BREAKING: Dorsett to round out Burke's staff

Ahmad Dorsett is expected to be hired as the final member of Mount basketball head coach Robert Burke's coaching staff in the near future, according to a source.

Although Dorsett has not been officially hired as of early Thursday, it appears that a deal is in place to bring him to Emmitsburg.

Dorsett's most recent stop has been as an assistant coach at Bowie State University in Bowie, Md., where he served for the 2009 - 2010 season.

This move would round out the coaching staff hand-picked by Burke in his first year as an NCAA Division I head coach after serving as an assistant coach at American.

While no members of the staff have been officially announced by the school, the lineup under Burke is expected to be as follows, via the reports of this blog:

Assistant coaches: Matt Henry, Mike Farrelly, Ahmad Dorsett. Graduate assistant: Sam Atupem.

The pending hiring of Dorsett means that no member of Burke's staff will have previous Divsion I coaching experience as Henry previously served as the Director of Basketball Operations for the Georgetown Hoyas while Farrelly worked for the New Jersey-based Hoop Group. Dorsett coached at Longwood University for a time, but during the school's transition period from Division II to Division I.

It should be noted that no member of Milan Brown's staff - Brion Dunlap, Kevin Robinson Jr. and Dan Engelstad - had previous Division I assistant coaching experience before coming to the Mount.

Additionally, Brown (Howard) and Dunlap (Old Dominion) played on the Division I level while Farrelly (St. Joseph's, as a walk-on) and Dorsett (George Mason) did the same. All four also played for a team that made at least one NCAA Tournament appearance.

Another notable aspect of this hiring is the fact that Dorsett is black. Like it or not, the Mount, like most schools, needed at least one black coach on staff. That statement is not to be confused with the proclamation that Dorsett is a token hire, which is clearly not the case. He is more than qualified and will be great addition and potentially the cornerstone of Burke's assistants.

Dorsett made an NCAA appearance as a member of Jim Larranaga's George Mason squad in 1999 and was a team captain in his final three seasons. For one season before joining the BSU Bulldogs he was an assistant at Division II Mount Olive College. He has previous head coaching experience on the high school level and, as mentioned previously, also served as an assistant at Longwood University.

What this also means, quite obviously, is that Greg Paulus will not be brought on staff. Reports were the Paulus initiated contact with Burke, not the other way around, and was given serious consideration for a position on Burke's staff as recently as this week.

To summarize, Henry brings experience from a successful Big East program as well as a familiarity with Burke from his days as an assistant under John Thompson III.

Dorsett won a conference championship at the Division I level, has served as an assistant on various college levels and has head coaching experience, albeit on the high school level.

And Farrelly played for a St. Joseph's University program in the pinnacle of its success with two future NBA starters. Additionally, he appears to have been a prominent member of the Hoop Group staff for three years.

Interestingly enough, the makeup of Burke's program very closely mirrors that of the one Brown employed in his seven years as the Mount head coach. In addition to the fact that all of the returning players were Brown's recruits, Burke and Brown are also fairly close in age and both employed three young assistants for their staff. This may continue the cycle of comfort and trust between the players and their young coaches, and hopefully lead to a smooth transition to the Burke era.

It appears that Burke took a very reasonable amount of time - 41 days - to compile a staff with great potential. Although there are a number of question marks entering his first season as head coach in Emmitsburg, it does not appear that he has created any additional reasons for significant skepticism than would have already existed with any new coach.

Follow Dorsett on Twitter

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The final piece of the puzzle that many of us are eagerly awaiting to take shape is the use of the remaining two scholarships. I agree, Richard, that it could be best to eat the two scholarships and use them with an entire year of recruiting as opposed to picking up a borderline player late in the process. I do, however, think that at least one of them will be used and as I get more concrete information on the subject I'll post it.

Additionally, I know very little of the upcoming schedule; a tentative one does not even exist as of a week ago. I'm not saying there are no non-conference games on the docket, just that there is not an actual piece of paper that lists them all yet that has been made available.

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Lastly, and probably least importantly to you all, is that I verbally agreed to take a job on Tuesday. I'll write a post on it when I get a chance for anyone who is interested. Thanks for all your support and reading.

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Tweet of the Night during the first half of the NBA Finals from Michael Jordan's son, Marcus: "@SASBMJ NO ONE...And I mean NO ONE should EVER com par kobe Bryant to my dad an say that he is anywhere near close to my dad He's jagging this game"

And hopefully no one compares Marcus's grammar to that of a fourth grader. Twitter or not - he would lose.

