ALBANY — Jim Whitesell, who helped one State University of New York men’s basketball program reach national prominence, made the four-hour trip on the Thruway to assist another SUNY team trying to build a winner.

After eight years with the University at Buffalo, the past four as head coach, White-sell joined the staff of UAlbany coach Dwayne Killings this summer. UAlbany announced Whitesell’s hiring as assistant coach two weeks ago.

“When coach (Killings) called me, I was kind of like, ‘Interesting opportunity,’ and once I got a chance to meet him, I was really impressed, the young staff they had and his vision with the group,” Whitesell, 63, said. “So it’s been fun. I’ve really enjoyed it. Grateful to be here.”

Whitesell served as Buffalo’s associate head coach under Nate Oats from 2015 to 2019. During that time, the Bulls became one of the country’s best mid-major programs. They made three NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the second round twice.

After going 32-4 in 2018-19, Oats left to become head coach at Alabama. Buffalo elevated Whitesell to head coach, but he was unable to keep the Bulls at an elite level. While still respectable, Buffalo went 70-49, including 45-27 in the Mid-American Conference, during his four seasons and didn’t reach the NCAA Tournament.

Whitesell, an Iowa native, was fired March 11 after going 15-17 with a 9-9 MAC record last season.

“Loved the experience there,” Whitesell said. “Lot of great friends, and really proud of the work we did.”

Whitesell, who earned an annual base salary of $300,000, received a $500,000 buyout, according to the Buffalo News.

Whitesell said he wasn’t sure if he was going to coach anywhere this season until he got a phone call from Killings in late April. Killings, 42, saw an opportunity to add someone with 28 years of head coaching experience, including 11 at the Division I level. Whitesell had a 109-107 record over seven seasons at Loyola (Chicago) from 2004 to 2011.

“He’s got a lot of experience,” Killings said. “He’s been a head coach at two really good programs, Buffalo and Loyola of Chicago. He’s a really good person. He’s fun to be around. We met each other this summer and it feels like I’ve known him for a long time. I felt like to get where we want to go, we just needed somebody that had some experience, and we have a really good young staff.”

Whitesell joins a staff that includes assistants KJ Baptiste and Ryan Daly, assistant coach for operations Dan Madhavapallil and video coordinator Matt Cerruti, a UAlbany alum who rejoined the program this year. All four are younger than 30 years old.

Whitesell said his coaching duties will lean more toward the defensive end, where the Great Danes, who went 8-23 last season, were statistically one of the worst teams in the country. But Whitesell said he’s here to lend a hand wherever he’s needed.

He said he takes from his experiences working as an assistant under Rick Majerus at Saint Louis, Steve Lavin at St. John’s and Oats.

“Each one of them, the ask was a little bit different,” Whitesell said. “Which was great from my viewpoint and was interesting to me. Same thing here: ‘DK, what do you want me to do? Anything I can do to help.’ ”

Killings, entering his third season as a head coach, said he won’t hesitate to turn to Whitesell for in-game advice or even to draw up a play in the huddle.

“We had conversations this summer, and I said to our guys, ‘You have to throw out your ego to be a really good team,” Killings said. “There might be some things (Whitesell) might have seen that I never have and I’d be foolish not to turn to him and say, ‘What do you think? ‘ To get a win, if I have to hand the (white) board to him one time, so be it.”

Whitesell is selling his house in Buffalo. He and his wife, Connie, a business coach, are renting a home in Saratoga Springs. While Whitesell said he’s having fun working with his new team, sophomore forward Jonathan Beagle of Hudson Falls returned the sentiment.

“Bringing in coach Whitesell helps a lot, obviously,” Beagle said. “He’s an older guy, brings a new kind of energy to the team, so I think that helps a lot, for sure.”

ALBANY — The first month of UAlbany football’s schedule featured the opener against a Football Championship Subdivision playoff team, trips to West Virginia and Hawaii to face Football Bowl Subdivision foes, and a game played in the remnants of tropical storm Ophelia.

Tested heavily in nonconference play, the Great Danes (2-2) will find out Saturday if the experience pays off in the Coastal Athletic Association opener against traditional league power Villanova (3-1). Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. at Casey Stadium.

“Just playing tough, gritty, close games, all that travel, it strengthens you, hardens you,” UAlbany graduate linebacker Ori Jean-Charles said. “So I feel like we’re ready for a game like this. Fourth quarter, late in games, we’ve been through that, so we should be ready for that.”

UAlbany is coming off a 23-17 double-overtime victory last Saturday at Morgan State in a game played in heavy rain and high winds from Ophelia. The Great Danes survived four turnovers to prevail, a change from their recent trend of losing close games.

“It shows that as a group how we’re playing right now,” senior defensive end Anton Juncaj said. “We have some confidence and we’re all together. Last year, maybe we would have lost that game. But this year, it shows that we’re going to win.”

The Great Danes lost12 straight games decided by seven points or fewer, a streak they broke by beating Maine on the final play of the game last November. This year, they narrowly missed an upset at Marshall, losing 21-17, before giving Hawaii a scare in a 31-20 defeat.

UAlbany rebounded to beat Morgan State. To force overtime, the Great Danes stopped the Bears twice at the 1-yard line in the final minute of regulation after the Great Danes lost a fumble with the game seemingly wrapped up.

“We needed to get a road win,” UAlbany coach Greg Gattuso said. “We needed to get some confidence in how we play and it was just great to win a close game like that and battle, especially when things went so wrong at the end. I think that says a lot about the kids and that’s what gives me so much confidence.”

Now the Great Danes take on Villanova, ranked 16th in the country in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 poll and 23rd in the FCS coaches’ poll.

Last year’s meeting was one of UAlbany’s more frustrating losses, a 31-29 setback at Villanova. The Great Danes rallied from down 21-0 in the first half and 28-16 with two minutes left to take a 29-28 lead with 53 seconds remaining.

But the Wildcats answered with a drive aided by two Great Danes’ penalties to kick a game-winning field goal as time expired.

“There’s no carryover,” Gattuso said. “We’re a different team this year and we’re a different defense and offense. I don’t know how that game’s going to play out, but I know we’re going to play really hard and it’s going to be a physical game and hopefully this time we have the win at the end and it’ll give us a big jump going into conference play.”

Villanova graduate quarterback Connor Watkins, a player UAlbany once recruited, had 292 yards passing and three touchdowns in last year’s game. He’s a dual threat who ran for 113 yards and three touchdowns in last week’s 35-9 victory over Rhode Island.

“He’s a good quarterback and he can move in the pocket, so we’ve just got to contain our rushing lanes and make sure we get him on the ground when we have a chance,” Juncaj said.

This will be UAlbany’s first home game since a 34-13 victory over Fordham in the season opener Aug. 26 before a sellout crowd of 8,500. Saturday is UAlbany’s annual Hometown Heroes game to honor the military and first responders.

“We’re hoping to get a big crowd,” Gattuso said. “That home opener was electric and we need to have that type of atmosphere. We need our fans. Come out, guys, we need you out there to beat Villa-nova. They’re ranked and they’re a good football team.”

VILLANOVA AT UALBANY

When: 3:30 p.m Saturday

Where: Casey Stadium, Albany

Radio: WPBZ 103.9 FM