Garden City parts ways with Head Coach Patrick Nee

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-The Garden City Community College Athletic Department announced on Friday that they have parted ways with men's basketball coach, Patrick Nee. Assistant, Silas Mills, will take over as the Interim Coach.

"I appreciate the incredible effort Coach Nee put into Broncbuster basketball over the past three years," Director of Athletics, Greg McVey said. "Patrick is a quality person, and I wish he and his family all the best in the future."

After replacing Brady Trenkle in 2018, Garden City underachieved in two seasons under Nee. The Broncbusters were a combined 22-40 (.354) with a pair of opening-round exits in the Region VI Tournament. This year, Garden City finished 9-22, recording their fewest wins in a season since 1993 under Kent Davidson (7-22). They won only two games the final three months, losing 18 out of their final 20 contests.

Before taking over the program, Nee spent one season as an assistant under Trenkle, helping Garden City reach the Region VI semifinals in 2017. That year, the Broncbusters set the school record for made 3's in a season with 262.

"Garden City has a lot of rich tradition with it's basketball programs," McVey said. "We are looking for our next coach to add to that tradition by getting the program back to its winning ways, on the court, in the classroom and around the community."

Mills, who was hired in July as Nee's top assistant, will lead the program while the college conducts a national search for a permanent replacement. Mills arrived in Garden City after six years as an assistant coach at Salt Lake Community College. There, the Bruins compiled a record of 154-44, winning 78 percent of their games. In 2016, they knocked off Hutchinson as the No. 13 seed to win the program's second national title. He worked under Todd Phillips, who is now an assistant coach at Utah Valley University.