Head coach Dave Paulsen enters his sixth season leading the George Mason men's basketball program in 2020-21.
Mason named Paulsen as the 10th head coach in the history of the program on March 30, 2015. The Wisconsin native came to Fairfax from Bucknell, where he earned Patriot League Coach of the Year honors on three occasions.
Paulsen has led the Patriots to a top-5 A-10 finish in two of the past three seasons.
In addition, the Mason program under Paulsen has become synonymous with player development. In three of the past four seasons, a Mason student-athlete has garnered the league’s Chris Daniels Most Improved Player Award. That group includes AJ Wilson (2020), Justin Kier (2019) and Marquise Moore (2017).
During the 2019-20 campaign, Paulsen led the Green & Gold to the Cayman Islands Classic title and a school-record 11 non-conference victories. The program also continued its A-10 Tournament streak, capturing a victory for a school-record fourth-straight season.
In 2018-19, Paulsen paced the Patriots to school A-10 records for conference wins (11) and road wins (5). Mason tied its best-ever A-10 finish (5th) and advanced in the A-10 Tournament. That came after a fifth place showing in 2017-18, which at the time set a program record for best finish within the league.
During the 2016-17 season, Paulsen engineered one of the best turnarounds in the country while leading the Patriots to a number of program firsts. One of the top-20 most improved teams in the nation, Mason posted a 20-14 record, marking a nine-win improvement from the 2015-16 campaign. During the 13th 20-win season in program history, the Patriots set a then-program record for A-10 wins (9) and earned the first Atlantic 10 Tournament victory in school history, despite entering the year as one of the 50 most inexperienced teams in the nation (six freshmen, five sophomores). The team's 20 wins marked the most by a Patriot squad since the 2012-13 campaign.
In his first season leading the Patriots in 2015-16, Paulsen led Mason to the championship game of the 2015 Gildan Charleston Classic, uprooting Power 5 opponents Ole Miss and Oklahoma State to face nationally-ranked Virginia in the title game. Mason also knocked off NCAA Tournament participant and A-10 regular season co-champion VCU during the regular season.
Paulsen and his staff have mentored a number of players who have gone on to successful professional basketball careers. Marquise Moore, who garnered the A-10 Most Improved Player Award and earned NABC District 4 First Team honors in 2016-17, was the top rebounding guard in the nation and his 10.9 rebounds/game were the most by a Div. I guard since the stat was kept nationally by the NCAA in 1993-94. At just 6-2, his 20 double-doubles also marked the most by a guard since 2009-10. Moore currently plays for the Iowa Wolves in the NBA G League.
Paulsen's first recruit at Mason - Otis Livingston II - wrapped up a sensational All-A-10 career for the Green & Gold in 2018-19 while finishing second on the school's all-time assists list (493), third in 3-point field goals made (203) amd fourth in scoring (1,865 pts). He's Mason's all-time leader in free throw percentage and games started (132). Livingston II currently plays for Horsens IC in Denmark.
In addition to Moore and Livingston II, Paulsen also helped mentor 2016 Mason graduate Shevon Thompson to a NBA Summer League mini-camp invite with the New Orleans Pelicans. Thompson played three seasons in the G League before continuing his career in Europe. Mason 2017 graduate Jalen Jenkins starred for Uppsala Basket in Sweden, where he averaged 18.2 points per game in 2017-18. He suited up for BC Rilski Sportist in Belgium in 2018-19.
In Paulsen’s seven-year tenure at Bucknell from 2008-15, the Bison became the first team in Patriot League history to record three straight regular season titles, having amassed four outright regular season championships in the last five years. He led the Bison to four postseason berths – two NCAA appearances and two NITs – during that span.
Paulsen’s 134 victories are third-most all-time in Bucknell history, behind only Charlie Woollum (318) and Pat Flannery (234), and Paulsen’s .590 (134-94) winning percentage is the highest in program history among coaches with 40 or more games. In a three-year period culminating in 2013 the Bison earned a program –topping 78 wins, including a school-record 28 victories (28-6) in 2012-13.
In 2013 Bucknell was awarded a No. 11 seed at the NCAAs, the second-highest seed in program history.
The 2015 Patriot League Coach of the Year guided a young Bucknell squad to a 13-5 record and a first-place finish in the conference this season, earning an automatic bid to the NIT for the second time. In 2012 the Bison upset top-seeded Arizona on the road before falling at Nevada.
Paulsen won the 2011 and 2012 Patriot League Coach of the Year awards, making him only the third coach in league history to receive the honor in consecutive years. He was also named the 2013 NABC Co-District 13 Coach of the Year alongside Harvard’s Tommy Amaker.
During Paulsen’s tutelage, the Bison recorded six Academic All-Patriot League honors, three Academic All-District II recognitions and one Academic All-American in the last five years.
He was been named as one of 16 finalists for the 2015 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, presented annually by CollegeInsider.com to those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who also display moral integrity off the court.
Paulsen’s initial Bucknell recruiting class resulted in a record three Patriot League All-Rookie honorees in Bryson Johnson, Mike Muscala and Joe Willman. Muscala developed into a two-time Patriot League Player of the Year, an All-American and an NBA Draft selection. Muscala became Bucknell’s very first NBA player when he suited up with the Atlanta Hawks. Muscala is currently a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Meanwhile, Johnson and Willman both became All-Patriot Leaguers and 1,000-point scorers before embarking on professional careers overseas.
A year later, Paulsen recruited another eventual Patriot League Player of the Year in Cameron Ayers, who became a key player on two NCAA Tournament teams.
Paulsen, a 1987 Williams graduate and a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, has coached at every level of college basketball during the past two decades and is considered a highly sought-after consultant on the principles of the motion offense.
Prior to Bucknell, Paulsen guided Williams College to a 170-53 (.762) record in his eight seasons, where the Ephs captured the 2003 national championship and were the national runner-up in 2004. Paulsen was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Coach of the Year in both 2003 and 2004; his teams won three NESCAC championships (2003, 2004, 2007) and made four NCAA Tournament appearances (2002, 2003, 2004, 2007). He was a three-time NESCAC Coach of the Year and two-time New England Coach of the Year.
Prior to his tenure at Williams, Paulsen served as head coach at Le Moyne and at St. Lawrence, where the Saints made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, and he was twice named the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year.
From 1990-94, Paulsen was the senior assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Cleveland State, helping the Vikings to a 22-6 record (15-1 Mid-Continent Conference) in 1992-93.
In 1989-90, Paulsen served as the graduate assistant coach on Steve Fisher’s staff at Michigan. Paulsen was part of a Wolverines program that went 23-8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and he had the opportunity to coach six players who would later become NBA draft picks.
Paulsen graduated from Williams College cum laude with departmental honors in history and completed his master’s degree in history at Michigan. He was also a member of the Ephs’ varsity basketball team. In 1987, his squad captured the ECAC New England Division III championship.
Paulsen and his wife, Kathy, have three daughters: Claire (25), Sara (21) and Molly (18).
