Charlotte native David Belfield was named the 18th Head Men's Basketball Coach in the history of Belmont Abbey College on June 16. He comes to The Abbey after three years as an assistant coach at the United States Military Academy (Army West Point).
During his tenure at Army, he helped the Knights to 26 Patriot League wins, the most-ever in a three-year span. The teams combined for a 42-41 overall record during that time, earning their third winning season in 35 years in 2020-21. The Knights also finished .500 or better each year in league play, occurring for the first time in school history. Working primarily with the defensive game plan, Belfield recruited six student-athletes from the Southeast over the last two years.
"Having conducted an exhaustive and inclusive evaluation of the merits of all applicants, we are thrilled to name David Belfield as Head Coach of Belmont Abbey College's Men's Basketball Program," Vice President and Director of Athletics Miss said at his hiring. "Without question, Coach Belfield's alignment with The Abbey's identity, mission, and values as well as with our implementation model elevated his candidacy and deeply impressed all involved in our search process.
"Evident from the outset, Coach Belfield's embrace of our charge to Educate Champions: Body, Mind, and Soul will serve our students well. His focus and prioritization on better enabling each and every student to realize his full potential as a whole person will increase significantly the likelihood of individual and collective success on and away from the court. We are very excited to work alongside David to realize our collective vision of building upon a strong foundation to ensure we remain perennially relevant on the national stage in the sport of men's basketball."
A graduate of Charlotte Catholic High School, Belfield earned his first coaching position in 2018 at UNC-Charlotte, where he assisted in all aspects of the program including scouting, player development, recruiting and team travel.
Belfield played collegiately for two seasons at USC-Aiken, before moving into a student-assistant coaching role with the Pacers. During his time on the bench, USC-A tripled its win total from six in 2015-16 to 18 the following year. He earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 2018.
