Worcester Polytechnic Institute

NEWMAC Coach of the Year 2003-04, 2004-05, 2007-08, 2010-11, 2012-13, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2024-25
NABC District 2 Coach of the Year 2024-25

Chris Bartley enters his 25th season as the head coach of the men’s basketball program in 2025-2026. He begins the season with a 463-166 record (.736). 

Coach Bartley holds the status of the winningest coach in WPI history and is now 10th all-time in NCAA Division III winning percentage and fifth among active coaches after the 2024-25 campaign. The Engineers claimed their fourth-consecutive and 13th overall NEWMAC regular season title before earning an at-large bid for the program's 13th NCAA Tournament appearance under the direction of Coach Bartley as he guided the Crimson and Gray to a 26-4 overall record with a 15-1 mark in NEWMAC play, marking the most conference wins in a season in conference history. The Engineers boasted the 2024-25 NEWMAC Men's Basketball Athlete of the Year, Aidan Callahan, and the Defensive Player of the Year, J.R. Newman, along with Tim Reidy as an All-NEWMAC First Team selection and Brett Marelli who was named to the All-NEWMAC Second Team. Callahan and Reidy drew regional praise from NABC as District 2 First and Second Team honorees respectively as senior captain Callahan doubled up with honors from D3hoops.com Region 2 First Team. Rounding out the player accolades was Callahan who was selected to the NABC NCAA Division III College All-Star Game in Fort Wayne, before being named to the NABC All-America Second Team and the D3hoops.com All-America Fifth Team. Coach Bartley and his staff were voted on as the NEWMAC Men's Basketball Coaching Staff of the Year as Chris Bartley then added on the NABC District 2 Coach of the Year honor following the 2024-25 campaign. 

The Engineers posted a 21-5 record with a 14-2 mark in NEWMAC play as they won the Ted Coghlin Tournament with victories over then nationally-ranked Williams and Saint Joseph's (ME) followed by another title at the Bridgewater State Tournament as they defeated Johnson & Wales and the hosting Bears. WPI captured its ninth outright title and 12th overall regular season championship in 2023-2024 as John Adams and Donovan Sevilla claimed NEWMAC Player and Defensive Player of the Year awards respectively in addition to Aidan Callahan earning the nod to the All-NEWMAC second team. Sevilla collected NABC District 2 second team honors as Adams was tabbed to the District 2 first team and D3hoops.com Region 2 first team before claiming All-America status on the NABC Division III All-America third team. Off the court, Adams and Sevilla garnered CSC Academic All-District laurels and Adams went on to secure his second-consecutive CSC Academic All-America selection. 

Following the 2023-2024 season, WPI enjoyed an international trip Belgium where the team swept the international competition (3-0) with wins over BC Oostende, Leuven Bears Academy and the Mechelen Kangaroos. The Engineers ventured to three cities in Belgium: Mechelen, Brugge and Brussels, in addition to stops in Paris (France), Cologne (Germany) and Amsterdam (Capital of the Netherlands). 

WPI finished the 2022-2023 stint 22-4 and 13-1 in league action en route to earning the regular season title. The Engineers rattled off multiple win streaks throughout the season with an unblemished 5-0 start in November, another eight consecutive in the month of January and another six-game stretch to close the regular season and up until the championship contest before being derailed to Babson in the championship. John Lowther and John Adams claimed postseason All-NEWMAC first team honors as Aidan Callahan collected second team praise. Additionally, Coach Bartley and his staff were named the Men's Basketball Coaching Staff of the Year, which would be the seventh overall coaching accolade from the NEWMAC for Chris Bartley. Lowther garnered regional praise from the NABC on the District 2 first team and D3hoops.com Region 2 second team as Adams was listed to the D3hoops.com Region 2 second team. Off the court, Adams was named to the CSC Academic All-America third team, the program earned the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award as Ben Sseruwagi, Austin Zhou, Reese Swedberg, Andrew Lufkin, Donovan Sevilla and Adams earned Honors Court praise.

2021-2022 proved to be a year for the record books for head coach Chris Bartley and the men’s basketball program as they captured the NEWMAC regular season title and tournament championship for the first time since 2013. The Engineers earned the program’s 14th trip to the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball tournament advancing to the sectional final for the first time since 1985 ending with a 27-3 record including a perfect 15-0 in Harrington Auditorium.

