Daimon Beathea

Daimon Beathea, president and head coach of the Elkhart Express, is a man living a dream. He successfully brought professional basketball to his hometown in 2006 and at the same time developed Daimon's Kids, a non-profit organization designed to work with the children of Elkhart.

Beathea began his basketball career at Elkhart's Memorial High School where he soon became a dominant force. During the fall semester of is senior year, he signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Michigan State University. After red-shirting his freshman year, Beathea went on to have a very successful college career. He was named MSU Defensive Player of the Year and graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications.

After graduating from Michigan State, Beathea played pro ball in the American Basketball Association and for a number of teams in Europe and South America. In 2002, Beathea began his coaching career at the college level. In 2006, he obtained a franchise in the new International Basketball League and created the Express.

Ramsey Nichols

Assistant Coach

An impressive record of wins and awards as a basketball coach makes Ramsey Nichols a perfect match for the Elkhart Express.

Nichols has a bachelor’s degree from University of Detroit and serves as Social Studies teacher, Boys Head Varsity Coach and Boys Cross Country Coach at Benton Harbor High School, Mich. From 1998-2000, he was Athletic/Phys. Ed./Health Director/Assistant Principal at Wayne State University Public School, Detroit, where he created and implemented the school’s first athletic program and managing the 11-member Health/Phys. Ed. department.

Among his numerous awards and accomplishments, Nichols won the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) Overall Coach of the Year, Class A Coach of the Year and Region 5 Coach of the Year in 2005. He also coached Team Michigan in the Indiana Sportsfest and coached the West All Stars in the BACM East/West All Star Game.

Nichols holds memberships in the BCAM, National High School Coaches Association and the Black Coaches Association.

William Coatie

Assistant Coach

After coaching youth sports for eight years, William Coatie has moved up to coaching pro basketball with the Elkhart Express.

Coatie’s latest coaching assignment was Assistant Girls Basketball Coach at Dowagiac Union High School, Mich. He also served as 7th Grade Assistant Coach, 8th Grade Head Coach and Varsity and Intervarsity Girls Basketball Coach at Oregon-Davis High School in Hamlet, Ind.

From 2001-2004, Coatie coached the American Athletic Union National 8th Grade Boys in Orlando, Fla.; National 7th Grade Boys in Memphis, Tenn.; National 10th Grade Boys and National 11th Grade Girls in Bloomington, Ind.; and National 12th Grade Girls in Kingsport, Tenn.

Coatie is a graduate of New Castle Chrysler High School in New Castle, Ind., and Illinois Valley Community College, Oglesby, Ill.

Michael Johnson

Strength and Conditioning

Michael Johnson, a competitive weight lifter, is the strength and conditioning coach for the Express. Johnson graduated from Elkhart Memorial High School in 1985. The following year he began bodybuilding.

Johnson began winning body building contests in 1987, a year after he began the sport, when he took first place in the Teenage Body Building Classic. He has won a variety of contests since, including the 2001 Summer Bench Press Classic. In that contest he broke the Elkhart city bench press record by pressing 477.5 pounds in the 242 weight class.
Later that same year he set a record in the Indiana State Fair Bench Press Championship by pressing 480 lbs.

Johnson enjoys being a trainer. He said working with the members of the Express has been especially gratifying because all of the players have such great attitudes.

Scott Sassaman

Director of Scouting

The man charged with getting intelligence on the Express’ opponents has Elkhart and basketball in his blood.

Scott Sassaman, an industrial technology teacher at Elkhart Central, is the team’s director of scouting.

Sassaman was born and raised in Elkhart and graduated from Elkhart Central in 1993. He graduated from Purdue University in 1998 and returned to his hometown to teach at his former high school.

He also coaches at Elkhart Central. He started as assistant coach for the freshman boys basketball team and from 2000 to 2004 was the head coach of the freshman team. He served as an assistant coach for the Ancilla College basketball team for two years.

Sassaman is presently the junior varsity basketball coach at Central, as well as assistant girls track coach and head coach of the girls golf team.

Tom Brady

Physical Trainer

Shawn Randall

Game Day Operations

Ronald K. Downs , MD, FACS

Team physician for the Express is Ronald K. Downs, founder of The Centre P.C., the first comprehensive community-based plastic surgery practice in the Michiana area. Downs is board certified in plastic surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

He completed his plastic surgery training at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago and has practiced in the Elkhart area since 1992.

Downs and his wife Lain have been strong supporters of the Express since the beginning.

 

Elkhart Express -- Professional Basketball Action for Michiana!
Phone: (574) 522-9911 Fax: (574) 522-1791
56199 Parkway Ave., Elkhart, Indiana 46516
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