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Dave Klatsky enters his 11th season at Colgate in 2021-22. He was hired in May 2011 and has been an assistant under head coach Matt Langel since he began his tenure with the Raiders.
Klatsky oversees many facets of the program including recruiting, practice planning, scouting and game preparation. Klatsky has an expertise in basketball's advanced statistics and has helped keep Colgate on the forefront of efficient play. He is also the director of Colgate's Elite Prospect camp, where he is responsible for directing, planning, hiring staff, creating marketing material, recruiting campers, and organizing data.
Off the court, Klatsky is the host of Stat Chat, a podcast centered around how different programs use advanced statistics. Guests have included players and coaches from the NCAA, NBA, WNBA and Europe. He has also aided in the academic development of student-athletes, helping guide the Raiders to a 98% graduation rate with several All-Academic and Patriot League Academic Honor Roll student-athletes during his tenure.
Colgate in 2020-21 was also ranked in the top four nationally in the TIDES Brains and Diversity Study, which considered Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and Academic Progress Rates (APR) as reported by the NCAA for the selected men's and women's tournament teams. Also considered were the teams' GSR gaps between white and Black student-athletes and head coach demographics (race and gender).
Klatsky helped lead the Raiders to new heights once again in 2020-21, tying the program record for best single-season win percentage (.875) behind a 14-2 record and 11-1 conference mark. Colgate became the first team in Patriot League history to reach four straight championship games, where the Raiders knocked off Loyola 85-72 in the title game to advance to the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years. Colgate earned its highest seed ever in the Big Dance at No. 14, where the Raiders faced off with No. 3 Arkansas in the first round in Indianapolis.
Under Klatsky's guidance, Colgate in 2020-21 ranked among the nation's best in several statistical categories, including No. 1 overall in 3-point field goal defense (26.4%), No. 2 in scoring offense (85.2 ppg), No. 3 in 3-point field goal percentage (40.3), and No. 3 in assist-turnover ratio (1.6).
The Raiders in 2019-20 set program records for most overall wins (25) and league wins (14) on their way to their first-ever outright Patriot League regular season championship.
In his 10 seasons with the Raiders, Klatsky has assisted in the development of numerous professional basketball players, including most recently Will Rayman ’20, Francisco Amiel ’19, Jordan Swopshire ’18, Jordan Robertson ’18 and Sean O’Brien ’18. Others include Mike Venezia ’12, Mitch Rolls ’13, and Murphy Burnatowski ’13, Damon Sherman-Newsome '15, Ethan Jacobs '15, Alex Ramon '16 and Austin Tillotson ’16.
Klatsky during his tenure has helped mentor 20 All-League honorees, two Patriot League Players of the Year, two Defensive Players of the Year, two Rookies of the Year and over 30 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll members.
He was key in aiding in the development of Jordan Burns '21, who garnered Patriot League Player of the Year and NABC and USBWA All-District honors as a senior. Burns graduates as the only player in program history to rank in the top 10 in scoring, assists, and steals. Burns capped his Colgate career fifth all-time in scoring (1,666), first in assists (503), fifth in 3-point field goals made (238), and seventh in steals (145).
As a product of his success with student-athletes both on and off the court, Klatsky has been recognized both regionally and nationally. In 2020, Klatsky was voted by his peers as the No. 1 assistant coach in the Patriot League, according to a poll conducted by Stadium. He has also been recognized as a top 50 low major assistant coach by Silver Waves Media (2020) and was recently chosen for the prestigious Coaching Consortium put on by NABC and ADU at the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.
Colgate set program records for total wins in three consecutive seasons, going for 19, 24, and then 25 in 2019-20. The Raiders have finished in the top two in the Patriot League standings in five of the last seven years, including back-to-back first place tabs in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Even during the shortened season in 2020-21 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Colgate tied the program record for best single-season win percentage (.875) and 14-2.
The 2018-19 Raiders enjoyed one of their best seasons in program history. Colgate set school records at the time for total wins (24), league wins (13), and home victories (15) en route to their first Patriot League title since 1996. The Raiders earned the No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament and took second-seeded Tennessee to the brink in a 77-70 defeat.
Before joining the Raider staff, Klatsky spent four seasons as an assistant coach with Stevens Tech in Hoboken, NJ. In his four seasons, Klatsky helped guide the Ducks to an overall record of 76-35 and the school's only two ECAC Metro Championships. The Ducks earned their second ECAC Metro championship in his last season after finishing with a mark of 22-7. During his first season on the staff, Klatsky helped guide the Ducks to an overall record of 23-6. Stevens finished that year ranked fifth in the NCAA East Region and shared the Empire 8 regular-season title with Ithaca College. The team also went on to win its first-ever ECAC Metro Championship.
Prior to and during his stint at Stevens Tech, Klatsky worked in finance for Knight Capital Group. During his five years there, Klatsky was a market maker and was responsible for providing liquidity to customers and trading an average of three million shares per day.
A 2003 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Klatsky helped the Quakers men’s basketball team earn berths to the NCAA Tournament in three of his four seasons. An Ivy League Academic Scholar-Athlete award recipient in 2000-01, Klatsky set Penn’s single-season assist record that same season. He led the Ivy League in assist-to-turnover ratio his sophomore and junior seasons. Klatsky’s basketball career also includes a silver medal at the 2003 Jewish Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
Klatsky owns a Bachelor of Science degree in economics with dual concentration in finance and accounting from Penn’s Wharton School.
He married the former Abby Maguire, who was a First Team All-Big East field hockey player at Providence College. The couple resides in Hamilton with their sons, Harrison, Leo and William.
