Your college years are said to be the best years of your life, and fortunately for Seahawk Nation, former UNC-Wilmington basketball star Chad Tomko, he decided to rejoin the party.

Tomko is back on campus this semester to take one more class and earn his degree in psychology. However, the decision to return to UNCW is not only beneficial to Tomko. Men’s basketball coach Buzz Peterson has brought Tomko onto his staff as a graduate assistant coach for the remainder of the season, in hopes that he can practice with the team and dish out some of his basketball knowledge.

Tomko, 23, left the UNCW program last year after four stellar seasons. A strong team leader, he also finished with key career marks ranking in the top five in school history in points scored, assists and steals.

The Seahawks have one of the youngest teams in the CAA this year, so having a former player with Tomko’s experience and knowledge of the game could be critical to the development of the team.

“He’s valuable,” Peterson said. “He’s been around and talking to them a lot. He gives us valuable experience. He likes to sit in the meetings and talk to us about the game. He can really help the young guys around here.”

Although the teams that Tomko played for throughout his career were up and down, his play was steady and consistent. He hit the ground running his freshman year when he made the CAA All-Rookie team. Tomko believes he can teach the young players how to take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to them.

“Just don’t take stuff for granted,” Tomko said. “They need to play hard every moment, every second. They have a lot of guys that can play, so if somebody isn’t getting the job done, Buzz can just get somebody off the bench to take their spot.”

Even though the team has gone through growing pains at times this year, they are headed in the right direction. “With (redshirt forward) Luke Hager coming in next year, he’s going to be a stud,” Tomko said. “If the guys stay together, learn how to play with each other and know their roles, they’ll be good and they’ll win.”

But although Tomko is shedding insight on the young Seahawks this year, he is also soaking up valuable coaching experience. His goal is to become a coach once his playing days are over. Being a graduate assistant will also help Tomko train for his upcoming season in Germany in May.

“Hopefully it will be good having Buzz in my back pocket,” Tomko said. “He knows a lot of people, and that’s a big advantage. We’ll just see how it goes, but I’d love to be back here coaching. I mean, why not coach at your alma mater?”