Dave Paulsen spent the 1989-90 college basketball season as an graduate assistant coach with Michigan. It was his first Division I coaching gig and 20 years later, it has led to big things.

We caught up with Paulsen as he enters his third year as the head coach at Bucknell, where his team went from 7-23 in his first year to 14-17 in his second despite starting three freshmen.

Q: Take me through your coaching career since you were at Michigan.

Dave Paulsen: “I was there ’89-’90, year after they won a national championship I was a grad assistant for Steve Fisher. Mike Boyd, he was the lead assistant and he took the coaching job at Cleveland State in like September and was his top assistant for four years at Cleveland State. Then I was the head coach at Sarah Lawrence in upstate New York for three years, and then I was the head coach at Le Moyne for three years, and then I was the head coach at Williams College, which is my alma mater, for eight years. And we won the national championship in 2003 and lost the championship in 2004. And then I’m going into my third year at Bucknell.”

Q: What do you remember from that one year in Ann Arbor?

DP: “It was a long time ago. I remember a lot of things. I remember John Beckett, I don’t know if he’s still around, he was the beat writer. I remember, I think, beat Duke at home that year and that was a big win. I remember Crisler Arena and Steve Fisher, still today, is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. I remember having to monitor study table every night from 7:30-9:30, and that was not as much fun. And we lost to Loyola Marymount in the NCAA tournament, that was the year Hank Gathers died on the court. The Gandy Dancer, I don’t know if that’s still there, that was a good restaurant. Zingerman’s Deli. But it’s been, probably, I probably haven’t been back in Ann Arbor for 18, 19 years.”

Q: Did that year shape your career at all?

DP: “I think everywhere I’ve been and every experience has changed it to some degree but it was, it was a great experience because it was my debut in Division I coaching. I had played Division III ball at Williams, and I met some great people. But it was only one year and it certainly was, I was at the bottom of totem pole. You couldn’t go any lower. But it was, it was like my masters in coaching.”

Q: You mentioned the Loyola Marymount game. Is that one you remember because of everything and coming off the championship season?

DP: “It definitely stood out. The kid (Jeff) Fryer must have made like 12 corner three’s. We just, we tried to run with them, which that wasn’t one of the wiser decisions and they just beat us into submission. I can remember Terry Mills trying to get up and down the court at the pace they were going. They were a team on a mission in the aftermath of Hank Gathers’ death. It was a long night. A long night. I remember that.”

Q: With Bucknell, have you been happy with what you’ve been able to do so far?

DP: “Yeah, we made good progress. Last year we started three freshmen and finished second in our league. Took our lumps early but won eight out of 10 at the end and all three of our freshmen made the all-rookie team. Have a good group of guys coming in including Cameron Ayers, whose father Randy used to be the coach at Ohio State when I was at Michigan and was an assistant with the 76ers. Real high-level player. So we feel like we have a good nucleus.”

Q: Have you tried to come back to Michigan (with Bucknell) for a game?

DP: “We haven’t talked about it, but eventually we will. We’re going to Marquette this year, and we’re recruiting the Midwest hard. We’ve got a kid who is a sophomore now from Minnesota, so that’s the next Midwest school we have to get back. We don’t have anyone on our roster from Michigan right now but we certainly have some interest and recruited a little bit some kids in Michigan. That’s what we try to use our guarantee games, try to bring one of our guys home or closer to home. I think there will be something that’ll happen eventually. I’d love to bring my team in there.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein