Lot of news posted in the past 24 hours. Since some of it is already off the front page, let’s recap the stories:
Widener coach Dave Duda hired at St. Joseph’s: Not only does Duda get a D-I assistant’s job out of it, but it opens up a relatively attractive coaching job. This could be John Dzik’s chance to get back to the Philly area — you remember, he was run out of Cabrini at the end of the 2004-05 season? Well, the administrator who pushed him out has since been pushed out as well. Too late for Cabrini but perhaps to Widener’s advantage. Corey Stitzel, recently hired at Neumann but with Widener connections, might be cursing the timing. Chris Carideo, an All-American at Widener and 1996 graduate, might also be considered a frontrunner. He’s been head coach at Kings Point since 2001-02 and since then the Mariners have gone 24-5, 21-9, 15-11, 16-11 and 10-16. Widener assistant Ian Simon, also an alumnus, will get consideration. Lower Merion HS coach Gregg Downer, Chestnut Hill coach Jesse Balcer and Gwynedd-Mercy coach John Baron could all be candidates as well. Have not heard if NBA journeyman coach and D-III washout Chris Ford is interested.
Fisk coach Larry Glover out: Took us a while to collect enough info to verify this, but we got that solid yesterday as well. It’s a blow for us because Glover was the only person at Fisk who communicated info to us. This may also lead to Fisk leaving the Great South Athletic Conference, which would drop them pretty much off the radar entirely.
Clark gets its coach back: And maybe its groove as well. Paul Phillips, who left the school two years ago despite two recent trips to the Elite Eight, is back. How long before the Cougars are contenders again? Good question. Clark was 13-12 in Phillips’ final season.
Skyline Conference adds SUNY-Purchase: They won’t be eligible for the NCAA playoffs for at least three more seasons but it does stem the tide for a conference that was losing members.
Medaille hires Canisius coach: Mike MacDonald was fired at Canisius but doesn’t even have to relocate to take the Medaille job. But it’s a long way down from Canisius to Medaille, ranked No. 378 in D-III in the Massey Ratings. Then again, Cansius was No. 247 in Massey’s D-I ranking, with an overall rating that was behind D-III schools.
Three questions for those in the Atlantic or East Regions…
Would the Skyline Conference really need to or want to expand up to Bard? (Or, has Russell Sage already broken that ground?)
Since the Skyline is already a “mixed” public/private conference, why would they not want to add Polytechnic, another private?
Does the Skyline add D3 independent College of New Rochelle as well?
These questions seem to favor some geographic consolidation, and the Skyline can use the extra members! The next move seems to be the NEAC’s.
I don’t know about New Rochelle. That isn’t much of a department. They don’t have any on-campus facilities at the moment. The department probably needs to do some growing first.
St.Elizabeth might be a better women’s college candidate than New Rochelle. They have a more developed athletic program, although not by much. The Skyline’s major problem is in men’s and womens lacrosse. In 07, I understand that they will take over the Knickerbocker lax league.That league has an AQ. They lose 4 lax playing schools after next year; Stevens Tech( Empire8),Kings Point(Landmark), Manhattanville(MAC),and Centenary(PennAC).All but Kings Point also have womens teams. The men will be left only with Farmingdale, New York Maritime, Mt. St.Vincent and associates:Montclair St.,Kean and Stockton…not enough to keep the AQ. The women are supposed to qualify for an AQ in 07. All they will have is Farmingdale, Mt St Vincent, Kean and Montclair St.Russell Sage joins with a first year team, Maritime is supposed to field a team next year also(If they can’t put a basketball team on the court, how the hell are they gonna get a lax team!)Ramapo might be a possibility with a new varsity team next year. I don’t know if this will allow them to keep the AQ. Re:Bard and Poly…Bard would seem to be able to start those sports, considering their demographics. But, they don’t seem interested, nor do they get the athletes, men or women. Poly has no facilities.
Widener still has not named a coach, but some big names have been floating around.
In addition to Carideo and Dzik, I’ve heard Friday, Rhoades, Dorney, (ok that oe is not so big) and Palombo.
Should be soon …
C