The Student-Athlete Sessions
We’re back with another episode of the Student-Athlete Sessions! This week’s interview is a conversation with Coach Ryan Mee of Vassar College and is Episode 31 in the series.
In this wide-ranging episode we discuss topics like:
D1 vs. D3 scrimmages
Keys to a successful recruiting process
Building a coaching network
Lessons learned as a D1 assistant (6+ years at Davidson College)
Advice to future student-athletes
As a Substack subscriber, you get the entire, unscripted chat between us and our guest before anyone else.
As always, let us know if you have suggestion on who we should interview next or questions you want us to ask future guests and we’ll be sure to work them into our next interview.
Inside the Episode w/ Coach Ryan Mee (Rochester ‘05)
Ryan Mee (Rochester ‘05) is a former D3 student-athlete turned D3 Head Coach with Vassar College.
During his time as a Student-Athlete, Coach Mee made 4 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, went a combined 97-17, and was part of the winningest class in program history - just to name a few accomplishments.
Prior to taking the head job with Vassar, Coach Mee was an assistant at both the D3 and D1 level - including 6 years at Davidson College under Bob McKillop. “During his time at Davidson, the Wildcats earned three NCAA Tournament bids along with being part of a staff that earned Atlantic 10 Coaching Staff of the Year in 2014-15. Mee helped mentor 14 Wildcat players that earned either Southern Conference or Atlantic-10 yearly honors, while also helping assist three conference Players of the Year and an A-10 Rookie of the Year this past season in Kellan Grady” (via Vassar Athletics)
We caught up with Coach Mee just before Vassar’s 2021-22 season got started with a game against Elizabethtown. Although the Brewers dropped their first two games of the season, they bounced back with three straight wins and currently sit at 3-2.
Vassar will look to continue to build on that momentum as they begin Liberty League conference play tonight against Ithaca College at 7:30pm ET.
It is an exciting stretch for the Brewers with 3 conference games in 5 days. Follow along with the action via the livestream links on Vassar’s Athletics page here.
D3 vs D1 Debates on Twitter Spaces
ICYMI, we’ve been going live for conversations with Andrew Petcash - a former D1 Basketball player at Boston University - every Thursday night on Twitter Spaces.
The plan is to go in-depth on a different portion of the college recruiting experience and then spend the majority of the time answering YOUR questions regarding the differences between the D3 and D1 levels.
Next week promises to be another good one with more big time guests so come ready with your questions. We’ll try to get to as many as possible.
Stay tuned for the next installment of our weekly series!
Thanks for reading! For more info about Division 3 sports, check out what we’re up to on other platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. As always, we’re here to help - so ask away!
Ryan Mee - Head Coach of Vassar College Men's Basketball