Seth Towns ’20 – a former standout for the Crimson and the 2017-18 Ivy League Player of the Year – returned to Harvard University Men’s Basketball as an assistant coach ahead of the 2024-25 season and enters his second season as a coach with the program in 2025-26.
Towns helped guide Robert Hinton ’28 to Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors during the 2024-25 season, marking the second straight year in which the Crimson captured the conference’s rookie of the year award. Harvard closed the year with a 5-2 mark in the second half of Ivy League play, finishing the year with a 7-7 Ivy record, standing as its best conference mark since 2019-20. Evan Nelson ’25 also gained a spot on the inaugural Allstate NACDA Winter Good Works Team.
Over a collegiate playing career that spanned eight years in which he made multiple comebacks from injuries, Towns provided an immediate impact for the Crimson during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, including earning AP Honorable Mention All-America honors and Ivy League Player of the Year accolades as a sophomore. After missing the 2018-20 seasons due to injury, Towns continued his playing career at Ohio State (2020-22) and Howard (2023-24).
One of the most decorated student-athletes in program history, Towns became just the fourth player in Harvard history to earn AP All-America honors and – at the time – became just the third sophomore to win the Ivy League Player of the Year award. In 2017-18, Towns also captured Lou Henson All-America, First Team All-Ivy, First Team USBWA All-District, First Team NABC All-District, and Ivy League Tournament All-Tournament Team honors after a season in which he posted 16.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 44.1 percent from 3-point distance.
Following his graduation from Harvard, Towns returned to his home state to compete for Ohio State, helping the Buckeyes reach the NCAA tournament in 2021 and 2022. Towns closed his collegiate playing career at Howard, leading the Bison to March Madness in 2024. He tallied 14.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game for Howard in his final season.
