Work Samples

Former Lehigh standout Nic Lynch navigating European style of play

October 3, 2025

By David Driver
For the The Morning Call
Used with permission

GRAZ, AUSTRIA – Former Lehigh basketball standout Nic Lynch, after playing pro hoops during the 2024-25 season in southeast Austria, was back home in Seattle this summer waiting to see what his next stop would be.

“I went home around April and ended up switching agents and just waiting for my next opportunity,” said Lynch, 25, who graduated from Lehigh with a degree in political science.

Switching countries each season is typical for many Americans who play pro hoops in Europe – but that did not happen for the 6-foot-11 center from Washington state. The next stop ended up being back in Graz, a city of about 306,000 people that is near the Alps and just north of Slovenia and borders Hungary to the east.

“Then this (opportunity) came up. I took it because it was getting late (in the preseason) and I might as well get back to a place I know, a coach I know, a system I know,” said Lynch, sitting at an Irish pub on a recent Saturday night near Old Town in Graz. “I knew I would settle in pretty quickly at the same place.”

Lynch, who played four seasons for coach Brett Reed and the Mountain Hawks, hit the ground running for his third season in Europe.

His flight from Seattle arrived in Vienna – about two hours northeast of Graz – on Sept. 18 and two days later he suited up for UBSC Graz for an exhibition game against a club in Slovakia. After a week of practice, Graz opened the season at home on Sunday, Sept. 28 on the east side of the Mur River that runs through the heart of the city.

Lynch had 14 of his 18 points in the second half and added nine rebounds as UBSC Raiffeisen Graz won 91-85 over their rival Traiskirchen Lions at the Raiffeisen Sportpark Graz before a few hundred fans. Other Americans for Graz included point guard Tevin Brewer (Duquesne), who had 12 points and 10 assists; Jordan Wood (Stetson), who had a game-high 28 points; Maryland native Chase Paar (18 points), who played at George Washington, Towson, and Division II Shepherd in West Virginia; and Peyton Gerald, a Florida Southern product who scored seven points.

Winding up back in Austria for Lynch had a strong Patriot League connection.

His new agency is One Motive Sports and is led by Vlad Moldoveanu, a former standout at American University of the Patriot League. A native of Romania, Moldoveanu had a long career in Europe, with stops in Italy, France, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Greece, and Romania.

Another former Lehigh player – not represented by One Motive Sports – in the top Austrian basketball league is Jeameril Wilson, a former roommate with Lynch who is with the Swans of Gmunden. Other Lehigh products at the pro level, according to eurobasket.com, are NBA veteran C.J. McCollum, Evan Taylor (the Netherlands), Jakob Alamudun (France), Kahron Rice (Finland), Austin Price (North Macedonia), and James Karnik, who transferred to Boston College from Lehigh and is now with a team in Lithuania.

Reed had 24 alumni sign pro contracts in his first 16 years a coach, according to the Lehigh website.

Lynch, after playing at Lehigh, spent one season as a graduate transfer with San Diego of the West Coast Conference. That gave him a chance to play more in front of his family – powerhouse Gonzaga of Washington state is in the WCC – and with a conference that is higher ranked than the Patriot League.

It was his ties to Lehigh that helped him land his first job overseas with a team in the second division in Poland in 2023.

“When I think about my pro career, we were fortunate (at Lehigh) to have some assistants who had played overseas and that really helped,” Lynch said. “It was always in the back of my mind and I thought it would be cool to try. To be able to bounce ideas off them, that really helped.”

Those former assistants were Quinton McDowell, who played in college at William & Mary and in Spain and Latvia and was an assistant at Longwood in Virginia before becoming a high school coach in Tennessee. When McDowell was an assistant at Longwood, the Lancers played a non-conference game against San Diego and Lynch.

Another valuable connection for Lynch was former Lehigh assistant Willie Jenkins, who played in the G League and in Israel, France, Germany, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia and is now an assistant coach at the University of Albany in New York.

“Nic was a coach’s dream,” Jenkins wrote about Lynch. “He was what I call an everyday guy. Every day he was going to compete, lead and serve his teammates. Not only did Nic grow but our team did to because of how he was every day. My advice to him playing overseas was to be thankful. Embrace the opportunity.”

In his senior season with Lehigh, Lynch averaged 21.0 minutes, 9.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest.

As a graduate transfer at San Diego, he averaged 10.5 minutes, 3.5 points and 1.6 boards per outing.

His coach again in Austria this season is Ervin Dragsic, who is from nearby Slovenia and speaks English.

Like most Americans playing overseas, Lynch is provided the free use of an apartment with a meal allowance. While many imports get the free use of a car overseas, Lynch and his American teammates get transit passes since Graz is easier to get around on public transportation than using a car.

Graz is nearly 900 years old and former bodybuilder, actor and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up in a small village just outside of the city. There are thousands of university students in Graz.

“It was a much easier place to settle into than Poland,” Lynch said of being in Austria last season. “I started out in Poland and I was the only American on my team. We had six Americans here last year (at Graz). There is not too much of a language barrier (in Austria). Guys are living the same life you are. It was a step-up basketball wise from Poland. And Austria is a beautiful country. It is an amazing place.”

Lynch has had to adjust to rules that are different in Europe than the NCAA level. One of them is that a player must clearly put the ball on the floor before picking up his pivot foot – or traveling may be called. “The travel call was definitely an adjustment,” he said. “You hear about it from guys who have been overseas.”

Now he is playing against big men several years older. “The physicality around the rim and paint is different. The game is more physical here, plus you are playing against grown men instead of guys in college who are your age,” he said.

Lynch had never been to Europe until he began his pro career in Poland. Now he is adapting to a new lifestyle overseas. His parents came to see him last season and visited Vienna and Salzburg, which this year is celebrating the 60th anniversary of “The Sound of Music” movie.

“I went to a few of the soccer games” in Graz, he said. “That is something I have gotten into since I have been in Europe. Try to spend time with the guys on the team. There are a lot of restaurants to go to here.”

And that journey to a pro career began when he left Seattle Prep to attend Lehigh. He went to the same high school as Jordan Hamilton, who also played hoops for the Mountain Hawks.

“It was a place I was going to play right away. I looked at some Ivy schools but they don’t give athletic scholarships. I was more than okay going across the country for school. I feel like I made the right decision,” he said of Lehigh.

Patriot patters: Lynch was able to meet former Lehigh star and NBA All-Star C.J. McCollum during his time at the school. McCollum was drafted out of Lehigh in the first round in 2013 by Portland and played last season for New Orleans. He was traded to Washington in July … Overseas pros from Lafayette, according to eurobasket.com, in recent years in Australia include Leo O’Boyle, Daniel Trist, Nathaniel Musters and Myles Cherry. Former Leopards who have played in Germany recently include Seth Hinrichs and Justin Jaworski while E.J. Stephens played in England and Tyrone Perry was in Cyprus, per eurobasket.com … Lynch’s brother, Riley, works in sales for the Seattle NHL team. He played golf in college at Linfield University in Oregon. Their father, Chris, played basketball in college at BYU and at the Division II level.

Virginia native David Driver is a freelance writer