USC Upstate head men’s basketball coach Dave Dickerson has announced this afternoon the additions of Dr. Ron Bradley, Stacey Palmore and Andrew Garcia as assistant coaches for the 2018-19 season.

The additions of Bradley, Palmore and Garcia, along with Dickerson, give the Spartans men’s basketball program over a century of coaching knowledge, as well as a quarter-century being head coaches, with USC Upstate heading to the Big South Conference next season.

“I am very excited to announce my first coaching staff here at USC Upstate,” said Dickerson. “We have a group of guys who are great role models for our players and excellent ambassadors for our university. Amongst the four of us, there is over 100 years of coaching experience and over 25 years of head coaching experience. We all have previous relationships. My goal was to put together a staff that would serve our players well and I think we’ve done that by hiring Dr. Ron Bradley, Stacey Palmore and Andrew Garcia.”

Dr. Ron Bradley is a veteran coach with more than 30 years of experience. He comes to USC Upstate after spending the past two seasons at Longwood serving as an assistant coach under Jayson Gee. Bradley is no stranger to the Big South Conference, being enshrined into the league’s Hall of Fame in 2010 after leading Radford to a 193-124 record from 1991-2002. He led the Highlanders to four Big South titles and one NCAA Tournament berth.

Following his stint at Radford, Bradley served on coaching staffs at James Madison (2002-03), Clemson (2003-10) and DePaul (2010-15). The 1992 Big South Coach of the Year and a top-10 assistant coach in the nation by Basketball Scoop in 2001, Bradley was also an assistant coach under College Basketball Hall of Famer Lefty Driesell at Maryland from 1981-86 and under Driesell’s successor, Bob Wade, from 1987-89.

Bradley has coached teams to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances in his career, including five trips as an assistant coach at Maryland (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988), one as head coach at Radford (1998) and three as an assistant coach at Clemson (2008, 2009, 2010).

Bradley began his coaching career at his alma mater, Eastern Nazarene, leading the Division III program from 1976-81. He led the Crusaders to five consecutive winning seasons.

A member of the Eastern Nazarene Hall of Fame, Bradley had a decorated playing career in which he was a three-time NAIA All-America Honorable Mention selection. He still holds Eastern Nazarene’s all-time scoring record, amassing 2,649 points from 1968-73 before being drafted by the New Jersey Nets in the 1973 American Basketball Association (ABA) Draft.

Bradley holds three degrees, including his Ph.D. in kinesiological studies from the University of Maryland, his M.S. in physical education from Bridgewater State College and his B.A. in psychology from Eastern Nazarene College.

Coach Dickerson on Bradley:  “Ron is a proven winner as a head coach and assistant coach. He was my assistant coach when I was a student-athlete at the University of Maryland from 1985-89. I had the privilege of working for him while he was the head coach at Radford University. Our relationship has come full-circle with him now working with me at USC Upstate. He will be an invaluable part of this staff and a great mentor to me as we work to take this program to a level where it has never been.”

Stacey Palmore previously coached for three seasons at Coastal Carolina under head coach Cliff Ellis. He helped the Chanticleers to the NCAA Tournament in 2015, three CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament wins in 2016 and an appearance in the College Basketball Invitational in 2017.

Palmore was an assistant coach at Georgia from 2009-14 and coached three future NBA players. Prior to Georgia, Palmore spent five seasons at Virginia Tech under head coach, and current ESPN analyst, Seth Greenberg. He joined the Virginia Tech program in the summer of 2004 after spending the previous season as an assistant coach at the College of Charleston.

Before going to Charleston, he spent the 2003 season at Evansville. Palmore also served two seasons (2001-02) as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Western Carolina.

Palmore began his coaching career at Warwick High School in Newport News, Va., where he served as an assistant coach for three years (1993-96) and head coach for his final year. He then spent one year at Lander in his hometown of Greenwood and two years at Erskine before joining the staff at Western Carolina.

A 1993 graduate of Livingstone College (N.C.), Palmore played basketball and golf at the collegiate level. As a junior and senior, he ranked in the top-10 nationally for Division II in 3-point field goal percentage and was co-captain his last two seasons.

Coach Dickerson on Palmore:  “Stacey was a given. He is one of the best assistant basketball coaches out there. He is from the state of South Carolina and he knows this region. We have a relationship spanning 15 years and I have a great deal of respect for him as a coach and as a recruiter. In the short time that he has been at USC Upstate, Stacey has shown his ability to relate to the players, to potential recruits and to the university which will be invaluable to us as we go forward.”

Andrew Garcia comes to USC Upstate after serving as the head coach at Chatham University for the last three seasons. Hired as the program’s first-ever men’s basketball coach, he guided the Cougars to a 22-56 overall record and their first berth in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Tournament in 2016.

Prior to being hired at Chatham, Garcia spent three years as an assistant coach at Carnegie Mellon. He served as the program’s recruiting coordinator. Garcia was also an assistant coach for two seasons at Flagler College and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for two seasons at Marshall.

Garcia played for Dickerson at Tulane for three seasons and led the team in assists twice. As a senior, he was the team’s captain, a member of the Conference USA All-Academic Team and scored a career-high 23 points against Southern Miss. Before attending Tulane, Garcia was a walk-on for the football team at the University of Pittsburgh in 2003.

The Pittsburgh, Pa. native is a 2002 graduate of Central Catholic High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Tulane in 2006 and completed his master’s in adult and technical education at Marshall in 2009.

Coach Dickerson on Garcia:  “Andrew Garcia has always been on my radar. I have always said that if I got another head coaching job, Andrew would be one of my hires. He was my starting point guard during my first year at Tulane University. He was part of the group who endured Hurricane Katrina, as we were displaced and spent the semester on the campus of Texas A&M University. He was a driving force and strong leader. I knew that Andrew would be a great basketball coach one day. He will give our players a wealth of knowledge. He’s played for me, he knows me and will be able to relate my message and methods to the players. I think he’s one of the rising starts in this profession.”

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