MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[Caz Bombers]

Any word on the opening at New Paltz? I would assume that some assistants from Williams and Fisher would apply for that. Has anyone heard anything?

Yeah, the article on the hiring was in my local paper this morning (I live 20 minutes from NP).  They went with an assistant from D2 Concordia College (NY) named Dagan Nelson.  He's been an assistant here and there for a long time as well as a HS coach.

[slickyquick]

According to my sources, Brockport coach Nelson Whitmore will resign at Brockport and take the head position at Hamlin University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hamlin has a rich history of basketball, it held the first intercollegiate game in 1895. It is considered "the birthplace of basketball." Associate head coach Gregg Dunne will take over the Golden Eagles on an interim basis for the upcoming year.

All I have to say is WOW, never expected this. Let the rumors fly...

[Pat Coleman]

That's been mentioned on the MIAC board as well. Interesting move, if true.

[bports]

I heard the news on whitmore yesterday but didnt want to mention it until it was made official. I dont blame him one bit for leaving with some of the BS that goes on in that athletic department. Funny how a coach up there can call his own shots for the last two years and another coach cant get anything he wants? Dont be surprised if they lose there football coach next they have his team practicing in a cow pasture. The condition of  that football field in november- dec has already cost them  a home playoff game and has bee an absolute joke the last 3 years. I am a diehard Bport fan but i am really starting to wonder what is going on up there. It must be real fun to recruit a kid after looking at that football field after they have just returned from a cortland visit. I realize money doesnt grow on trees but someone up there better get there act together.

[Gregory Sager]

According to my sources, Brockport coach Nelson Whitmore will resign at Brockport and take the head position at Hamlin University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hamlin has a rich history of basketball, it held the first intercollegiate game in 1895. It is considered "the birthplace of basketball."

No, it's considered to be the birthplace of college basketball. The birthplace of basketball is Springfield, MA, which is where Dr. James Naismith invented the sport while a teacher at the YMCA School. That's why the Basketball Hall of Fame is located there.

And Whitmore's new school is spelled "Hamline". Incidentally, while it does indeed have a rich basketball history (including a 1978 trip to the D3 Final Four), Hamline has not added much to that rich history in recent years. The Pipers have definitely been an afterthought in the MIAC for at least the past decade, which has been dominated by St. Thomas, Gustavus Adolphus, and St. John's (with a brief flurry of competitiveness from Augsburg when Devean George of the Dallas Mavericks was an Auggie in the late '90s).

I'd be curious to find out why Whitmore has left a program that he has turned into a regional power and tourney presence within a weak region for an underperforming and poorly-supported program in a middling conference in a much stronger region. In other words, he's gone from being a big fish in a small pond to being a small fish in a big pond, competition-wise. Was it money? Dissatisfaction with Brockport's facilities, administration, or atmosphere? Or does he have some tie to Hamline or to the Twin Cities that made this a desirable choice? Because just looking at the facts on the surface -- which is all we have to go on at this point -- it appears to be a lateral move at best on Whitmore's part.

[slickyquick]

Sorry for the mix up with Hamline. As for a couple of interesting scenarios that were confronted at Brockport with Whitmore.

1) Whitmore was offered the job at Hamline and then came to Brockport to see what they could do as far as job duties, salary, etc. Brockport didn't give him ANYTHING. There was no offer for a pay raise (which is due, more on that in a sec) or decrease in administrative duties.

2) His job at Brockport is 50% administrative and 50% coaching. It is surprising how well he has done when you can't focus all your time to coaching. He was also the assistant athletic director.

3) His Brockport teams have the 7th most wins in the country since 2000. Not in the SUNYAC, not New York State, but in the country. Those are impressive numbers and he was not given any type of raise besides cost of living raises throughout that time. During that time, Brockport went to 2 Sweet 16's and 2 Elite 8's.

4) His staff at Brockport is the lowest paid in the SUNYAC. That includes his salary and his only paid assistant Gregg Dunne. There are several staffs that have two paid assistants or one paid assistant that gets a decent amount of money. It is very hard to recruit when an assistant coach holds another job outside the college.

5) There were two other members of the athletic staff at Brockport that received significant raises after successful seasons. Nelson Whitmore and his basketball teams have been the most successful team on campus since he took over. I know you can argue with wrestling but it's different when you are competing with over 300 teams for NCAA bids compared to around 100 for wrestling.

6) At Hamline he will have a full time assistant, good facilities, and an administration that will be supportive. It is in a great city and the school is well known for their academics (law school especially).

7) Though Hamline hasn't been successful in recent years, Whitmore's philosophy is much different then anyone in that league. That will make him unique and bring a different style then what everyone else is use to. Kids love to play in his uptempo system.

Overall, I think it is a good opportunity for Coach Whitmore and his family. He feels like he is wanted in St. Paul and is obviously willing to move his family out there. To leave a potential National Championship contender about a week before classes start, he must of felt that he was severely snubbed by administration at Brockport. I wish him nothing but the best for him. I'm sure he will be successful.

[Gregory Sager]

Interesting response. You obviously have the inside dope on the situation in B'port. Thanks, Slickyquick. Check out the current conversation in the MIAC room, where a lot of Minnesota folks who have a good understanding of Hamline's current status are weighing in about Whitmore's move.

