BC basketball's influence spreads all over New England

UMass-Lowell hired former BC assistant Pat Duquette as their new coach. I am happy for Pat as he was another in a long-line of quality Al Skinner assistants. Duquette getting the job was a reminder that while the local media might not always pay attention to BC sports, the other New England Athletic Departments do. And hiring yet another BC assistant shows that people in college athletics appreciate our approach to basketball.

Of all the college sports, men's college basketball might be the most exploitative of the student athletes. It starts before they even step on campus with the corrupt AAU circuit and then continues as men's hoops has an intensive travel schedule that really makes it hard to be a student and it all wraps up with a multi-billion dollar tournament that underwrites the NCAA. BC has done basketball the right way for a long time, but really became a program to emulate under Skinner and continues now under Donahue. Other ADs recognize that and so you now find BC guys leading Providence, Northeastern, BU, UMass-Lowell, and Bryant. (It should also be noted that former BC coach Jim O'Brien is at Emerson.)

Ironically while his former assistants flourish, Al Skinner was passed over for another local job. UMass-Lowell hinted at what might have been the problem -- "our discussions with Al didn’t go quite in a direction that would work as well for Al." I can only speculate on what was said, but it reads like Al wants to do things his way. I applaud him for demanding his way when he returns. One day soon an AD is going to let Skinner do things his way and won't regret it. Just ask all of Al's guys who are now leading New England basketball.

Donahue fills out staff: "Meet the Metz"

Since Joe Jones took the BU job, Steve Donahue has been left with a opening on his staff. It looks like he will fill it with one of his former assistants Izzi Metz. Metz comes to BC after five seasons as the Head Coach at Hobart. Blaudschun speculates that Donahue might move Metz into an Ops position. I am not too concerned about which role he takes. My bigger issue is recruiting. Let's look at the Pros and Cons of Donahue hiring one of his own for the spot.

Pros
-- Metz already has a working relationship with Donahue. There is trust and an understanding of the systems. Metz will be familiar with how Donahue runs things around the program.
-- Metz has head coaching experience. It was at Hobart, but Metz still understands in game coaching.
-- Metz is the right age to make the jump to the big leagues. He's young enough to work hard and brings a young energy, but also has been around the block once. He won't get overwhelmed by the new level of competition.

Cons
-- Metz has never recruited at this level. He is filling the role left by our ace recruiter. Even if Donahue shifts duties a bit, Metz will have to recruit ACC talent for the first time. It is an entirely different process from Hobart or Cornell.
-- Doesn't have much experience outside of the Donahue environment. They haven't been together for a few years, but coaching Donahue's system at Hobart is not a huge career stretch from working for him at Cornell. One thing I liked about Jones is that he brought head coaching experience and the perspective of working as an assistant in an elite conference.

Donahue has been pretty solid in building the program so far, so Metz coming on board doesn't give me much pause. I just hope he can fill Jones's big shoes and keep up our momentum.

Background
A Cornell blog's look at Metz.

Hoops thoughts: Jones to BU and Reggie to OKC

I thought our focus would be on Reggie's future. Instead the bigger news happened down Comm Ave...

When the BU job opened, I said they should hire someone with BC ties. My hope was that they would give an opportunity to someone like Pat Duquette or give a second chance to someone like Al Skinner. Instead they hired Donahue's top assistant Joe Jones. While I am happy for Jores, this is a setback for BC. Jones has been our lead recruiter and was critical for us landing much of our 2011 talent. He was also experienced at this level and someome Donahue trusted. It will be very hard to find an Ace recruiter who understands Donahue and "gets" what it means to recruit at BC on short notice. As for how Jones will do at BU...I am not sure. His run as Head Coach at Columbia wasn't inspiring, but BU will allow him to cast a wider net on the recruiting trail and he inherits a program on the rise. Good luck to him.

Reggie Jackson to Oklahoma City was also a surprise. With all the speculation of preDraft side deals, OKC rarely came up as a landing spot. In retrospect it makes sense. The Thunder are one of those teams that puts a premium on statistical metrics and Reggie was a very efficient coilege player. The selection has some pluses and minuses. The good news is that Reggie was selected and will get a guaranteed contract. This justifies coming out early. It is also good news that he joins one of the rising powers in the NBA and is surrounded with young talent. The downside is OKC already has a lot of minutes and money tied into guards and wing players. Where will Reggie fit in? My guess is they view him as a combo who can give them solid minutes at the 1 or the 2. Can Reggie thrive like that? I don't know. I would have preferred he landed at a veteran team like Boston or Miami that need his fresh legs and instant offense. Now he will have to work hard to prove he can compliment Westbrook and not just be a Westbrook clone. But in the end Reggie made the right call and I wish him nothing but the best.

Glowing coverage of Donahue and other links

This is one of the better articles I've read on Donahue. Hopefully he will build the same sort of relationship with the BC student press.

Joe Jones officially left Columbia and joined Donahue staff.

The Eaves kids are once again in the middle of a Wisconsin-BC battle.

Ayla Brown is ready to return to TV.

Gene joined David Glenn on his podcast.

This is an older article on York, but worth the read.