Cornell Daily Sun Covers the Return of Kevin App

Guess who’s back: Kevin App ’07 (pictured above in a game against Dartmouth on March 3, 2007) will replace Zach Spiker as assistant coach of the defending Ivy League champion men’s basketball team.

Kevin App ’07 Returns to Help Coach Men’s B-Ball

By Alex Kuczynski-Brown
Cornell Daily Sun
November 4, 2009

Less than three years after graduating from Cornell in 2007, Kevin App has returned to the Hill ready to once again imprint his mark on Cornell athletics –– accepting the position of assistant coach of the men’s basketball team. App, who served as a tri-captain his senior year, graduated with a degree in civil engineering and spent one year working as project manager for a construction company in Bethesda, Md. Upon realizing that he missed being around basketball, App, with the help of Cornell men’s basketball head coach Steve Donahue, secured a position as assistant coach at Williams College for the 2008-09 season. However, after former Cornell assistant coach Zach Spiker accepted a job at Army, Donahue contacted App about rejoining the Red as a member of the coaching staff.

“It really wasn’t a question to come back to my alma mater,” App said. “Once I decided to get into coaching, it was kind of a goal of mine to come back to Cornell, and hopefully give back to it as much as it gave to my experience.”

A freshman walk-on, App was a four-year letter winner and played in 45 career games with one start. Although he saw limited playing time, App nevertheless had a tangible impact on his Cornell teammates, earning the Rebounder’s Club Award to recognize his hard work and leadership during his tenure with the Red.

“Making the team ... and playing four years really added to my experience at Cornell, for the better. ... Being a walk-on, I didn’t expect to always play, and I was just excited to be playing Division 1 college basketball,” App said. “I really did whatever I could to help the team ... whether it was teaching the younger guys, helping out [with] recruiting, or running our scout team during practice.”

While at Williams, App worked under head coach Mike Maker –– a close friend of Donahue’s –– and helped the Ephs to a 17-9 overall record and the program’s first Little Three title since 1996.

“Williams was unbelievable ... Coach Maker couldn’t have been a better guy to work for my first year,” App said. “[He] really gave me a lot of responsibility, on the court and in the office. In one year he helped me learn a lot about what college coaching is all about.”

App hopes his experience as a former student-athlete on the Red will aid him in relating to the current players –– some of whom were his teammates during the 2006-07 season.

“The seniors now were freshmen when I was a senior, and for them I think our relationship is pretty similar to what it was when I was here as a player,” App said. “Being a senior captain, and them being freshmen, they played a lot that year, and I was just kind of trying to help them along. ... Now, as an assistant [coach], when they’re the experienced seniors, [it’s] pretty similar –– [me] just trying to point out little things I see.”

As far as the younger members of the team go, App intends to teach them what being a member of Cornell basketball is all about; after all, his Red campaign coincided with what App calls “the bridge” between where the team was, to where it is now.

“I was here during that transition period, and I can kind of convey to them how to keep it at the level it’s at now,” App said.

Off the court, the newest addition to the Red also hopes to communicate to prospective recruits and their parents how much he enjoyed his experience at Cornell –– both as a student and a student-athlete.

When asked to identify where the team could stand to improve at this stage of the preseason, App said, “I think the scout team needs a point guard,” adding, with a laugh, “Naw, that just used to be what I did.”