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Interesting fact: My dad turned 50 yesterday - along with Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". Who else had a birthday yesterday? 2Pac Shakur (the best rapper of all-time), Phil Mickelson (best left-handed golfer of all-time) and Dana Collins - a fellow class of 2009 graduate, who pole vaulted for the Mount track team. I'm glad to know that my dad is in good company for birthday celebrations even if 2Pac couldn't make dinner!

BREAKING: Burke hires Hoop Group's Farrelly / Bye bye Burrell

According to a source, head coach Robert Burke has selected and hired Mike Farrelly, formerly a Hoop Group employee, as an assistant coach.


Farrelly has been a Director of Hoop Group ELITE for three years after coaching stops at Wilkes University as well as his alma mater, St. Joseph's University, according to the Hoop Group Web site. Farrelly was a three-year member of the Hawks team from 2000 - 2003 that featured Jameer Nelson of the Orlando Magic and Delonte West of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In Farrelly's time the team won two Atlantic 10 championships and made two NCAA tournament appearances.


This leaves the door open for one more assistant to join Burke's staff. According to an additional source, one of the four previous candidates mentioned on this blog was contacted recently about the vacant positions, although the source asked that that person's identity not be revealed. Since that person was not hired today, nor were they informed that they were out of the running for a position, it seems that Burke is on the verge of filling out his staff. As it has been 39 days since Burke was hired, this has been a perfectly reasonable amount of time to select a new staff as I explained earlier this month.


Farrelly, who turns 29 July 13, appeared in 31 games in three seasons with the Hawks.


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One additional note involving one-time Mount signee Justin Burrell. It appears all but official (although it may be official by now) that the Mount staff has given up on retaining the point guard, who will likely take his talents to prep school and explore options outside of Emmitsburg.


Other recruits have been seen visiting campus although it is unclear whether any additional offers have been extended.

UPDATED 3:02 p.m.: BREAKING: Alvis, devastated, fired as Mount softball coach

UPDATE AT BOTTOM

Larry Alvis has been fired as head coach of the Mount St. Mary's softball team, and confirmed as much in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Alvis says the he was notified Tuesday that he would no longer be the coach at the Mount, but did not want to offer too many details on the process as he still hopes to retain his position.

"I’m shocked and devastated, yes. That’s the best words I can come up with. I don’t feel I did anything to deserve this," Alvis said. "I want to coach at Mount St. Mary’s. I thought I had the program going in a good direction. I don’t know if I have a chance of staying at the Mount but I would want to stay at the Mount. I don’t want to leave; I want to finish what I started. I would hope I would have some support."

According to a source familiar with the situation, Alvis was likely ousted by some members of the departing senior class as well as some anonymous letters sent to the school's administration, which Alvis also spoke about briefly.

"I’m not sure what the benefit of anonymous letters can [be to] anybody," Alvis said.

The source said that multiple players quit the team near the end of the season and that many of the class of 2010 team members gave negative reviews of Alvis in their exit interviews. The underclassmen, however, were surprised to learn of Alvis's firing and do not all share the same feelings as the seniors, according to the source. Alvis can only hope that this is true.

"I don’t believe I’ve ever done anything to harm anybody. They’re not accusing me of doing anything devastating," Alvis said. "Just ask my players I think they know."

Alvis sent the returning players a text message around noon Wednesday confirming to them that he had been released.

"This is hard for me to write but I’m no longer your coach at the Mount. If you have any questions call me," read the text message from Alvis.

Audibly shook and at a loss for words, Alvis expressed great remorse over the decision and hopes he has the chance to tell his side of the story.

"I was told that it possibly came out of [President Thomas H. Powell's] office. Well I think if the president’s heard some negative things I think the president should hear the positive side, too. Don’t listen to one side of the story and go from there. I believe there’s always two sides to a story," Alvis stated. "I haven’t seen anything yet in writing that tells me that I can’t address what’s my side. It just doesn’t seem right. I feel like I’m being – I love that job. I love working with the young ladies. This ain’t easy.

"I’m trying to figure out my method for what do I do at this point? I don’t want to leave Mount softball. I wish they would reconsider. I don’t want to leave."

The source also stated that after the school's administration received negative reviews on Alvis from the senior class, none of the underclassmen were asked their opinion on whatever allegations were levied against Alvis.

One returning player, speaking off the record, went as far as to defend Alvis on Wednesday:

"I don’t think he should have been fired," the played said.

Alvis also suspects that some of the aspects of the program that he inherited, as well as the impossibility of keeping everyone on the team happy, contributed to his release.

