Justin Klingman will take over as head coach at Goucher University.
Submitted photo
Justin Klingman took the latest step in a family tradition when the Abington Heights graduate was named head coach at Goucher University, his third stop along the Landmark Conference men’s basketball trail.
“I kind of grew up at the Long Center when my Mom (Deanna) was coaching with Mike Strong,” Klingman said of following his family to the University of Scranton where he played for four years before launching a coaching career that included spending the last four seasons at Catholic University. “And, obviously, I heard all the stories of my Dad (Steve) coaching at Scranton.
“It’s in my blood.”
Goucher College Director of Athletics Dr. Andrew Wu announced the appointment of Klingman April 10 and Klingman officially began his duties at the Towson, Md. school May 1.
“Coach Klingman was on our list immediately upon starting the search for our next head coach and I’m thrilled he’ll be joining our team,” Wu said, according to a story posted on the school’s athletic website.
Klingman moved from Ursinus, where he coached four seasons, to Catholic in 2019. Following three seasons as an assistant on the staff, he became associate head coach for the 2023-23 season.
Catholic, which was 10-15 the season before Klingman arrived with head coach Aaron Kelly, won 13 straight last season to start 21-1 and reach the national Top 25 rankings. The Cardinals made the Landmark Conference playoffs the last three seasons when they were a combined 29-20 in the Landmark and 51-32 overall.
Steve Klingman, currently the athletics facilities director at Scranton, coached the Royals to national prominence in soccer and later coached at Abington Heights High School where he won a series of titles.
Deanna Klingman was the national Division III Player of the Year in 1984-85, helping the Lady Royals to a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III women’s basketball title. She has guided the Abington Heights girls basketball team to eight straight District 2 championship game appearances and six titles.
“Just being able to understand the impact both my parents have had on the people they coached, I started to realize that at a younger age than maybe some people do,” Justin Klingman said. “I realized that if you could get paid to coach and continue to mentor that it’s a pretty good day job.
“It’s something that I’ve tried to strive toward and I’m just grateful for having the opportunity at Goucher.”
While supporting Kelly at Catholic, Klingman has been thinking ahead to the day when he could run his own program.
“As an assistant, it’s important to be loyal and to respect the decisions that the head coach may ultimately make,” he said. “That being said, there’s nothing wrong with taking some notes over the course of your years as an assistant and try to figure out, ‘maybe we could have done this a little better’. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing that and trying to weave in some of your own personality.
“I’m looking forward to being able to do that and pull from what I learned at Scranton as a player under Carl (Danzig).”
Klingman said he will combine lessons from Danzig, Ursinus coach Kevin Small, Kelly and, of course, his family.
“It’s always a balancing act and also having an awareness that some things that worked at one school may not work at another,” Klingman said.
Klingman lettered for four years at Scranton where he set school records for 3-point shooting accuracy, hitting 50.7 percent of his shots during his career and 56.5 percent as a junior. He was a second-team Landmark all-star as a senior, played in four NCAA Tournaments and also spent three years as a member of the school’s baseball team.
Justin followed his sister Kelly and brother Derek to Scranton where each played soccer. His younger brother, Colin, played soccer at Ursinus and is now a graduate assistant in the soccer program at Catholic.
At Goucher, Klingman hopes to institute variations of motion offense and mix in a combination of zone and man-to-man defenses.
There is work to be done at Goucher, which is coming off a season in which it went 1-13 in the Landmark and 3-21 overall.
