Staten Island, NY – Following ten years as Wagner College's head men's basketball coach and three Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season titles, Bashir Mason has announced his departure from Wagner to become the next head coach at Saint Peter's University. 

Wagner will immediately begin a search for Mason's successor and will have no comment on the process until a new head coach has been hired.
 
"On behalf of the entire Wagner College community, I would like to thank Bashir Mason for an incredible tenure as our head men's basketball coach," said Wagner College interim president Angelo Araimo. "Beyond his success on the court, he remained committed to developing our student athletes as scholars and leaders."
 
"Coach Mason continued the storied tradition of basketball here at Wagner and on Staten Island and we are thankful for his efforts. We wish Bashir and his family all the best in the future." 
 
"We are thankful for everything that Bashir Mason has accomplished throughout his tenure at Wagner," Director of Athletics Walt Hameline commented. "For ten years, Bash developed countless winners on and off the court, earning three regular season championships in the process and becoming the winningest coach in Wagner's Division I history."
 
"More importantly, Bash and his teams embodied what it means to be a Seahawk on the court, in the classroom, and in the community. Bash will be missed as a coach and as a person on this campus, but we are confident that he leaves us with a great foundation to continue the winning tradition that is Wagner Men's Basketball."

"Wagner College is a special place and I'm grateful for my 10 years on Grymes Hill," Mason added. "I would like to thank President Araimo, Walt Hameline, and the entire Wagner College administration for trusting me as their head coach. The bonds I share with my players and coaches and the countless memories I made at Wagner will travel with me for the rest of my life."
 
In 10 years as Wagner's head men's basketball coach, Mason led Wagner to three NEC regular season titles and two NIT appearances, while earning three NEC Coach of the Year honors during this stretch.

Mason became just the second coach in the conference's 40-year history to win three Jim Phelan Coach of the Year honors, joining NEC Hall of Fame coach Howie Dickenman, who earned the distinction four times in his storied career at CCSU.
 
Mason was the youngest head coach at the Division I level when he was named the 18th head men's basketball coach in school history on March 26, 2012.

In 2022, Mason was named the NABC District 15 Coach of the Year while also being selected as a finalist for the 2022 Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Award, which is presented annually to the top Division I mid-major coach in college basketball by collegeinsider.com and Ben Jobe Award, presented annually to the top Division I minority coach.


Mason led the Seahawks to a 21-6 overall record and an appearance in the NEC title game. This marked the third time under Mason and ninth time in program history that Wagner won 20 or more games in one season. The 2021-22 Seahawks were the first team in NEC history to feature four All-NEC players, as Alex Morales earned Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors along with a spot on the All-NEC First Team, while Will Martinez and Raekwon Rogers earned Second Team honors and Elijah Ford earning Third Team honors. Zaire Williams picked up a spot on the All-Rookie Team.
 
Wagner's 15 conference wins matched the most in program history. During the regular 2021-22 regular season, Wagner's 14 consecutive wins set the record for the longest winning streak for a Seahawk team under Mason and was the longest winning streak for a Wagner squad since winning 16 straight during the 1978-79 season under P.J. Carlesimo.
 
Wagner's 13-0 start in NEC play fell two short of the NEC standard set by UMBC, which won 15 in a row in 1998-99 before dropping two of its last three games to settle for a 17-3 record. The last conference school to rattle off 13 straight NEC wins was LIU. The Sharks won 13 in a row in 2010-11, a stretch that included three NEC Tournament wins. Wagner's win over Fairleigh Dickinson marked the 100th career victory in conference play for Mason, who became the 11th coach in NEC history to reach the century mark. Mason also earned his 150th overall victory against Fairfield. 

During one of the toughest seasons college basketball has ever seen, Mason led the 2020-21 Seahawks to a regular season championship after being picked eighth in the preseason poll. Mason helped the Seahawks re-write the record books, as the Green and White won 10 straight games.

In the process, senior Alex Morales was named the NEC Player of the Year, while freshman DeLonnie Hunt earned Rookie of the Year honors. Additionally, senior Elijah Ford was named to the All-NEC First Team. The 2020-21 season marked the first time Wagner won NEC Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year in the same season and first time since 2007-2008 that two Seahawks earned First Team All-NEC honors. 

