Drew Kelly begins his third season as an assistant coach with the NIU men’s basketball program in 2024-25. Kelly comes to NIU following 17 seasons as the head coach at Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, Pa.
In 2023-24, Kelly helped NIU to its best start since 2015-16 as the Huskies opened 5-1 with victories over Sun Belt regular season champion Appalachian State and NIU’s first win over DePaul since 2005. The Huskies recorded the fourth-most three-points field goals in school history (227) while playing the toughest schedule in the Mid-American Conference.
David Coit became just the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points in just two seasons (joining Jim Bradley, Kenny Battle and Xavier Silas) as he was named to the All-MAC Third Team and the NABC All-District Second Team. Will Lovings-Watts was named to the MAC All-Freshman Team while NIU had two Academic All-MAC honorees, Oluwasegun Durosinmi and Harvin Ibarguen, marking the first time the program has had multiple Academic All-MAC recipients since the 1999-2000 season.
In his first season in DeKalb, Kelly helped the Huskies improve to 13 victories and an appearance in the MAC Tournament. NIU recorded its longest road winning streak since the 2002-03 season and also claimed a victory over MAC champion Kent State, snapping the nation’s third-longest win streak. The Huskies finished league play second in the MAC in field goal percentage, third in three-point percentage, third in field goal defense, third in three-point defense and third in assists.
NIU had a pair of All-MAC honorees for the first time since 2003-04 as David Coit was named to the All-MAC Third Team and Kaleb Thornton claimed All-MAC Honorable Mention recognition. Coit was also named to the NABC All-District Second Team.
During time at Harcum, Kelly complied a 429-102 (.808) record, including going 32-3 during the 2021-22 season. Kelly was also Harcum's Director of Athletics for the last 17 years.
Kelly started the Harcum College basketball program from scratch as its first head coach beginning in 2005, leading the Bears to five top-10 national finishes, including two top-five finishes. Harcum won 20 games in each of Kelly's 17 seasons in charge, with the exception of the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign when the Bears posted a 17-1 mark.
During the 2021-22 season, Harcum and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NJCAA Division I Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., its 32 wins tied the school record previously set in 2013-14 when the Bears reached the NJCAA Division I Final Four and had five players sign with NCAA Division I programs. Harcum also reached the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in 2015-16.
In 2009-10, Harcum won 25 consecutive games and reached number one in the NJCAA Division I poll for the first time in program history, becoming the first team from Region XIX to top the poll since 1974. In his 17 years leading the Harcum program, Kelly had 46 players go on to play at the NCAA Division I level, including six from the Class of 2021.
Prior to his time at Harcum, Kelly was the head coach at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pa., from 2002-04. Kelly began his coaching career as an assistant at Haverford College in Haverford, Pa., from 1997-2000. He then moved on to The College of New Jersey, where he worked as an assistant from 2000-02.
Kelly graduated from Villanova University in 1997, where he was a student assistant with the men's basketball program under head coach Steve Lappas.
