Michael Papale, a native of Wallingford, Conn., and Souleymane Wane, a former standout player at the University of Connecticut, were named assistant coaches on the UMass Lowell men’s basketball team, head coach Greg Herenda announced Friday.
Papale will assist in all facets of the program, including recruiting, film exchange, weight training and academic support. Wane will also take part in all facets of the game, specifically academic support and working exclusively with UMass Lowell’s post players.
Papale and Wane join a River Hawk program which went 20-10 last season (14-8 in the NE-10, tied for fifth place) and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the third straight year and eighth time in 11 years. The River Hawks return 13 veterans and five starters from last year.
“I could not be more excited about joining Coach Herenda and his staff at UMass Lowell,” said Papale. “Coach has great experience at all levels of college basketball and has already been extremely successful in his first three years at the school. His combination of enthusiasm and knowledge of the game makes UMass Lowell the ideal place to start my coaching career.”
A student-manager at Quinnipiac from 2007-11, Papale assisted in film exchange, mailings, coordinated travel plans as well as hired and trained other student-mangers. He graduated with a degree in communication and minor in sports studies.
Over the last four years, Papale coached at several levels in the AAU circuit with both the Central Connecticut Hoop Stars and the New England Playaz. He served as the head coach for Central Connecticut’s U-17 team last year and helped lead it to a 35-14 record and a fifth-place showing at the AAU National Championship.
"Mike has already been a great addition to our staff,” said Herenda. “He is an extremely bright young coach who possesses tremendous maturity and poise well beyond his years. He has a very promising future and we are very lucky to have him start his coaching profession here with us at UMass Lowell."
Papale is a 2007 graduate of Sheehan H.S. in Wallingford, Conn., where he was a three-year varsity player and served as a student assistant his senior year after his career was cut short due to a heart condition. During his junior season he was nominated for the McDonald’s All-America team, a member of the New Haven Tip-Off Club team and earned second team all-state honors.
Papale is a volunteer and spokesperson for American Heart Association and Ryan Gomes’ Hoops for Heart Health Foundation.
He lives in Lowell, Mass.
Wane was a standout center on the University of Connecticut Basketball team from 1997-01 where helped the Huskies to the 1999 NCAA Championship and earned his degree in political science.
A native of Dakar, Senegal, Wane came to the U.S. in 1995 and attended Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, N.Y. before attending Connecticut in 1997. He peaked as a senior with the Huskies with averages of 4.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 0.9 blocked shots in 20.4 minutes per game.