MBB: Colonial States Athletic Conference

[mailsy]

Happy Independence Day to everyone!

[mailsy]

Cabrini has released its 2015-16 schedule. They're non conference schedule looks challenging. At Dickinson, at Eastern, vs Greensboro, at Guilford (tourney weekend) Home against Wooster and Home vs Stevenson (Coaches vs Cancer). They are also welcoming back former Cavs coach, Marcus Kahn, whose Mary Washington team will take on Bryn Athyn in the C vs C tourney and later in January hosting Scranton.
http://www.cabriniathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

[mailsy]

Former Cabrini player Aaron Walton-Moss signs a professional contract to play basketball in Argentina. Congratulations Aaron! http://www.cabriniathletics.com/news/2015/8/14/MBB_0814150510.aspx

[CCHoopster]

Any update on who Marywood is going to hire? From a post on www.hoopdirt.com it looks like there are two remaining candidates and one will be chosen/announced shortly. See here: http://hoopdirt.com/diii-dirt-marywood-university-finalists/

Can Dave or Pat shed any light on anything about these two?

This seems to be an important hire for Marywood. They return all but one guy I believe and really could make some noise and get in to that top 4,5,6 in the CSAC playoffs.

[CCHoopster]

This is really interesting. What is Marywood doing....? There are 45 days until the start of the season. By the time they get a coach on campus and through HR it will most likely be this time next week. Leaving roughly 5 weeks for the coach to hire a staff, build relationships with the players and work through the transition of moving (with a family) before the season starts. I think Marywood could make noise with the roster they return. Thought there would be something by lunch if the Hoop Dirt article was accurate.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

(Accidentally wrote this on the women's board an hour or more ago... sorry.)

I can tell you that what Hoop Dirt has is true... and that the third person who removed themselves was Pitt Bradford's Britt Moore. I have been told the offer will come any day to one of those gentlemen.

I don't know Enrico at all... but Mark is a good guy who has done some good things at Messiah - which is clearly a top-notch program. I think Mark would be a good fit and would do well. However, I am pretty sure he and Enrico are ones that will put in their time, help turn the program in the right direction, but will then be up for other jobs - just my educated feeling on that... probably to no one's surprise.

[mailsy]

Enrico coached at Centenary a few years back.
He coached from 08-12. Had the most victories for them at the time and got them in the CSAC playoffs once.

[CCHoopster]

Any idea why he left for a start up D2 job? He was let go from Georgian Court in May..... It does not bode well for coaches who leave D3 jobs for scholarship level jobs, get let go and then try and crawl back to D3. Many D3 administrators desire coaches who truly believe and buy in to to the  D3 model. Committees and administrators tend to shy away from guys looking to get back on their feet after leaving D3. I am sure these thoughts are general knowledge. I have been on search committees as a Faculty Athletic Representative at two D3 schools and know these were the feelings shared by both institutions.

Here is Marywoods decisions-

Head Coaching Experience (Enrico) a record of 52-102

No Head Coaching Experience (Mark Seidenburg- Messiah Ast) a record of 0-0

LOL Have a great day all! 30 more days unitl start of the season

[mailsy]

I might be wrong CChoopster; but doesn't official practice start 10-15-2015?

[CCHoopster]

I might be wrong CChoopster; but doesn't official practice start 10-15-2015?

You are correct, sir! I had my NCAA DI hat on

10/15 as usual, unless you're the Centennial, correct?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Centennial starts after all schools are finished their mid-terms/mid-semester breaks.

NESCAC doesn't begin until exactly two weeks before the start of the season.

To be honest, I would be a fan of shortening the pre-season. Basketball (and hockey?) have more practice allotments than any other sport including football. One idea I was floating around with a coach was allow a 10 day period before Sept. 30 with five practice dates (once you have your first practice/meeting... the ten day clock begins to get the five dates in) for the team to get together, get to know one another, allow the coaching staff to put in some basic stuff and give them information to work on (drills, running, etc.). THEN start preseason two to two-and-a-half weeks prior to the start date and go from there.

If you think about it, basketball student-athletes are required to go from October 15 (for most) until March 22ish for those in Salem (women title teams longer this year). That is a LOT of time. That is longer than the two football teams that meet in the Stagg Bowl! This idea would allow coaches the ability to meet with the team and not start cold on October 15 while not requiring students more time away from studies... while also cutting down on the amount of practice before the regular season - a month has gotten a bit ridiculous. I actually remember when October 15 was the first day they could touch the basketball balls after a week of cardio - at least we cut the cardio out! LOL

[CCHoopster]

Dave- How abnormal is it for a search committee/administration to possibly have no coach for their men's basketball program in the second week of September? After having a week with two finalist named. That looks like what is going to be happening at Marywood. I know this is not a "big" job like Scranton's women's job but the student athletes and alumni certainly deserve better. I would imagine this would be cause for concern for the team and the two final candidates.

Can you weigh on how this affects the team? This is a team, I believe, could have made the playoffs this year (still can).

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

We may not have the name, but that doesn't mean they don't have the person lined up. I have learned quite a bit just this year alone that it can take upwards of a week to ten days for all the Is to be dotted, Ts to be crossed, and for background checks to be complete. Sometimes athletic departments are held slave to HR departments who have do all of that work first before an announcement can be made. You certainly don't want to have someone announced and then something goes wrong with HR and you have to reverse course.

I have a contact close to the job search... I have been trying to keep from bugging them... but I will see if anything new has happened.

As for how it affects a team... that depends on the team, the department, the school, etc. I will admit it has been a long search, but that can have a lot of factors in place as we have seen at Scranton who technically went a year between official hires. I suspect Marywood will announce at any point depending. But that length can be tough to overcome. If the department is picking up the slack and keeping the team headed in the right direction and informed, it might be okay.

I will say I don't see as much drop off with teams who return a lot as long as the new coach is overhauling the system. If Marywood has the talent to get to the playoffs, they probably still would. Usually you see a drop off in recruiting because either a) you couldn't secure the incoming class during the hiring process or b) the new coach is now behind on the current (next incoming) class and is making up for that missing time. That can also hurt reputations which means the coach has to work even harder to break those things.

[CCHoopster]

So two of the three finalist have pulled their name out of contention at Marywood. Also last years assistant has moved on too(per Dave's twitter account). Are there things at Marywood going on that makes that an unstable job? For Simmons to leave after bringing in young talent and getting things going really well and for two finalists to withdraw their names, I say, "Where there is smoke, there is fire." This is interesting. Why would an assistant trying to get a D3 head job pull his name out? I am sure there are personal reasons that can make the case valid but these jobs are hard to come by.

Dave any insight?

Also for Dave- I love how you have the head coaches on Hoopesville. You should consider doing some type of blog or interview series with some assistant coaches. It could help to promote them and also with so many becoming head coaches, I would be interested as to their perspectives. What is the life of a d3 assistant like.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

There really isn't much I can say due to the fact much of what I have heard recently is based on information my sources have requested I keep to myself... but I would agree that where there is smoke there is fire.

As for why an assistant turned down a chance at being a head coach... he isn't the first. I have heard of that happening in other situations because there really are many things at play. I also believe the decision will work out for him in the long run.

As for the other interview series... I will certainly take it into consideration... though, adding more work to my plate especially the kind that doesn't necessarily bring in money ... is tough right now.