Jon Willeman would do it again.

The former Lebanon High three-sport athlete, now a University of New Hampshire basketball reserve, said he’s happy with his current situation, despite minimal playing time.

“I knew what I was getting myself into,” said Willeman, who had to choose between walking on with the NCAA Division I Wildcats and the likelihood of eventually being a Division III starter. “I really like UNH and I’m going to keep working and things will probably work out.”

A junior guard listed at 6 feet 2 and 170 pounds, Willeman has appeared in 26 college games, averaging 3.7 minutes per contest. This winter, he played 12 times and produced four points, four assists and eight rebounds. UNH was 15-15 overall and 9-7 in the America East Conference and 18th-year head coach Bill Herrion’s contract was not renewed.

“The new coach is probably going to bring in new players and it’s kind of going to be a new team,” Willeman said. “Change is uncomfortable but it also brings new opportunities.”

Willeman, 21, is grateful for the chance Herrion offered him coming out of Lebanon. Also a football and baseball player for the Raiders, he was deep into the Division III college recruiting process but still wanted a shot at Division I. His club coach was another former Raider, Braeden Estes, who had been a student manager for Herrion at UNH and is now Dartmouth College’s men’s basketball director of operations.

Estes recommended Willeman to Herrion, who said he quickly realized the suggestion was on the mark. Dave Faucher, Lebanon’s interim coach during Willeman’s junior season, and previously Dartmouth’s head coach, also vouched for the youngster.

“It was very obvious that he was someone who belonged at this level,” said Herrion, who rewarded Willeman with one of his team’s 12 scholarships after the player’s freshman year. “Some of our athletic administrators were kind of against me giving it to him, but I said he does things the right way and he’s a great teammate and he does a great job in the classroom.

“He’s always been on the fringe of being able to play for us.”

Willeman said he’s grown an inch and added 20 pounds since arriving in Durham. Although he kept up with his new teammates, he also realized he was at an entirely new level of competition.

“The intensity of the practices was the biggest change,” Willeman said. “Lebanon practices pretty hard for a high school team, but we go for up to four hours here, so my body had to adjust, for sure.”

Willeman plans to earn his undergraduate degree, with a minor in accounting, during 2024. He hopes to use his extra year of eligibility, granted by the NCAA to players who endured the Covid-19 pandemic, to earn a master’s degree at UNH or perhaps another school.

“Every program needs players like him,” Herrion said of Willeman. “He just comes to work every day and you don’t have to motivate or push him. I think before all was said and done, he would have played some significant minutes for our coaching staff.”

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.

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