In addition to earning NEC Coach of the Year honors, Mason was also named a finalist for the Ben Jobe and Hugh Durham awards.

The 2017-18 Seahawks combined their vintage brand of hard-nosed defense with more offensive firepower than in recent memory, and it all added up to a 23-10 overall record, highlighted by an NEC-best 14-4 mark.
 
In guiding the Green & White to the league's automatic bid to the postseason NIT in 2018 Mason became the first Wagner head coach to win multiple NEC Coach of the Year honors as well as the 10th in NEC history to accomplish this feat.
  
The Seahawks won 16 of 17 home games down the stretch that season, setting a program record for home victories and consecutive wins when the team rattled off 16 straight prior to the championship game, which tied for the second-longest streak in the NCAA. Mason once again built the NEC's top-ranked scoring defense (68.3) and field goal percentage defense (.407).  
 
Mason tutored three Seahawks to All-NEC honors in 2017-18, as senior guard JoJo Cooper earned First Team accolades, while sophomore guard Blake Francis was named to the Second Team and redshirt junior guard Romone Saunders was selected as one of five players to the Third Team.
 
The three all-conference selections marked the first time since the 1994-95 that Wagner had three or more players named to the All-Conference team.
 
In the lid-lifter of the 2016-17 season, Mason's Seahawks traveled to Storrs, CT to tangle with four-time NCAA men's basketball national champion and then No. 18-ranked, UConn, at Gampel Pavilion, coached by former Huskie and 15-year NBA veteran, Kevin Ollie.
 
The Green & White's signature tenacious defense, along with a pair of 15-point performances from forward Mike Aaman and redshirt junior Romone Saunders, held the Huskies to just 36.0 percent shooting as Wagner earned a near wire-to-wire 67-58 victory in a game televised on SNY.
 
The only lead for the Huskies was 2-0 at the 19:23 mark of the first half. Wagner's victory marked the first time UConn had ever lost in a home opener at Gampel Pavilion as the Huskies came into the contest with a 27-0 record at Gampel.
 
The 2015-16 was a banner year for the Wagner men's basketball program. Mason led the Seahawks to one of the most successful seasons in program history, a 23-11 record, the seventh 20-win season in program history and first since 2012, when he was an assistant on the Wagner sidelines under Hurley (25-6).
 
The 2015-16 Jim Phelan Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year steered the Seahawks to their second-ever NEC regular season title and became the program's first head coach to lead Wagner to a postseason victory, an impressive 79-75 road win over No. 1 seed, St. Bonaventure, in the first round of the 2016 NIT. 
      
In his first season at the helm in 2012-13, at 29 years old, Mason proved that age is just a number as he guided Wagner to a 19-12 record, which included 12 conference victories. Among the 19 wins, which set a school record for a first-year coach, was a 63-53 win over an SMU squad coached by Hall of Famer Larry Brown. 
 
Spearheading the defensive attack in Mason's first year was guard Kenneth Ortiz ('14), who garnered his second straight Defensive Player of the Year Award, while also earning NEC Third-Team honors. Under Mason's tutelage, Williams averaged a team-best 15.6 points and 6.4 rebounds game while blossoming into an NEC Second Team selection. For his efforts, Mason was a finalist for the CollegeInsider.com Joe B. Hall First-Year and Ben Jobe Minority Coach of the Year awards. 

Mason arrived on Grymes Hill from Marist College, where he spent two seasons as an assistant coach, with responsibilities including recruiting and guard development.  Under his guidance, R.J. Hall was tabbed to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) All-Rookie Team in 2008-2009.
 
He began his coaching career at his high school alma mater, St. Benedict's Prep of Newark, under Hurley, during the 2007-2008 season. As coach of the school's prep team, the Gray Bees won the New Jersey State Prep A Title. 
 
Following a standout playing career at St. Benedict's under Hurley, Mason played collegiately for Drexel under James "Bruiser" Flint from 2003-2007, where he scored 1,126 career points while averaging 9.4 points and 3.9 assists per contest.
 
At Drexel, Mason was a four-year starter for the Dragons, anchoring the team from his point guard position.  In addition to scoring more than 1,000 points while dishing out nearly 500 assists, Mason's calling card was defense. The first four-time member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) All-Defensive Team, he also became the first player in league history to be named Defensive Player of the Year as a freshman following the 2003-2004 season.