Szentesy '98 will begin his eighth season as the Mansfield Mountaineer men's basketball team during the 2025-26 season.
Szentesy was named head coach of the men's basketball program prior to the start of the 2018-19 season.
To highlight the 2024-25 season, Scott Woodring became the 27th Mountaineer to reach 1,000 points and the first under coach Szentesy to achieve the feat. As a team, the team picked up their most home victories since the 2016-17 season. The season sweep of Lock Haven was the first time over the Bald Eagles since the 2014-15 year. Four members finished with 10+ points to cap off the first occurrence since the 2018-19 season with LJ Stansbury, Sterling Scott, Ty Crespo, and Scott Woodring reaching the marks.
To finish the 2023-24 season, coach Szentesy led the Mounties to their first playoff appearance since the 2012-13 season after his most wins and conference wins during his tenure. Saraj Ali was named to the All-PSAC Second Team and the team picked up key victories along the way. The Mounties defeated Shippensburg twice, their first season sweep since 2013-14 and first win at the Raiders since 2014. The team also grabbed two overtime victories and reached the century mark in a game for the first time since 2022.
Szentesy again led an athlete to PSAC East Rookie of the Year honors in 2022-23, when freshman forward Saraj Ali brought home the award.
The freshman appeared in 21 games, making 20 starts in 2022-23, where he finished with averages of 9.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks per game. Ali finished second in rebounding and fourth in scoring on the team.
Ali went on to score in double figures in 10 games, while notching double-doubles in four. The Loyalsock Township grad scored a season-high 20 points against Slippery Rock on Dec. 18, before pulling in a career-high 15 rebounds in a victory over Lock Haven on Jan. 11.
Following the 2021-22 campaign, freshman guard Justice Smith was named PSAC East Rookie of the Year, while earning a spot on the All-Conference Second Team after having one of the most dominate seasons on offense in program history.
Smith ranked in the top-15 of the PSAC in six categories: Second in scoring (20.6 PPG), sixth in free throw percentage (.791), ninth in minutes (34.9 MPG), 10
th in steals (1.6 SPG), 15
th in rebounding (7.0 RBG) and assists (3.6 APG), and 16
th in field goal percentage (.465). In a victory over Bloomsburg, Smith shot 19-of-26 from the floor, 15-of-20 from the charity stripe and 3-of-4 from three to finish with a single-game program record 56 points, breaking Jason Benson's previous record of 53 points set in 2005.
Following his second season in 2019-20, Szentesy helped 1,000-point scorer Trevor English '20 sign a professional contract with AD Galomar in Madeira, Portugal. English was the second Mountaineer to play professionally in as many years.
Szentesy has served as an assistant coach with Mountaineer men’s basketball since 2014, assisting in all aspects of the program. In his time at Mansfield, Szentesy helped coach five All-PSAC East selections including program all-time leading scorer Joe Bell.
He came to Mansfield University after coaching at Mansfield High School from 2007 to 2014. As an assistant coach with the Tigers, Szentesy helped the program capture three District IV medals including District and NTL titles in 2009. In that time, Mansfield qualified for Districts every season since 2007 except for two and won the 2013-14 NTL Small School Championship.
Szentesy got his start in coaching as a student-assistant with the Mansfield University men’s basketball program from 1994 to 1997. He was part of the 1996-97 team that won the PSAC East title before going on to win the PSAC Championship tournament at Decker Gymnasium. In that role, Szentesy worked under Head Coach Tom Ackerman who was named 1997 PSAC Coach of the Year.
Szentesy brings experience in the professional ranks, working with the Florida Sharks of the United States Basketball League (USBL) as an intern in 1995. The Sharks won the USBL Championship as an expansion team with a 26-1 record and Head Coach Eric Musselman was named USBL Coach of the Year. Szentesy worked with former and future NBA players Kevin Salvadori, Charles Smith, Jay Edwards, and Sylvester Gray.
The Fort Wayne, Ind. native earned his bachelors of arts in liberal studies from Mansfield University in 1998 and later earned his masters in elementary education from MU in 2012.
Following graduation, Szentesy was an assistant boys’ basketball coach at Manheim Township from 1997 to 1998 helping the program to a District III AAAA and Lancaster Lebanon League runner-up in 1998.
Szentesy returned to the college ranks as an assistant men’s basketball coach at NCAA Division III Marywood University from 1998 to 2000. He helped guide the Pacers to their first conference playoff berth in program history in 2000 working under Coach of the Year Doug Kraft.
| Year |
Overall Record |
PSAC Record |
| 2018-19 |
4-24 |
1-19 |
| 2019-20 |
6-21 |
5-17 |
| 2020-21 |
N/A |
N/A |
| 2021-22 |
5-23 |
4-18 |
| 2022-23 |
6-20 |
5-17 |
| 2023-24* |
8-20 |
6-16 |
| 2024-25 |
8-19 |
5-16 |
*Denotes playoff berth
