Castleton

Spartans

Paul Culpo completed his 11th season at the helm of the Spartan during the 2024-25 season, seeing an overall record of 4-20, 3-13 in conference play, narrowly missing out on the LEC Tournament. 

The 2023-24 Spartans under Culpo had an overall record of 7-18 and a conference record of 3-13.

The 2022-23 Spartans earned a record of 3-21.

The 2021-22 squad under Culpo had a 5-21 record.

In their second season in the Little East, the 2019-20 squad led by Culpo earned a record of 4-21 overall, and earned their first three conference wins finishing with a conference record of 3-13.

The 2018-19 season was the first season for the Spartans in the Little East Conference, Culpo led the team to a record of 3-22.

The 2017-18 season ended at 9-9 within the league and 12-14 overall for the Spartans, who battled Colby-Sawyer into double overtime before losing in the quarterfinals of the NAC Tournament, 99-95. Pavin Parrish capped his career by being named NAC Men's Basketball Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Google Cloud Third Team Academic All-America. 

In 2016-17, Castleton jumped out to a 9-2 overall record, including the tournament title at the Lehman Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. The Spartans eventually finished 16-9 overall, including 11-7 within the NAC that put Castleton in a tie for second place in the regular season standings and into the NAC Tournament semifinals. Chad Copeland completed his Castleton career with First Team All-NAC honors.

In 2015-16, the Spartans finished with a 9-17 record and 8-10 mark in conference play.

In the 2014-15 season, Culpo’s team finished with a 14-13 record and advanced to the North Atlantic Conference Semifinals once again. The Spartans fell in double overtime to the eventual conference champions, but Culpo did help freshman Pavin Parrish earn NAC Rookie of the Year honors.

During the 2013-14 season Culpo and the Spartans set a new precedent for scoring as the team scored at least 130 points on four occasions and finished the year second in the nation with 97.5 points per game. Castleton went 19-9 overall after falling to Maine Farmington in the NAC Semifinals and then Endicott in the ECAC Quarterfinals. For the second straight year Culpo had two players earn first-team all-conference honors and a third named to the second team. The team also finished the year ranked second nationally in steals (12.3), 3rd in three-point field goals (11.0), fourth in assists (18.0), fifth in defensive rebounds (29.2) and eighth in offensive rebounds (15.7).

In 2012-13, Culpo led the Spartans to a 17-13 record and faced five teams that were nationally ranked at one point during the year. Castleton reached the NAC Championship game for the third time in Culpo's four seasons and also advanced to the semifinals of the ECAC New England Division III Championship. His team ranked 22nd in the nation in scoring and seventh in three-point field goals per game. Culpo also had a pair of players earn first-team all-conference honors.

The Spartans captured their first-ever North Atlantic Conference Championship during the 2011-12 season and earned the program’s second trip to the NCAA Division III National Tournament. In the tournament, Culpo’s squad lost to the eventual national runner-up, Cabrini. The team finished the year ranked second in the NCAA in points per game (92.8) and three-pointers per game (13.6), as well as ranking seventh in assists per game (18.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (5.9). Two players earned all-conference honors, including Player of the Year, Mark Comstock. Culpo was also named NAC Coach of the Year for the second time in his three seasons at Castleton. 

Culpo led the Spartans to a 15-12 regular season mark during the 2010-11 season. The team once again earned a win in the NAC Tournament, beating the University of Maine-Farmington in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals the Spartans nearly scored an upset of No. 1 seed Husson, before falling 75-73. Culpo had a pair of players named second-team all-conference. 

Culpo took over a program in 2009 which had won two games the previous season and hadn’t reached the semifinals of the North Atlantic Conference Tournament in four years. In his first season the team finished with a 10-4 record in NAC play and a 17-10 overall mark. The Spartans received a bye into the semifinals and took down Thomas before falling to Husson in the finals. For his efforts, Culpo was named the NAC Coach of the Year and had one played named first-team all-conference.

Prior to coming to Castleton, Culpo spent six seasons at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. While at Hartwick, Culpo took over a struggling program and brought the team back to respectability in the ultra-competitive Empire 8 Conference. Culpo’s efforts culminated with a 15-12 season in 2008-09 and an ECAC Upstate Championship, the first in the program’s history.

Culpo has coached at all levels of basketball, including a stint coaching a professional team in Europe, and stops at Division I UMass-Amherst, and Division II Saint Michael’s College.

Prior to Hartwick, Culpo spent two years as a member of the UMass-Amherst coaching staff, working under Head Coach Steve Lappas. While at UMass-Amherst, he assisted with the marketing, production and operations of the Steve Lappas Basketball School. He was also charged with the day-to-day directing of the men’s basketball coaches’ office, including film exchange, scouting reports, recruiting and travel budgets.

Before his time at UMass-Amherst, Culpo was the head coach of the Doncaster Panthers of the National Basketball League in England. He led the squad to a sixth-place finish in the 14-team professional league, and guided the Panthers to the NBL Playoffs.

Culpo spent three years as an assistant at Saint Michael’s, before traveling overseas, helping the Purple Knights to three consecutive post-season appearances. Culpo led much of the recruiting efforts that produced an NCAA Tournament bid and a 25-9 record 1999, and an ECAC Division II Title in 2000 as the team finished 20-9.  

Culpo cut his teeth in the collegiate coaching ranks with some of the legendary names in the game. In 1995-96, he was an assistant coach at Genesee Community College (Batavia, N.Y.) under Bill Van Gundy, the father of NBA head coaches Jeff Van Gundy (NY Knicks and Houston Rockets) and former Castleton head coach Stan Van Gundy (Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons). That team posted a 28-4 record and was ranked as high as 16th in the nation in the NJCAA poll.

At UMass-Boston Culpo served as an assistant under longtime coach Charlie Titus, and helped the Beacons advance to the ECAC tournament.

Culpo graduated cum laude from St. Michael's with a bachelor of arts in American studies, and earned a master's degree in creative and critical thinking in education from UMass-Boston in 1996.

Culpo and his wife Kathleen have three children; son Jac, currently a student at Castleton, and daughters Theresa and Helen.