has coached both basketball and football at Dover High School and Smyrna High School.
He has been highly successful, winning both division and conference championships in basketball and numerous coaching awards in both football and basketball. Coach Allen was selected to coach the Blue-Gold basketball game on several occasions.
Coach Allen played football for Wesley College and has been inducted into the Wesley College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988.
After receivign his associate's degree from Wesley, Coach Allen
earned his bachelor's degree in education from Delaware in 1976 and
a master's in school leadership in 2001 from Wilmington.
Todd Shockro completed his second season assisting with the men’s basketball program at Wesley College.
Coach Schockro primarily works with the backcourt players, and is the recruiting coordinator for the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area.
Gavin Coco is in his first year on the Wesley College men's basketball coaching staff after a stint at Sussex Tech High School working in student services and as the assistant varsity basketball coach.
Coco played high school basketball at Sussex Tech for Wesley Head Coach Jerry Kobasa before attending Division I Mt. St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, Maryland. A walk on, Coco played all four seasons as a reserve point guard. He graduated in 2007 with a degree in sociology and history.
He will be pursuing a master's degree in education at Wesley.
Jeff Berry rejoins the Wesley College basketball program this
winter after previously serving as an assistant from in December of
2004-08. Coach Berry assists with the offense, focusing on the
backcourt players. He served various roles with the program,
including recruiting and scouting of opponents.
Coach Berry has been a varsity assistant coach for nine years,
coaching boys for six years and girls for three years. Jeff helped
lead Dover High School boys varsity team to the Delaware State
Championship game in 2003 and has also coached at Polytech High
School and Cape Henlopen High School. He worked for two years for
the Lady Senator Capital City Camp and one year at the Bob Huggins
Cincinnati Team Camp, while also coaching in various community
basketball leagues in Dover.
Coach Berry is a 1994 graduate of Dover High School and earned his
Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, with a minor in Business
Administration from Delaware State University in 1999. Jeff resides
in Dover.
