Skyhawks basketball was due a lot of changes this offseason. One of those changes included the loss of third year coach Ryan Ridder. Ridder departed the team on March 15 to take the head coaching job at the University of Mercer. This left a large hole for the UTM athletic department to fill, and as of March 27 they have found their guy. Jeremy Shulman will take over as the 13th head coach in the team’s history.
Background
Shulman comes from Eastern Florida State College (EFSC), where he brought 14 years of success to the Titans, winning the most games in school history with 11 conference titles. Shulman won conference coach of the year nine times in his time with the Titans taking them to the NJCAA tournament five times.
A Tennessee native, Shulman graduated from MTSU in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a double minor in athletic coaching and psychology. Shulman got his start on the AAU circuit where, at just 16 years old, he was the youngest coach in Tennessee AAU history. Shulman’s coaching career started when he founded the Mid State Ballerz AAU team where he coached/directed for twelve years. In his time with the program, Shulman achieved over 800 wins, three top-12 finishes nationally and three state championships.
Shulman also assisted at Eastern Mississippi Community College (EMCC), where he helped turn the program around from 2007 to 2010. Taking EMCC from 11-14 when he arrived to 27-7 and a NJCAA tournament playoff berth.
In Shulman’s first year with the Titans, he led the team to 18 wins and qualified for the FCCAA tournament, the team’s first tournament appearance in 11 years. In the years following, the Titans never had a losing season, and they appeared in the Elite Eight of the NJCAA tournament in five of Shulman’s last nine years with the program. In 2023 Shulman was inducted into the FCSAA’s Men’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Shulman will attempt to continue the success of the previous head coach Ryan Ridder, who went 48-47 (.505) in his time with the Skyhawks.
Transitioning
In his opening press conference on April 1, Shulman thanked Chancelor Yancy Freeman and Athletic director Kurt McGuffin. Shulman states, “I mean it’s a dream come true to not just coach at a big time mid-major division I school but one right here in Tennessee where I’m from.” When asked if Martin’s location played a role in his decision, Shulman said it played a “major role” in his decision and that the program is a “dream job” for him.
Shulman addressed the pressure to keep the program moving in the right direction after the departure of head coach Ryan Ridder. Shulman exclaimed, “Coach Ridder had done an unbelievable job. He’s an elite Coach. There’s a reason he’s won so many games, and I’m excited to take what he’s done and try to take it to the next level.” Shulman emphasized how his focus on players, culture and scheme will keep the program in championship contention and make the jump to the NCAA tournament.
When asked about the transition from EFSC to UTM, Shulman said, “In all reality, I think it’s a very seamless transition.” He names the transfer portal as a reason the transition will be so seamless. Shulman adds, “It’s so brand new for a lot of division I coaches now having to deal with replacing so many new players all the time. For us at the junior college level over the last 14 years as a head coach I’m used to signing 13 players every year.”
He also mentioned the similarity in talent level between the two divisions and how in his time at EFSC he’s had 62 students signed to division I scholarships. Shulman boasts, “We’ve had a bunch of (players) go high major, and high major guys are going to be the type of guys we’re going to go after here at UTM.”
Recruiting
When asked about his connections with coaches around the country, Shulman mentioned how they are going to be advantageous to the Skyhawks in the recruiting process. Shulman mentioned how his phone is blowing up with people saying they have kids leaving the portal and asking if he has interest in them. Between that and his West Tennessee connections, Shulman has a large recruiting base to pull from.
Shulman also reaffirmed that high school recruiting will be a focus. He plans to balance it with bringing in transfer talent. Shulman explains that, due to the transfer portal and how teams don’t have to rely on high school recruiting, there are many talented high schoolers going unrecruited that Shulman hopes to tap in to. Shulman also emphasizes keeping players at UTM at a high rate. He hopes to retain players through his relationships and keep them in Martin all four years.
However, Shulman also recognizes that if a player is talented enough, NIL money could be offered from a high major program, and they could leave. Shulman explains, “I get if a player plays himself so out of our range where he’s getting $500,000 to go to a high major, that’s great… but for the most part we want to retain guys.”
When asked about how he’s going to sell Martin to recruits Shulman said, “First and foremost, I sell again our culture. I sell who we are…” Shulman tells recruits a couple things. One, they’re going to be loved, cared for and have a coaching staff that cares about them as a person, not just an athlete. Two, the coaches are going to develop the players. Shulman says, “Out of the 62 players we had signed division I, almost all of them have called back once they went to division I and said, ‘Coach, they don’t do player development. They don’t develop.’ … We’re going to develop. We’re going to spend an immense amount of time and effort and love trying to develop our guys.” This leads to another point made by coach Shulman, who emphasized preparing players for their future after their collegiate career, stating, “We’re trying to prepare you so you can make the most money long-term as a professional once you leave UT Martin and go play overseas or maybe even in the G League.”
When asked about how he’s prepared himself to take the next step as a coach, Shulman talked about his belief in himself, his culture and the program that he runs. He spoke on how, when he arrived at EFSC 14 years ago, the program had rubber floors instead of wooden floors, partial scholarships instead of full scholarships, and was ”probably one of the worst jobs in the entire country.” In comparison he says, “So people ask, ‘How do you prepare to sell this?’ It’s easy to sell. This town loves basketball, the facilities are amazing, the administration’s amazing… This is like high major facilities. What’s hard is selling a rubber Tartan floor with partial scholarships and a team that hadn’t won in over a decade. So, this is an easy sell.”
“Maybe I’m just a glass half full or even a full glass full, but I just don’t see any real hurdles,” says Shulman.
Philosophy
When asked about his basketball philosophy, Shulman first spoke on the offensive side. He specified high IQ, passing ability and shooting ability as traits he values. Shulman says, “I don’t want to play a lot of iso (isolation) ball. I don’t want to. I think it’s a more fun brand to watch when the ball’s constantly moving.” Shulman says he wants to play aggressively and with great space for players to make plays and make reads throughout the offense.
On the other side of the ball, Shulman lays out a more unique defensive scheme explaining, “We’ve got a very unique defensive system that’s a little bit switching man, a little bit matchup zone, a little bit scouting report based so we have to have high IQ guys to be able to implement that defensively.” In his press conference, Shulman made it a point to emphasize that even though he’s considered a more offensive minded coach, his defenses don’t lack in the slightest. Shulman states, “We were number two in the country in defense this past year. We finished in the top eight over the past 11 years defensively.”
Another value mentioned by coach Shulman was rebounding. He even quoted UT Martin and Tennessee legend Pat Summitt in the process. When discussing rebounding, coach Shulman says, “I think it was actually a Pat Summitt interview I’ve seen with her many many years ago, and she said, ‘Defense doesn’t win championships. Defense and rebounding does,’ and that always stuck with me.” After reading that quote, Shulman placed a much bigger emphasis on rebounding with his team being relatively average in that aspect in previous years and improving, moving forward.
Beyond Basketball
When asked about his relationship with players, past and present Shulman responded, “I’ll be honest: that’s why I do this.” On the importance of the coach and player relationship, Shulman had this to say, “I think without those relationships, without players that really care about you, and I care about them, I’m not sure if you can attain the heights that you want to attain with any team.”
Shulman also gave his thoughts on getting involved in the Martin community, “I’m extremely excited. I want to think outside the box on some extra ways I can immerse ourselves in the community.” [sic] Shulman adds the importance of making the community proud. The same way it was at Eastern Florida Community College for the past 14 years.
Shulman states, “That is very important to me to get into the community, so people get to know who I am. That’s very important to me.”
