Coaching Staff
Damien Strahorn
Head Coach
Damien Strahorn enters his 12th year as the Richard L. Whitmore Jr. Head Coach for Colby Men’s Basketball in the 2022-23 season
In the 2019-20 season, Strahorn and the Mules finished with a 24-4 record including 18 straight wins to open the season, advancing to the NESCAC Championship game. Colby qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time since 1997. That year, Sam Jefferson '20 earned D3hoops.com All-American Honorable Mention, All-NESCAC First Team honors, as well as CoSIDA Academic All-American Second Team. Will King '24 joined Noah Tyson '23 as players to be named NESCAC Rookie of the Year under Strahorn.
Prior to coming to Colby, Strahorn was the head coach at Plymouth State University, and an assistant coach for four years at Columbia University. He is the first head coach, other than legendary coach Dick Whitmore, to lead the Mules since 1970, and the seventh head coach in Colby Men’s Basketball history dating back to the 1937-38 season. Strahorn also coached four years with Whitmore early in his career, first as a volunteer coach and then assistant coach.
Strahorn, a native of Menlo Park, Calif., was a two-year player at Colby after
Denis Tobin
The John "Swisher" Mitchell Assistant Coach for Colby Men's Basketball
Denis Tobin joined the Colby Men's Basketball staff in the spring of 2022 as the John "Swisher" Mitchell Assistant Coach.
Tobin spent the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach for Worcester Polytechnic Institut, helping WPI to a 27-3 record, setting a new mark for most wins in school history. The Goats won the NEWMAC tournament, and advanced to the NCAA Elite 8, losing to the eventual National Champion Randolph-Macon. Tobin helped coach three all-league players, including the National Rookie of the Year John Adams.
Prior to arriving in Worcester, Tobin coached two seasons at Suffolk University as a Graduate Assistant, completing his master's degree in Higher Education Administration.
A 2019 gradate of Clark University, Tobin served as a team captain his senior year, and won the NEWMAC Sportsmanship Award.
Nick Pelotte
Assistant Coach
Nick Pelotte enters his sixth season as an Assistant Men's Basketball Coach at Colby during the 2022-23 academic year.
Pelotte was an assistant for the Mules before becoming the head coach of the Waterville High School boys basketball squad.
Pelotte is a 2005 graduate of Plymouth State University and finished his career with 2,111 points. He was an All-American selection in 2005 and was a three-time NCAA Northeast Region All-Star.
A native of Bingham, Maine (Valley High School), Pelotte made an immediate impact as a first-year at PSU by being named New England Rookie of the Year in 2002. He earned All-New England and All-Northeast Region honors his next two seasons after averaging more than 18 points a game, and he exploded with 28.1 points per game as a senior to rank third in the nation in scoring and earned All-American and ECAC New England Player of the Year honors.
Pelotte led the Panthers to a combined record of 82-35, with three berths in the ECAC tourney and once in the NCAA. He was the leading scorer on the 2003-04 Panthers that finished 24-6 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
At Valley High School, Pelotte's team never lost a game by going 84-0.