LONDON, Ont. - Former Western Mustangs co-captain Nat Graham will be coaching with the Cornell Big Red tonight, March 25, in their Sweet 16 NCAA men's basketball matchup with the No. 1 seed Kentucky Wildcats (approx. 10 p.m., The Score, CBS). 

Graham, Cornell’s assistant coach who played varsity basketball at Western from 1997-1999 and was twice a co-captain with the Mustangs, and the Big Red are currently preparing for tonight’s game, being played in Syracuse, N.Y., just hours from their campus in Upstate New York, as Cornell (29-4) faces the Wildcats (34-2). 

Graham was recruited by former Western head coach Craig Boydell after he had a conversation with Fran O’Hanlon at Lafayette College about another player. 

"As the conversation was tying up, he mentioned another guy I might really be interested named Nat Graham and he referred me to coach Steve Donahue who was then an assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania," Boydell said. "Nat had played at Penn for almost three years but had decided to move on. The more I learned about Nat, the more impressed I was; and he became a very top priority recruit."

In 1997, Graham decided to attend Western, and wore the purple and white in 1997-98 and 1998-99. He was a co-captain twice - once with Jon Dingle and once with Micah Bourdeau - and also played with other Western notables including Jimmy Grozelle, Chedo Ndur, Chris Brown and current Mustangs men's head coach Brad Campbell along with men's assistant coach Matt Tweedie and current Mustangs women’s head coach Stephan Barrie.

"One of the things that strikes me from these two years is the number of people who have continued on as coaches either full time or part time in the community," Boydell said. 

Graham joined Cornell head coach Donahue, who has been coaching the Big Red for the past 10 years and has brought them gradually into national prominence with a trio of consecutive appearances in the 64-team NCAA Tournament, and has been beside him on the bench for all three national tournaments.

"But now that process has become a  flash as the Big Red exploded into the Sweet 16 with upsets in Round 1," Boydell said. "This one has been special indeed as the Bid Red coming in as the No. 12 seed have manhandled, more like precision cut, two highly seeded opponents in Temple and Wisconsin."

A win tonight over the heavily favoured Wildcats would be a bracket-buster for many March Madness followers.

"These have to be two highly rated coaching clinics,  as those two games, in particular the one against Wisconsin, where they beat the highly favoured Badgers by 18, were seen by many as coaching masterpieces which the players executed to perfection," Boydell added. "Whether the beat goes on from here or not Nat Graham is savouring the experience and sure to make the most of it."

Former teammate Barrie said it has "been great to see Nat move up the coaching ladder at Cornell." 
"He started as a volunteer assistant and this year moved into the first assistant position," Barrie said. "Cornell has become a tremendous program and Nat has a lot to do with that."

Graham was a first team OUA West All-Star in both of his years and an All-Canadian in his final year when the Mustangs competed at the National Championships in Halifax. He also served as an assistant coach for Boydell and helped run Western's summer camps before heading back down to the U.S to pursue coaching opportunities.