Coach Bartley’s crew compiled many postseason accolades including John Lowther, the 2022 NEWMAC Men’s Basketball Tournament MVP, and John Adams, D3hoops.com’s National Rookie of the Year, earning All-NEWMAC first team alongside Colin McNamara with second team recognition. Lowther and Adams brought in regional praise from D3hoops and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) along with additional honors from the NABC for the Team Academic Excellence award and Austin Zhou, Ben Sseruwagi, McNamara, and Kahleb Downing were selected to the Honors Court.

Following the 2021-2022 season, Chris Bartley was inducted to the 38th Class of the WPI Athletics Hall of Fame (Class of 2020, 2021, 2022) as the winningest coach in school history with 394 victories and a .720 winning percentage.

In 2019, the Engineers posted a 20-8 season and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after the team advanced to the NEWMAC tournament championship game for the third straight season.

The winningest coach in WPI history, Bartley is 13th all-time in NCAA Division III winning % and 12th among active coaches. He has built WPI into one of the top NCAA Division III programs in the country leading the Engineers to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, 12 NEWMAC regular season championships, four NEWMAC conference tournament championships (2005, 2006, 2013 & 2022), and an ECAC championship (2012). The Engineers have won 20+ games in 17 of the past 20 seasons—a remarkable display of consistency. He took over the program in 2001 after WPI had lost 27 consecutive games, and in just his third season led WPI to a 20-win season and the school’s first of nine NEWMAC regular season titles. 

Bartley, a seven-time NEWMAC Coach of the Year was named the Glenn Robinson National Coach of the Year in 2013 when he led the program to a record 22 consecutive victories, NEWMAC regular season, and NEWMAC tournament championships. In 2020, he received the Worcester Area College Basketball Association Coach of the Year award.  WPI has been a fixture in the top 25 national rankings by D3hoops.com including as high as No. 2 in 2013 and No. 3 in 2014. 

Coach Bartley has developed some of the top performers in WPI and NEWMAC history. Ryan Cain won the prestigious Jostens Award in 2007 as the top Division III student-athlete in men’s basketball nationally.  Cain also garnered All-American and All-New England accolades and was the NEWMAC Player of the Year in 2005 and 2007 and Rookie of the Year in 2004. He is the school’s all-time leading scorer.  Other NEWMAC Players of the Year include Mike Prestileo in 2004, Antoine Coleman in 2008, and Jeff Robinson in 2011.  Coleman and Robinson were All-American selections along with 2015 graduate Sam Longwell, the fourth all-time scorer on the hill. Matt Carr was named an Academic All-America selection in 2011 and 2012 (first team). John Lowther was named 2019-20 NEWMAC Rookie of the Year. Antoine Coleman '08 and Ryan Cain '07 were named to the Men's Basketball 25 Year All-NEWMAC team in 2023. John Adams was named the 2021-2022 D3hoops.com Rookie of the Year, a repeat CSC Academic All-America selection (22-23, 23-24) and 2023-2024 NABC All-America third team. Adams was named NEWMAC Player of the Year in addition to Donovan Sevilla who was named the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2023-2024. 

Constructing quality programs has been a trademark for Bartley as all three colleges he has coached earned the Most Improved Team in New England Award from the New England Basketball Coaches Association within three years of his arrival (WPI 2004, Babson 2000 and Wentworth 1996).  Previous to WPI, he played a major role in building programs at Babson and Wentworth.  He also served a stint as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II power Saint Anselm College.   

A graduate of UMass-Lowell, Bartley was a successful head coach at Medford High School from 1997-1999, posting an impressive 41-5 record and winning two Greater Boston League Championships.  He earned recognition as the Boston Globe’s Division I Coach of the Year in 1998 when he led his team to the North Sectional title and a trip to the Boston Garden for the State Semifinals.

Bartley and his program are involved in numerous community service projects including a long-time partnership with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization of Central Massachusetts and Team IMPACT.  In April of 2008, Bartley received the Denise Nicoletti Trustees’ Award for Service to Community during the university’s annual Honors Convocation.  Established in 2003, it is presented to a member of the faculty or staff in recognition of passion and action in serving the needs of the community in Professor Nicoletti’s honor.  In 2005 Coach Bartley and his team were honored with the Edwin B. Coghlin ’23 Award for Community Service by WPI.