{"id":23775,"date":"2021-05-24T22:01:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T02:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2021\/05\/25\/necc-launched-his-career-as-a-coach-and-athletic-director\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:21:14","slug":"necc-launched-his-career-as-a-coach-and-athletic-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/05\/24\/necc-launched-his-career-as-a-coach-and-athletic-director\/","title":{"rendered":"NECC Launched His Career as a Coach and Athletic Director"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

NECC Basketball Coach Darren Stratton and Sercan Fenerci, who played for the Knights before graduating in 2004.<\/p><\/div>\n

When Sercan Fenerci \u201904, was 20 years old, he slipped a note under the office door of Darren Stratton, the men’s head basketball<\/a> coach at Northern Essex Community College, that read, “I’m a 6’7″ Turkish guy looking to play basketball.”<\/p>\n

Little did he know that the note would help change the trajectory of his life forever.<\/p>\n

He was soon playing basketball for the Knights, as they advanced to the regional finals, earning him recognition as player of the region.<\/p>\n

He was also set on a path that led him to graduating from NECC in 2004; to getting a full scholarship to Angelo State University in Texas, where he continued to play basketball; to earning a master’s degree from Southern New Hampshire University; to becoming assistant athletic director at Bunker Hill Community College and to founding the professional basketball team the Providence Pirates, of which he’s president and CEO.<\/p>\n

Fenerci’s accomplishments are almost too many to list\u2014 Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year; Wheelock College coach of the year; national team coach for the Turkish Basketball federation; and head boys basketball coach for Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, just to name a few\u2014and many of them started at NECC.<\/p>\n

“The lifetime experience I had at Northern Essex helped me grow as a person,” he says.<\/p>\n

Fenerci moved to the United States at the age of 19 and spent a year taking English-language classes before setting his sights on college. At NECC, he made friends, found a supportive community, and had valuable guidance in navigating a new campus, a new country, and the college transfer process.<\/p>\n

In fact, when asked to sum up his experience at NECC, Fenerci does it in one word: Family. He even grew to consider Coach Stratton a father figure.<\/p>\n

“To me, it’s a very family-oriented college that a lot of students can benefit from,” he says. “I believe in the community college system, not because I work in it, but because I came from it, I’ve lived it.”<\/p>\n

Learn more about NECC athletic opportunities.<\/a><\/p>\n

Learn more about becoming an international student at NECC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story was written by Alexandra Pecci, \u201902<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sercan Fenerci is now assistant athletics director at Bunker Hill CC and president and CEO of the Providence Pirates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[55,85,145],"class_list":["post-23775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","tag-alumni","tag-basketball","tag-class-of-04"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNECC Launched His Career as a Coach and Athletic Director - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/05\/24\/necc-launched-his-career-as-a-coach-and-athletic-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NECC Launched His Career as a Coach and Athletic Director - 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