In his first two seasons at the helm of the United States Merchant Marine Academy men’s basketball team, Coach Danny Nee guided the Mariners to a 26-25 overall record, 15-13 Conference record, and a Landmark Conference playoff berth in 2010-11.

Nee, best known for revitalizing the men’s basketball programs at both Ohio University and the University of Nebraska, has coached at the NCAA Division-I level for a quarter-century.

Overall, he has notched a career record of 436-406 (.518) and has compiled a 410-381 record in his 26 seasons as a head men’s Division-I basketball coach which included stints at Ohio (1980-86), Nebraska (1986-2000), Robert Morris (2000-01) and Duquesne (2001-06). He also served as the Director of Player Development at Rutgers after two years as a scout for the National Basketball Association’s Utah Jazz.  Most recently, he was an assistant coach at Towson University for the 2009-10 season.

Nee got a start to his coaching career at Notre Dame from 1976-80 under the legendary Digger Phelps.  He received his first head coaching position at Ohio University, where he started his reputation as a program-revitalizer.  Nee built a 107-67 (.615) record in his six seasons while guiding the Bobcats to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths (1983 and 1984) and one NIT appearance (1986). He was named Mid-American Coach of the Year twice. His 1982-83 team recorded a program-record 23 wins en route to the Bobcats’ first NCAA appearance in nine seasons. He was inducted into the Ohio University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.

Nee went on to become Nebraska’s winningest head coach with a 254-189 (.573) record spanning 14 seasons.  He was elected to the University of Nebraska Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 amassing seven 20-win seasons, five NCAA tournament appearances, and six NIT berths; including an NIT Championship in 1996.  Throughout his tenure at Nebraska, Nee coached 10 1,000 point scorers, three NBA first-round draft picks and earned league coach of the year honors in 1991.  Prior to his arrival in Lincoln, the Cornhuskers had participated in one NCAA Tournament in 48 years.

He also served as head coach at Robert Morris and Duquesne out of the Northeast and Atlantic 10 Conferences, respectively, adding to his experiences of coaching in the MAC and Big Eight.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Nee was a high school teammate of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at Power Memorial High School. He was a member of the late Al McGuire’s first recruiting class at Marquette. Nee was captain of the Warriors’ freshman team before answering the call to serve his country in the United States Marine Corps. He received Combat Air Insignia Medals and was honorably discharged in 1968 after serving in Vietnam.

Following his two-year tour of duty, Nee resumed his education at St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, KS. where he earned a degree in English and Physical Education in 1971. He completed work for a Master’s degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from Kansas State University in 1972.

Nee began his coaching career at the high school level, directing programs at New Jersey’s Red Bank Regional (1972-73) and Brick Township (1973-76) before taking the assistant’s job at Notre Dame where he recruited and coached 10 NBA players.

Nee is married to the former Janet Scheib and is the father of three children – daughter, Nora, and sons, Patrick and Kevin.

David Muchnick enters his third season as assistant coach of the United States Merchant Marine Academy men’s basketball team.

As assistant coach, Muchnick serves as recruiting coordinator and is in charge of directing the Mariners’ recruiting efforts in all 50 states and U.S. territories.  This past offseason, he led the efforts to bring in 10 new Mariners from nine different states; the largest and most geographically diverse recruiting class in the history of the men’s basketball program.  Muchnick is also responsible for offensive execution, scouting opponents, academic support, and the day-to-day men’s basketball operations.

Prior to joining Coach Nee’s staff, Muchnick coached at Denison University where he served as the assistant basketball coach from 2008-2010.  During his tenure at Denison, he helped coach a team that saw its conference wins jump from three to seven over his two years. He recruited Dimonde Hale, who won the 2009-10 NCAC Newcomer of the Year award. With the Big Red, Muchnick was responsible for offensive execution, opposition scouting, recruitment and perimeter development. He also served as the Head Men’s Golf Coach at Denison. The Big Red golf team finished in fourth place in the NCAC during 2008-09 and had three Top-3 tournament finishes.

Prior to his time at Denison, Muchnick was the assistant coach at Cortland State University (N.Y.) from 2005-2008. During those trio of seasons, the Red Dragons posted a combined 55-29 record (.655 winning percentage). Cortland finished as the 2005-06 SUNY Athletic Conference Regular Season Champions with a 14-2 record. In that 2005-06 campaign, the Red Dragons tied for the best record in program history (24-5), which culminated in reaching the second round of the 2006 NCAA Division III Tournament. While at SUNY Cortland, Muchnick earned a Master of Science degree in Sports Management in 2008.

Muchnick graduated from SUNY Geneseo in 2005 with a B.A. in Communications. He was a four-year member of the men’s basketball team and served as captain his senior season.  He appeared in 65 games for the Blue Knights, finishing his career with a 41.4% three-point shooting percentage, good for top-10 in Geneseo history. Muchnick’s career record at Geneseo was 60-47 in his four seasons, including a 20-9 record and ECAC Championship in 2003-04.

A 2001 graduate of Oceanside (N.Y.) High School, Muchnick still holds the school record for three-pointers in one game (8), three-pointers in one season (64), and finished third in career three-pointers (110) and three-point shooting percentage (42.8%). At Oceanside, he was a three-year member of the varsity men’s basketball squad and a two-year starter and captain.

Muchnick currently resides in Long Beach, N.Y.

Peter Lipka enters his fifth season with the men’s basketball program at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and third under Head Coach Danny Nee.  During his tenure, Lipka’s role in recruiting, defensive strategies, player-development, and video-coordinating has helped the Mariners compile a 65-42 record.

In 2009-10, Lipka helped USMMA record one of the most successful seasons in school history, as the squad earned a bid to the NCAA Division-III Championship for the first time since 2003-04.  The Mariners went 24-5, reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament.  They hosted their first-round contest at Liebertz Gymnasium, defeating Wesley College 67-61 for their first NCAA tournament victory in seven seasons.

That same season,  Lipka helped the team go 12-2 in Conference play to finish in first place in a competitive Landmark Conference.  He and the rest of the staff went on to earn Landmark Conference Coaching Staff of the Year honors.  In the previous season, Lipka helped the Mariners earn a bid in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro Championship.

Outside of the Academy, Lipka has coached at Hoop Group basketball camps for two years.  Based out of Neptune, New Jersey, the Hoop Group is the largest basketball camp in the country. 

Prior to beginning his coaching career, Lipka was a four-year starter for the Farmingdale State College basketball team.  During his playing days, the Rams earned two NCAA Division-III Championship appearances and one ECAC Division-III Championship invitation.  Lipka received the SUNY Chancellor’s Scholar-Athlete Award while at Farmingdale.  He earned All-Skyline Conference selections as he captained the Rams from 2006-08.  In his sophomore season he was named the NCAA Three-Point Field Goal Percentage Statistical Champion (55.4%).

A 2008 graduate of Farmingdale, with a bachelor's degree in business management, Lipka earned a master's degree in Physical Education from CUNY Queens in 2012.

A Native of Shelton, CT, Lipka resides in Freeport, NY.