POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Associate Head Coach Dalip Bhatia of the Marist University men's basketball team was named to the 100 Most Impactful Mid-Major Assistants List by Silver Waves Media.
 
Bhatia is recognized as a trailblazer within the college basketball community as the first Division I men's basketball assistant and associate head coach of Indian descent in NCAA history. He is in his eighth season at Marist, and his second as Associate Head Coach.
 
Bhatia is involved in all facets of the program. He leads the program's recruiting efforts while having a significant role in game planning, advance scouting, and on-the-floor coaching. He is also in charge of non-conference scheduling and all the program's compliance matters.
 
Bhatia joined the Marist staff for the 2018-19 season. He rose to the program's top assistant within four years, and was promoted to Associate Head Coach in the summer of 2024. During this time, the program has made significant gains:
 

• Marist won 20 games in the 2024-25 season, which was fifth 20-win season in program history and the first in 18 years.
• Marist has finished third in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference the past two seasons. These were the best regular-season finishes the program has had in nearly two decades.
• In 2022-23, Marist made the MAAC championship game for the first time in program history. It was the program's first championship game appearance in any conference in 31 years.
• Marist's winning season in 2020-21 was its first in 13 years.

 
In the summer of 2020, Bhatia was ranked #1 in a poll of MAAC assistants conducted by Jeff Goodman for WatchStadium.com.
 
Bhatia has worked under head coach John Dunne in all eight seasons at Marist, and 14 years total. He previously worked for Dunne in two stints at Saint Peter's, from 2008-13 and the 2017-18 season. Saint Peter's won the MAAC championship in 2011, and finished second in the country in field goal percentage defense in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
 
From 2013-16, Bhatia worked at his alma mater, Rutgers University, under former NBA head coach Eddie Jordan. He was Director of Basketball Operations from 2013-15, and served as an assistant coach in the 2015-16 season. Bhatia's start in college coaching came at Kean University, where he worked as an assistant coach in the 2007-08 season.