One point I'd like to make, though, is about his preference for an uptempo game being a contrast to the deliberate halfcourt style preferred in the MIAC. There are reasons why that style has always been a hallmark of MIAC play, and why coaches have had difficulty installing a successful uptempo game in that league (and in other midwestern D3 leagues where a similar halfcourt style of play is the norm). One is that a coach faces an uphill battle if he attempts to utilize a different style of play than what is common within his recruiting base, and I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty that jackrabbit ball is not the prevailing style in Minnesota high school basketball. Another is that, if the talent level of two teams is roughly equal, the game is invariably won by the team that executes better, and if the two teams are used to significantly different paces then the team that dictates the tempo will usually be the one better positioned to make fewer mistakes than the opposition. And it's easier for a slowdown, defense-first team to dictate tempo than it is for a speed-it-up, fullcourt team of equal or lesser talent (unless you're talking about a gimmick offense like Grinnell's), provided that the slowdown team has a couple of ballhandlers who can beat a press (or a smart and precise collection of pressbreak passers). Unless he can somehow find the players locally (since Hamline, like almost every team in that league, recruits very few out-of-state kids) who can fit into his system and bring more to the table in terms of skills and abilities than do the kids from Gustavus Adolphus, St. Thomas, and St. John's, those teams are just going to take the air out of the ball by walking it up the floor on each possession and then grind the Pipers down in the halfcourt with physicality and superior execution.

I just get the distinct impression that he's going to be forced to work with a very different breed of player at Hamline than he's had at Brockport State -- and that his opposition may be very different in nature as well.

Good luck to Coach Whitmore, of course, and I'll add that from my point of view it'd be nice to see Hamline rise up and make the MIAC a little more interesting than the usual two- or three-team horse race that it tends to be. But there's no guarantee that the success he enjoyed with his uptempo style at Brockport State will necessarily translate well to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

[Bob Maxwell]

I haven't seen anything official on the Brockport pages... but it is on the Hamline site so it must be "official"

http://www.hamline.edu/hamline_info/athletics/index.html

[slickyquick]

In response to Gregory Sager's comments about jackrabbit ball. I wouldn't call Whitmore's style like that. He wants his teams to force tempo and force turnovers. I'm sure that the MIAC has good guards but Whitmore's teams have made plenty of good guards into tentative players.

Players do not like pressure all the time and that is what his teams will give you. His system is not a gimmick like Grinnell, he has been successful with it since he started coaching. Yes, his players there have to buy into the system and it will be difficult because he really conditions his teams but it is a fun system to play in and to watch.

[bports]

I want to say good luck to coach Whitmore and thanks for all the great memories and great seasons. You and your teams made our Bport winters alot easier to handle with all of your success.  I think Grgg Dunne who has coached under whitmore for years is a GREAT replacement. Lets just hope its  a long term answer and that the athletic department doesnt fumble this also!!!! Speaking of fumble the first football game is two weeks away and where are the golden eagle socity renewal forms? Whitmore did Bport proud and when the chips were down as usual the athletic department up at tuttle did nothing. I guess if you are not in there  little click up there you get nothing and if you are you get two years of anything you want!!!!!!!!!

[slickyquick]

Well, it's officially official that Nelson Whitmore has left Brockport and is headed to Hamline.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070821/SPORTS09/708210324/1007/SPORTS

I'm still in shock that he has been treated this bad by Brockport. I guess the clique that bports was talking about has some major influence while doing minimal amounts of work.

SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!

[Drake Palmer]

That's an interesting article SQ.  If you go back about 6 weeks on the MIAC board former Hamline coach, Barry Wohler, was quoted as saying he was leaving Hamline for a high school coaching position for more money - or "financial security" as he called it.  If I find the link I'll post it here.

It'll be interesting to see how Coach Whitmore does his first season at Hamline. I wish him well, but the cupboard's a little empty especially for the type of ball that Whitmore apparently prefers.

And I was just messing with you & not really trying to bust your chops the other day on the MIAC board.   






   

[slickyquick]

I'm sure Whitmore will get things going quickly (no pun intended) up at Hamline. First season might be struggle considering what is left (from reading the MIAC board) but I'm sure he will get some players there.

Rumor has it, the president at Brockport was not happy with the article in the D & C today. I think anyone would be a little bitter about building HIS own program up and being let down by administration. The president should be ashamed of his actions or lack of regarding Whitmore.

Though Brockport is a very attractive job (w/PE and closeness to BLo and Roch), I think that Whitmore has let his frustrations be known to other coaches. His words carry quite a bit within the NYS coaches fraternity.  It will be interesting to see who those choose.

[gordonmann]

No, it's considered to be the birthplace of college basketball. The birthplace of basketball is Springfield, MA, which is where Dr. James Naismith invented the sport while a teacher at the YMCA School. That's why the Basketball Hall of Fame is located there.

Incidentally Hamline isn't the only Division III school making this claim.  From the Geneva College website...

"Geneva is the "Birthplace of College Basketball," having hosted the first collegiate game in 1892."

Maybe they can play a game this year with winner-take-moniker stakes.

[quickyslick]

Hey Slickyquick, Do you think the NCAA violations by Whitmore's program had anything to do with his departure?