men's basketball Coaches

A proven winner as a head coach, Chris Downs has led St. Lawrence University to ten postseason appearances. In his twelve years at the helm of the Saints, Downs has guided St. Lawrence to an NCAA Elite Eight, an NCAA Sweet 16, an ECAC Championship, two ECAC finals, a Liberty League championship, two ECAC Semifinals and a school best 24 win season.

The Saints have registered a 202-119 (.629) mark in Downs' twelve seasons, an average of nearly 17 victories per year. He has led the team to the two highest single-season win totals in the school's history: 23 in 2007 and 24 in 1998 while also guiding the Scarlet and Brown to a first or second place finish in the conference in nine of his twelve seasons.

Downs made an immediate impact on St. Lawrence basketball when he became the head of the program, leading the Saints to a 24-2 record during the 1997-98 season. The first year head coach guided the Saints to an NCAA Elite Eight. Following the season, Downs was named the East Region Coach of the Year, New York State Coach of the Year and the UCAA Co-Coach of the Year.

Former Dickinson College captain and four-year letter recipient, Nick Leonardelli, joins the Saints as assistant coach for the 2009-10 men's basketball season.

Leonardelli graduated from Dickinson in 2007 with a BA in history.  He went on to become the assistant coach at Rutgers-Newark  from 2007-2009.  Leonardelli led the Scarlet Raiders to 2 ECAC post season tournament appearences.  He also helped them reach the 2008 NJAC Conference Finals for the first time in Rutger's-Newark history, while coaching 3 All-NJAC players.    Along with coaching at Rutgers-Newark, Leonardelli received his Masters of Arts, Liberal Studies in May 2009. 

Leonardelli also worked with the NJ Hoops Scouting Service from 2007-09. 

A native of Mendhan. NJ, Leonardelli captained his West Morris Mendham High School team and was named to the Second Team All-Morris County in 2003.