EVAN ELBERG

Head Men's Basketball Coach

Evan Elberg returned to TCNJ as head coach of the men’s basketball program on July 31, 2025.

Elberg’s hiring officially ushered in a new era of Lions hoops after the departure of Matt Goldsmith, who accepted the head coaching position at Middlebury after ten strong seasons at the helm of the program.

The appointment was a homecoming for Elberg, who was an assistant coach under Goldsmith at TCNJ from 2015-2019 and was instrumental in recruiting some of the program’s all-time greats who went on to lead the Lions to NJAC championship glory in 2020.

“I’m excited to welcome Evan back to the TCNJ men’s basketball program,” Shatkus said. “His relentless work ethic, New Jersey recruiting ties, and passion for the game make him the right leader. The program is moving in a great direction, and I’m confident he’ll continue to build on that success.”

Elberg returns to Ewing after a one-year stint as director of basketball operations under head coach Bashir Mason at Division I Saint Peter’s University. He directed all day-to-day operations for the Peacocks, including coordinating team travel, meals, and logistics in addition to organizing official visits and creating a recruiting database. Elberg also facilitated the team’s film breakdown, led budget tracking and expense reporting, and oversaw a team of five student managers in addition to helping the program to generate over $10,000 in revenue from the inaugural ‘Bashir Mason Team Camp.’

Elberg cut his teeth in Packer Hall, serving as assistant coach for a TCNJ program that went 66-40 overall and made the NJAC Tournament in each of his four seasons. Goldsmith’s group was named NJAC Coaching Staff of the Year in 2018, and Elberg successfully helped to land a pair of program-changers in Randy Walko ‘20 and Travis Jocelyn ‘21, who went on to power the Lions to the conference championship in 2020. Both became All-Americans and NJAC Player of the Year selections, and each is still plying his trade overseas - Walko with the Taishin Dreamers in Taiwan and Jocelyn with the Chemnitz Niners in Germany.

“I want to thank Liz Shaktus and the entire search committee for this incredible opportunity,” Elberg said. “TCNJ is home and I can’t wait to be back on campus and be immersed in the TCNJ community. I look forward to working in a championship-level athletic department with high-academic student-athletes who compete on and off the court. I’m honored to build on the strong foundation Coach Goldsmith built over the last decade.”

Elberg wore many hats during his TCNJ tenure. He directed the program’s first Elite Prospect Camp and High School Shootout, created the ‘Lions Leading Lions’ program on campus, served as a liaison between the Athletic Department and Student Affairs leadership, and organized a weekly volunteer program in the offseason at the Trenton Soup Kitchen. He also worked closely with alums and donors, acquiring a Shoot-A-Way machine to enhance player development as well as a venue sponsor from a local business.

“Evan is a home run hire for TCNJ,” Goldsmith said. “He is an elite recruiter, a tireless worker, and an incredible relationship builder. He was at TCNJ while we built the foundation of the last ten years and I am excited to watch him take the program to new heights.

Evan’s values align perfectly with TCNJ and the athletic department. He cares deeply about the college, the men’s basketball program, the alumni, and the student-athletes as much as anyone. I cannot wait to cheer on the Lions next year!”

Between his stops in Ewing and Jersey City, Elberg spent five impactful years as an assistant coach at Gettysburg, where he played a pivotal role in the program’s swift rise back to the top of the Centennial Conference ranks. The 2021-22 campaign saw the Bullets achieve their first conference playoff appearance and winning season in six years, and the orange and blue followed with back-to-back playoff berths in 2023 and 2024, the latter of which resulted in the first Centennial Conference regular-season crown in the program’s 123-year history.

With Elberg as defensive coordinator, Gettysburg led the highly competitive Centennial Conference in scoring defense, field-goal percentage defense, 3-point percentage defense, and blocked shots; the Bullets were top-20 nationally in blocks per game (2nd), assists allowed per game (3rd), 3-point percentage defense (4th), scoring defense (12th), and field-goal percentage defense (18th). Elberg was the lead recruiter for Jordan Stafford, the 2025 CC Defensive Player of the Year and 2024 Player of the Year, as well as All-CC first team selection Carl Schaller.

Elberg was a four-year letter winner at Drew, where he served as team captain in 2013 and graduated with a degree in business studies. He played in 65 games for the Rangers, including seven starts, and the best game of his career ironically came at Packer Hall - a 17-point outburst as a freshman on January 11, 2010.

He started his coaching career as an assistant with his alma mater, spending the 2013-14 season with the Rangers and taking an assistant position at Washington College (Md.) for a year before his first stint at TCNJ.

A mainstay on the recruiting trails and AAU circuit, Elberg was the head coach of the Jersey Force 17U team on the HGSL Hoop Group Circuit, one of the top independent AAU programs in the country. In the past four years, Elberg coached one NBA player, 10 Division I commits, and 11 Division III commits. He has also worked as a coach at several Division I elite camps as well as the Jay Bilas Coach Development Camp.

“We are going to recruit and compete in a way that makes the entire community and alumni base proud to be a Lion,” Elberg said.