New Highlands coach Zach Settembre shares his vision for the Cowboys and stories from his basketball journey

He’s been a team manager for Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, an assistant coach under Billy Gillispie at Tarleton State, and got his first college basketball head coaching job at age 27. Now, Zach Settembre is in the Land of Enchantment looking to make his mark as the new men’s basketball coach at New Mexico Highlands.  Settembre, 34, was hired as coach of the Cowboys on April 8 and has been busy trying to build a roster for the 2025-26 season. The Louisville, Ky., native took some time Tuesday to chat with Santa Fe New Mexican sports writers Will Webber and James Barron to discuss his career path, his vision for the Highlands program, and what it’s like coaching across different levels of college basketball in today’s NIL landscape. Settembre shares the story of playing with legendary coach Rick Pitino’s youngest son, Ryan, while attending middle school in Louisville. He also talks about what it was like to be around Boeheim and future NBA players at Syracuse. Settembre got his first college head coaching job at Tallahassee Community College at age 27. He talks about the valuable experience he gained from that opportunity, and from his other coaching stops.  No stranger to New Mexico, Settembre discusses what he learned about the passion the state’s fans have for basketball while he was an assistant at New Mexico State University. He also talks about what he thinks it will take to build a winning program at Highlands, and the type of players he’s looking to recruit.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.