Shulman passes Don Smith for second on program's all-time wins list

Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman became one of the winningest coaches in program history on Wednesday night.

Shulman and the Titans defeated St. Petersburg 70-60 Wednesday for the head coach's 289^th win which moved him past Don Smith and into second place all time.

"Just to be mentioned in the same sentence as legendary Don Smith who has done so much for Brevard Community College and Eastern Florida State College," Shulman said. "He is such a legendary coach and a Hall of Famer. He had such an incredible amount of success and had such an impact on so many players lives, I am just speechless."

Jim Oler holds the program's all-time wins record with 328 wins over 16 seasons.

Shulman's Titans are 14-6 this season and the program has averaged 25 wins per season the past 11 seasons under Shulman.

The Nashville, Tennessee native took over the program in 2010 which had not had a winning season in over a decade. Shulman made an immediate impact as his team won 18 games and qualified for the FCCAA state tournament by winning the Southern Conference Tournament championship.

Shulman has been his conference's coach of the year eight times and the Titans have won their conference title nine straight years.

"I came here as a young coach but I knew it was going to be a long haul when I was hired and I was honestly just trying to win one game at a time – it was a fairy tale to think we would be where we are today back then," Shulman admitted. "I give a lot of the credit to coach (Associate Vice President of Athletics Jeff) Carr and President Richey. For coach Carr to take a chance on me when I had no college coaching experience and so many other great candidates, I am forever grateful to him for taking a chance on me and Dr. Richey for having such a sports minded mentality, he has built athletics to where it is today. Without administration, a program has no chance of being successful."

Ironically, the program will recognize one of Don Smith's best teams on Saturday afternoon as the 1999-2000 team will be honored at halftime. The 2000 team is the last team to win a state championship for the Titans and was just the second team to advance to the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament.

Saturday's game will begin at 4 p.m. at Titan Field House on the Melbourne campus. The Titans will play the Florida State College at Jacksonville in a Central Conference game and admission is free.