Levell Leonard Sanders (born December 14, 1975) is an American professional basketball coach and former professional basketball player. He is currently the head coach for the

Binghamton Bearcats men's basketball The Binghamton Bearcats men's basketball team represents Binghamton University and is located in Vestal, New York. The team currently competes in the America East Conference and plays its home games at the Binghamton University Events Center. Sin ...

team.

Playing career

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, native, Sanders attended

Jamaica High School Jamaica High School was a four-year public high school in Jamaica, Queens, New York. It was operated by the New York City Department of Education. Jamaica High School was founded as the Union Free School in 1854, and located within a three-stor ...

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, before attending

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

from 1994 to 1998. After 113 career games played, he posted career game averages of 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals. He earned Second team All-BIG East honors as a senior. Following graduation, he got his first experience as a professional basketball player in the

USBL The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

, playing for the New Hampshire Thunder Loons. "I played one game in the USBL and that was in May after my senior season. I left for Europe in August", he said in an interview in April 2009. Sanders, a 6’3’’ guard, moved to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

where he would spend most of his playing career. From 1998 to 2000, he was a member of the Mlekarna Kunin club. In the 2000-01 campaign, he had stints with Ubizen Echo Hasselt of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and Unia Tarnow of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Afterwards, he went back to the Czech Republic. In 2002-03, he played for BK SCP Usti nad Labem, followed by a four-year stint at BK Decin. From 2007 to 2009, Sanders wore BK Pardubice colors and played for Mlekarna Miltra Novy Jicin in 2009-10. He returned to BK Decin, where he spent another three years, before rounding out his playing career with BK Pardubice in the 2013-14 season. Sanders earned numerous honors in his playing days, including

Eurobasket.com Eurobasket.com, also commonly referred to as "Eurobasket News", is a basketball-centered website that provides coverage of every professional and semi-professional club basketball league from around the world, as well as many amateur level lea ...

All-Czech Republic League Guard of the Year in 2007 as well as Eurobasket.com All-Czech Republic League First Team recognition in both 2006 and 2007.

Coaching career

Sanders began his coaching career as an assistant at BK Pardubice in 2014. In 2016, he was promoted to the head coaching job at the club. He was named Eurobasket.com All-Czech Republic League Coach of the Year in 2017. Sanders was a member of the Czech Republic U18 National Team coaching staff at the 2017 European Championships (Division B) in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. In June 2019, he was named an assistant coach at

Binghamton Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the con ...

. On March 1, 2021 Sanders was named as the Interim Head Coach at Binghamton for the 2021–22 season, replacing Tommy Dempsey. After leading the Bearcats to the most league wins since 2010, Sanders was named the permanent head coach at Binghamton, effective in February 2022.

Head coaching record

College

Personal life

He met his wife Pamela in the Czech Republic, in an interview in April 2018, he called the country "a place I call my second home". Sanders is the author of the book "A Guide to Playing Professional Basketball Overseas".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Levell 1975 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in the Czech Republic American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Point guards Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball players Binghamton Bearcats men's basketball coaches Basketball players from Brooklyn 20th-century American sportsmen