MARTIN, Tenn. — The Kathleen & Tom Elam Center might as well have been the site of the unofficial Shulman family reunion Sunday afternoon as UT Martin, led by Jeremy Shulman, faced Jeremy’s uncle, John Shulman, and Central Arkansas.

Parents, aunts, uncles, wife and kids were all in attendance to watch the Skyhawks and Bears in the latest installment of the ‘Shulman Bowl,’ which saw UCA beat UT Martin 93-71.

Beyond the relationship, the pair have had interesting parallels in their coaching careers, down to the path they’re on currently. Both coaches are entering year three after seeing a year-two leap last season, with each team finishing with 22 wins and a deep run in their respective conference tournaments.

“Our relationship now is what’s really cool, and I think that supersedes or is better than anything that I had early on,” Jeremy said. “I love the fact that we could play this scrimmage or exhibition game because now I can spend all next week calling him, calling Max, my cousin who’s the offensive coordinator there, and I can pick their brain.”

John’s college coaching career started when Jeremy was 10 years old. John, a Johnson City, Tennessee native, was a graduate assistant at Wofford in 1989. He made assistant stops at East Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech before landing at Chattanooga, where he was elevated to head coach in 2004.

During his Chattanooga stint, Jeremy would land his first college job as an assistant at East Mississippi CC in 2007, where John and Jeremy admitted their relationship dynamic was a bit different then. John recalls a conversation that stood out the most around that time.

“It happened a long time ago, when I wasn’t real nice to Jeremy because he was trying to take a shortcut into college coaching, and I was not real nice to my nephew, and I showed him tough love,” John said. “What he showed me back was some perseverance that was amazing. I didn’t have a shortcut into this business. I didn’t want him to have a shortcut. I wanted him to earn it, and he sure as heck earned it.”

Jeremy would then spend 2010-2024 at Eastern Florida State College, a tenure that would earn him the job at UT Martin.

“[John] did give me a lot of tough love, like he was really hard on me as a young coach, and it wasn’t honestly until more recently that we started really connecting,” Jeremy said. “But that kind of helped shape who I am and I really appreciate him for that.”

Fast forward to Sunday, it was John’s Bears who got the better of the Skyhawks, a result that wasn’t entirely unexpected given UCA returns the bulk of their starting five that made it to the A-Sun Championship game while UT Martin is still working through a roster with just 2 returners from last season.

But the game itself isn’t one either coach is putting a ton of stock in, not even with bragging rights on the line.

“This was just an exhibition game, and he’s got to get better, and we got to get better,” John said. “And the nice thing about playing Jeremy is we can talk after the game and say, ‘Hey, man, you need to do this better.’ And he tells us the same thing.”

And throughout the season, that process only continues as each coach looks for more success in year 3 of their tenure. But for Sunday, regardless of result and what needs to be worked on ahead of both teams’ season opener on November 2, they say it was nice to enjoy family time on and off the court.

“I’ll be honest. I was up there [addressing the team after the game] too long, I think I missed half of them,” Jeremy said with a laugh. “It was really cool getting to play against Uncle John and have so much family here.”

“I know his dad’s proud of him, I know his wife and family [are too], but there’s no one more proud of Jeremy Shulman than me,” John added. “I know how hard this business is, and I know how hard it is to get to this level. And he’s gotten to this level, and he’s been successful.”