ORLANDO, Fla. – Jacksonville University men's basketball assistant coach Troy Pierce has been selected to participate in the prestigious 2023 TopConnect Basketball Symposium taking place at the Courtyard Orlando Lake Buena Vista in the Marriott Village, Orlando, Florida on Monday, June 12 presented by Teamworks and INFLCR.
 
Pierce, who just completed his first season on the JU staff, will workshop with other young coaches and hear from some of the top administrators and head coaches in the country. JU AD Alex Ricker-Gilbert and men's basketball head coach Jordan Mincy are scheduled to present at the event.
 
TopConnect (formerly Villa 7), originated in 2003 by then VCU Athletic Director Dr. Richard Sander, identifies the top assistant basketball coaches in the country and connects them with mid-major Athletic Directors providing tremendous networking and leadership development opportunities for both parties. In its sixth year, TopConnect develops educational programming that allows these top assistant coaches to hear from a wide variety of successful leaders and speakers.
 
The 2023 symposium is headlined by a panel of prominent, successful, and new head coaches in Brenda "Mock" Brown, Head Women's Basketball Coach at East Tennessee State University, who is also a former JU women's basketball assistant in 2004-05, Brooks Savage, Head Men's Basketball Coach at East Tennessee State University, Kevin Kuwik, Head Men's Basketball Coach at West Point and Mincy. Athletic Directors presenting include, Mark Wharton, University of Tennessee - Chattanooga; Anthony Henderson, Hampton University alongside Ricker-Gilbert. Also, joining the lineup are influential speakers Kristi Dosh, founder of Business of College Sports; Colton Houston, HD Intelligence; Jeff Schemmel, College Sport Solutions and Rick Boyages of ShotQuality.
 
Panel discussions and breakout sessions include First-time Head Coaches, The AD / Coach Relationship, Taking the Reins (of an existing program), NIL and Athletic Director panel. The fan-favorite "Speed Dating" returns and allows for rapid networking to take place between the assistant coaches and administrators. The three-word mantra of "Connect. Prepare. Lead." identifies the purpose of TopConnect.
 
Since the inception of TopConnect in 2018, more than 50 assistant coach and assistant athletic director participants have been promoted to the next chair of Head Coach and Athletic Director as well as a Conference Commissioner. TopConnect is on all social media platforms @TopConnectLead. If you have questions regarding TopConnect, please contact Dr. Richard Sander at docsander30@gmail.com. TopConnect works in conjunction with Connected Media, LLC, East Tennessee State University's Doctoral program in Global Sport Leadership, #INFLCR and Teamworks.