Dalip Bhatia - Men's Basketball Coach - Rutgers University Athletics

Dalip Bhatia

Title:
Assistant Coach

Dalip Bhatia was elevated to the position of assistant coach prior to the 2015-16 season after serving the past two years as the Scarlet Knights’ Director of Basketball Operations. A New Jersey native and Rutgers graduate noted for his tireless work ethic, he returns to a role in which he excelled at St. Peter’s and Kean Universities.

Bhatia was named Director of Basketball Operations at RU on May 23, 2013. In addition to assisting with day-to-day activities of the coaching staff in that role, Bhatia was responsible for scheduling team travel, practices, meals, facility use, and overseeing compliance matters along with playing a major role in the team’s on-campus recruiting efforts.

“We are very excited to add Dalip to our staff,” said Jordan on the date of his appointment. “He is a high-character individual who will represent the program well. Dalip is a Rutgers man. He is detail-oriented and highly regarded in the metro basketball community.”

A native of North Brunswick, N.J., Bhatia spent five seasons as an assistant under SPU head coach John Dunne. Cited by St. Peter’s as the first known Division I men’s basketball assistant coach of Indian descent in NCAA history, Bhatia helped the squad earn the 2011 MAAC Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in sixteen years. During the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons, St. Peter’s University was second in the country in back-to-back years in defensive field goal percentage for all Division I teams at 37.7 percent and 37.6 percent, respectively. These strong defensive efforts made the Peacocks consistently one of the toughest opponents to play against.

In his role with the Peacocks, Bhatia’s responsibilities included recruiting, scouting, game plan preparation, player development and academics. Bhatia coached numerous All-MAAC players: Ryan Bacon on the All-MAAC Second Team, Wesley Jenkins on the All-MAAC Second Team, Nick Leon on the All-MAAC Third Team, Darius Conley on the All-MAAC Third Team and Jeron Belin, who was named the 2011 MAAC Tournament MVP.

Prior to arriving in Jersey City, Bhatia was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Kean University in Union, N.J., for the 2007-08 season in which the team advanced to the NJAC Tournament for the first time in seven years.

Bhatia earned a degree in accounting from Rutgers in 2005. He worked as a senior auditor at Deloitte LLP in Princeton from 2005 to 2007. During his tenure with the firm, he began his career on the hardwood, also serving as a volunteer assistant boys’ varsity coach at North Brunswick High School.