Lifetime Opportunity for Beutel

Feature Photo credit Geoff Schneider

It was a tough decision for Nate Beutel, and an easy one at the same time.

Last May, Beutel was hired as assistant coach and basketball operations director under new Buffalo women’s head coach Kristen Sharkey. After 13 glorious seasons at SUNY Niagara (former NCCC), Nate was ready for a fresh challenge. Joining UB, a Division I program in full rebuild, seemed ideal. A tireless recruiter, he dove right in, hitting the road, searching out players.

Three months later, the unexpected occurred. Jen Banker resigned as Daemen’s head coach to spend more time with family. Banker’s teams had won six straight East Coast Conference regular-season titles. The Wildcats were returning five of their top six scorers. It was one of the top Division II programs in the nation, and most important of all, a head job.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Beutel said last Sunday. “I know that’s overused, but it really was. To be able to take over such a great program here in Western New York — and I’m Western New York through and through —it was just an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Beutel had been a head coach his entire career. He led the Medaille men’s junior varsity for Mike MacDonald when he was a 21-year-old student at the school. Jon Roth hired him as Grand Island High boys coach when he was 22, fresh out of college. Then it was 13 years at SUNY Niagara, where he won 314 games, seven straight regional titles and six Coach of the Year awards.

He also coached the SUNY Niagara  women’s softball team for 10 years, coached women’s lacrosse for three years, supervised the intramural program, and was the sports information director and scheduling director. Oh, he also was a football assistant at Starpoint High, where he played three sports in high school, from 2010-2025. So Beutel had a lot to recommend him when he sat down for interviews with the Daemen players.

It helped that Nate was familiar with many of the players from his years of tireless scouting around New York State. He had sent about three dozen players to four-year colleges. Two of his former players, Paige Emborsky and Gabby McDuffie, became stars at Daemen under Banker.

“It was a very late switch, but it all worked out,” said senior Claire Pikett, a Holland High product who was named the preseason East Coast Conference player of the year. “Once we met Nate, we knew. He was very personable. We felt like he was trying to connect with us, so it was really nice. We all liked him. So it made the transition a little smoother, because we got to meet him, and we practiced with him the next week.”

Beutel was hired in mid-September. He hit the ground, well, running. He favors a fast-paced game, pushing the ball in transition off the defense. The style seems to fit the Wildcats well. They’re 6-1 (2-0 in the ECC) after Sunday’s 78-66 home win over conference rival Molloy, in which they raced out to a 26-14 lead in the first quarter and were never seriously threatened from there.

“I knew he liked to get out and run,” said Pikett, who had a signature game with 11 points, five rebounds, two blocks and four steals. “Especially in games like (Sunday). When teams aren’t very deep, we seem to tire people out as the game goes on and that lets us go on runs at the end.”

That’s vital, because the Wildcats aren’t a very big team and seem vulnerable to opponents with a strong inside game. Beutel conceded that it’s different from junior college, where his teams didn’t contend with a lot of opposing size.

“It’s a little bit different,” Beutel said with a laugh. “It’s a guards’ world now, but in this conference it seems everybody has a big, strong post player. Our lineup is unique, because we really have four forwards out there and one guard. I’m used to having four guards and one forward. So it is unique and we’re trying to kind of put it all together and make it all mesh.

“We’re trying to establish some things here that set us apart,” he added. “We’re maybe a little bit different than we’ve done in the past, and that’s to play with more pace, a little more tempo, pushing the ball in transition, and utilizing our defense to turn people over and hopefully create some easy opportunities.”

Of course, expectations are high when the team has won four straight league tourney titles and reached six straight NCAA tournaments. Beutel is accustomed to lofty standards. His SUNY Niagara teams won 87 percent of their games his last seven seasons at the helm. He and the Wildcats don’t see losing as an option.

“I’ve been very blessed to have won a lot of games over the years,” said Beutel, “I have high standards for the girls. The thing with this group is they have very high standards for themselves. They’re very much those types of people. They’re high achievers as well. They’re going to do everything in their power to reach the goals they’ve set for themselves. It’s our job to guide them through that, through the ebbs and flows and ups and downs and some of the adversity that might hit, and do everything in our power to help them achieve all those goals.”

The Wildcats are a team of veterans with strong internal leadership and a winning pedigree. They’ve never been on a team that didn’t win the conference tournament. Pikett responded quickly when asked if they were determined not to be the group that failed to win the ECC again.

“Yes,” Pikett said. “I wouldn’t call it pressure. I would say we built a culture here and that culture kind of instills in you a winning mindset, a winning perspective, and everyone is coming for you, and that motivates you to go out and do your best every single game.”

Beutel credits Banker and her predecessor, Dave Skolen, for establishing that winning culture at Daemen. He’s determined to sustain it, and to build more depth in the program. He was a legendary recruiter at SUNY Niagara, thinking nothing of driving to Albany to see some promising high school kid. His wife, Annmarie, would often accompany him on what they called “Date Nights.” They now have a 6-year-old son, Baker (named after NFl quarterback Baker Mayfield. She’s a Browns fan).

“No more date nights,” Nate said with a smile. He has a full-assistant at Daemen (Angel Parker) and a grad assistant (Dylan Hurley). So he no longer has to do all the work at finding players.

“Not as much,” Beutel said. “But I do feel that’s the lifeblood of any program, no matter the level. I jumped right in on that at UB for a few months. I was making phone calls left and right and going to different tournaments. I enjoy that. I love that. I love creating relationships with people, meeting people, seeing kids play the game they’re passionate about. Nowadays with the transfer portal, I know a lot of people are kind of meh about recruiting. But I still love that. So yeah, we’re about finding the right fit here for the whole university, and for our program.”Pikett said things have worked out nicely after the initial shock of Banker’s departure. She’s even hoping to play an extra year under the NCAA’s proposed “five in five” rule that would allow an athlete five years of eligibility. At Daemen, they can’t get enough of winning. As she says, Beutel was a perfect fit.