"You got to do what you got to do to keep the program going. And I feel like that’s part of what’s haunting me still is what I inherited and the weeding out process, so to speak. It takes time to get kids," Alvis said. "I don’t know how you can keep everybody happy. I feel like I’m being held accountable of keeping everybody happy and I don’t know how that’s possible. If you’re carrying 22 players, nine of them play. How many does that make that’s going to be unhappy? You do the best you can … but you try to win games also"

This season's team had a record of 25-25 overall including a 7-12 mark in Northeast Conference play, putting the team in seventh place out of 11 in the standings. After beginning the year 7-1 including a tournament championship at the UNC-Wilmington Seahawk Classic, the team stumbled to an 18-24 finish including losses in 11 of its last 15 games.

Rising junior Lizz Christiansen led this year's squad with single-season program records of 11 home runs and 50 RBI. She was also named the NEC's Defensive Player of the Year and a First Team All-NEC selection along with class of 2010 third baseman Amanda Buckel, while Christiansen's classmate Taylor Beebe earned second-team honors at shortstop.

An injury to ace pitcher Nicole Pagano hampered the team as well. The freshman, who had surgery mid-season, began the year 4-1 with a 1.20 earned-run average in five starts including one shutout.

In six years Alvis compiled a 109-175 record in six seasons as head coach. In 2006 - his second season at the Mount - the team went 31-25 and qualified for the NEC tournament for the first time since 1998, earning Alvis NEC Coach of the Year honors.

"I stand on my record – fastest coach to get to 100 wins, right? The program’s got the most wins it’s ever had under my tenure [in 2006]," Alvis said. "I was very proud of what those young ladies [who made All-NEC] did and two of them are coming back. I must be reaching some of them, right? ... I’m not the coach [anymore] but I’d like to be the coach."

Before coming to the Mount, Alvis served as an assistant for the softball team at his alma mater, UMBC.


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An excerpt from an e-mail sent at 1:37 p.m. Wednesday to the Mount softball players from Director of Athletics Lynne Robinson:


"Dear Members of the Mount St. Mary’s University Softball Team:

I am writing to inform you that Coach Larry Alvis will not be returning to Mount St. Mary’s as our head softball coach next season.

While we are grateful to Coach Alvis for his six years of dedicated service to the Mount, we will now begin the process of finding a new head coach. Our goal is to have a new coach hired by August 1^st."

BREAKING: Paulus seen on campus for interview

Greg Paulus is in fact interested in coaching at Mount St. Mary's. So much so that he was seen interviewing with coach Robert Burke on campus Thursday.


As Burke has filled his first and second coaching posts and the third vacant with the possibility of adding an additional position, Paulus is likely pursuing the third assistant position as that is the only traditional coaching position still open.


Expect to see Burke use his Georgetown ties to fill one of the top two slots on his staff.


As for Paulus, the former Duke point guard would be a great addition to the Mount staff. Although it is somewhat perplexing that Paulus would pursue a job that carries a salary likely less than $30,000 - and probably closer to $20,000 - instead of making at least three times that much overseas, it would be the Mount's good fortune.


As I mentioned in the post speculating that Paulus may still be interested in coaching at the Mount, he would bring great recognition to the program. It is unlikely that he would stay around for more than two seasons, and possibly one, but Burke and the school should do everything it can to exploit his name if he is hired - and there is no reason to believe that he will not be.


He surely would be a great recruiter with a keen recognition of skilled, intelligent basketball players. Additionally, he would replace former third assistant Dan Engelstad as the youngest assistant who can most easily relate to the players as he is fresh out of his playing days. (Sam Atupem would fill that role as well if he is hired on Burke's staff in some form.)


Rest assured that the Mount would be nothing but a stepping stone for Paulus (as well as for Burke and the rest of his staff at some point), but while he is likely ours, we must make the most of it. Since all but one member of Burke's staff is in place, look for an official announcement within the next week, if not by the end of the month, on just whom he has hired. As a diehard Maryland fan during my childhood it pains me to say this, but I will be more than happy to see Paulus on the sidelines in Knott Arena.

BREAKING: UPDATED 5:44 p.m. - Robert Burke named Mount St. Mary's head coach

Robert Burke, the most recently former American assisant, also formerly a Georgetown assistant, has been named head coach of the Mount St. Mary's men's basketball team. There is a team meeting at 3:30 p.m., presumably with coach Burke. Details to follow later today.

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5:44 p.m.

First and foremost, you heard it here first. Before the school, any blog or sports Web site announced it.

Assistant coach Brion Dunlap, not Burke, met with the players in the locker room at 3:30 p.m. At approximately 5 p.m., Burke met the players for the first time. He informed them that he is hoping to keep Dunlap as his first assistant, but that is highly unlikely as Dunlap will probably reunite with Milan Brown at Holy Cross. Here is the MountAthletics.com release.