BREAKING: Burrell will follow Brown to Holy Cross

One-time Mount signee Justin Burrell, a Potomac (Va.) High School point guard, has committed to play at the College of the Holy Cross after he attends one year of prep school in the upcoming academic year, according to a source.


Burrell was supposed to enroll at the Mount this summer and join the men's basketball team in the fall as the heir apparent to Jeremy Goode. But after Milan Brown left the Mount for Holy Cross, Burrell received a partial release from Mount head coach Robert Burke and reopened his recruitment.


That recruitment ended today when Burrell gave a verbal commitment to become a Crusader in 2011 after attending Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Va., this year. Ironically, this is also the prep school Donte Morales, the other prize recruit of Brown's incoming Mount class who de-committed, attended before re-committing to UNC-Wilimington once Brown left.


Burrell was a Washington Post All-Metro Second-Team selection and was expected to compete with junior Lamar Trice for the starting point guard position this fall. Replacing Burrell and Morales, and joining original signee Jeff James of Bowie, Md., are Julian Norfleet and Josh Castellanos.

Tom Thumbs Down: Part II of II

Read Part I of Tom Thumbs Down from yesterday.

All this talk about the interview process and you’re probably wondering who exactly had a chance at this job. Well these were the six finalists who were brought to campus for interviews:

Robert Burke, Brion Dunlap, Jamion Christian, Martin Inglesby, Pete Strickland and Gary Nottingham, who was the head coach at Glenville State College in West Virginia during the time that Powell served as GSC’s president.

Those who doubted my belief that Powell has more confidence in Burke now than he ever did in Milan Brown, that Burke would be given more to work with, and that Brown was set up to fail has never been more evident than it is now.

Consider that Burke’s salary will be approximately 125 percent of what Brown made in his seventh season at the Mount. That’s right; Brown clawed his way to a six-figure salary needing a conference championship and the school's first-ever NCAA tournament victory just to “earn” a five-year contract extension.

Now all Burke had to do upon his selection was walk in the door and sign the papers and he was granted thousands upon thousands more in salary to go with his initial five-year contract.

(I’d like to see someone who works in the school anonymously comment on that.)

This undoubtedly will mean higher salaries for the three assistants on his staff (in the neighborhood of $50,000 each) when it is named.

And when it is named, an additional paid position akin to a graduate assistant thats existence was never granted for Brown will be occupied by Sam Atupem.

In summary, Powell is giving Burke more money, more positions, and in turn, a bigger vote of confidence. I have no problem with most of this – I wish he could give Burke more than he already is.

My problem is that Brown was never given any of these benefits.

Was it because he’s not Catholic? I don’t know I’m just asking based on Powell’s comments in the press release:

“Coach Burke was selected for his strong leadership and coaching skills, devotion to Catholicism and commitment to the academic success of his student-athletes.”

Brown certainly displayed the strongest of leadership, great coaching skills and made the graduation of his players a priority in his tenure – but while he is a devout Christian, he is not Catholic.

(For the record the Mount’s president is the only position on campus that requires its occupant to be Catholic, as Powell once informed me. I’m sure that wasn’t counting anyone involved with the church such as the Rev. Brian Nolan.)

I do know that since Burke has not officially announced the hiring of anyone for his staff yet, there are only two minorities in the Mount athletic department. They are both assistant coaches for women’s basketball, which means that head coach Brian Whitten chose them and Powell simply signed off on the decisions.

But as we learned from the press conference, as well as from my interview about his sister-in-law (from this story; definitely read it), Powell makes all the hiring decisions:

“Nobody gets offered a job at Mount St. Mary's until they get a letter from the president offering a job. There's only one person who's allowed to offer people jobs and that's me,” Powell said in January 2008.

So then we should give him credit for all the black professors he employs. Let’s count them:

Susan Samples…

(Crickets.)

That’s it. Scroll down to the “D” section of this page and click on each department, then click on faculty, and she is the only black professor you will find. (I don’t know who J. Michael Harpe is in the education department, but I’ve never heard anyone refer to him as a professor, let alone seen him on campus.)

The funny thing about Samples is that she was hired before Powell, which logically means that he could not have hired her.

Gasp!

My concern beyond basketball is the legitimate problem with diversity at Mount St. Mary’s. 

We have two black coaches and one black professor – neither of which was chosen by Powell – and we’re about to give a white, Catholic coach significantly more money and resources than we gave a black, non-Catholic coach?

As a white, Catholic alumni of the Mount, I’m offended. I am embarrassed to be associated with a school that gave me so much opportunity and so many memories, but is run so exclusively.

That which I can do in the meantime is limited; I can wait for Powell’s contract to expire on June 30, 2012 and I can refrain from donating any money to the Mount. When I’m older, less poor and the school is no longer run by Powell I plan on donating.

I’ll donate to the men’s golf program (if it still exists), to the men’s basketball program, which will hopefully still be run by a successful coach Burke, to the communications department and to other aspects of campus that shaped my career.

But to arrogance and selfishness? The only thing I will give to those causes is my vehement disapproval. 

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Please be sure to vote in the new poll on the top of the page on whether Powell should resign.

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Multiple attempts were made to contact Powell via telephone (where he was not reached as I later learned he was in New York for business) and via e-mail. He accepted an e-mail request one week ago, May 26, for an interview regarding the contents of this piece but did not subsequently make himself available.

UPDATE:

An excerpt of an e-mail I received from an employee in the Mount's communications department at 2:16 p.m. this afternoon:

"...would you stop by my office so we can talk about a few things?"

I wish I had the time.

At 3:03 p.m., literally seconds before I was about to post this, I received another e-mail from one of Powell's assistants regarding the scheduling of our interview for which he would not soon be available. I politely responded that I no longer needed to speak to Powell since our schedules were not able to align in time.

Tom Thumbs Down: Part I of II

What bothers me most about the hiring of Robert Burke was not the fact that he was hired – it is the manner in which it was done.

To be clear, Brion Dunlap is my guy; I was rooting for him to be head coach and I was disappointed that he didn’t get it.

And as long as Dunlap couldn’t get the job I’m sincerely pleased with the choice President Thomas H. Powell made in hiring Burke.

But I am taking this time to address the issues of inequality at Mount St. Mary’s and the lack of reverence for its history, namely in the basketball program.

Notice I did not say that it was a choice the school, the athletic department, or even athletic director Lynne Robinson made – it was Powell. He told us this himself at Burke’s introductory press conference.

“Little did I think when I was one* that I would get to select the next basketball coach. But I did. And thanks to the group of advisers,” Powell said.

*Powell’s reference to when he was one year old indicates his age the last time the Mount had to do an extensive search for a men’s basketball coach. Milan Brown was brought in as a “coach-in-waiting” under previous president, the late George Houston.

Notice how he said “I did” and refers to the rest of the search committee as “advisers”.

And I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with his self-righteous selection process if any one of the following things were true:

-Powell was the athletic director

-Powell had been around Mount St. Mary’s for most of his life such as athletic director Lynne Robinson

-Powell didn’t have a history of making ego-influenced decisions (just listen to the press conference)

-Powell knew anything about high-level basketball, other than how to keep score

Unfortunately, none of these things are true.

Therein lies the root of the problem that is Powell’s ego.

Except for rare, particular circumstances (none of which exist at the Mount) the president of a university should not be the one who actually chooses the coach. Should he oversee the process? Approve the committee’s selection? Even have the ability to veto its choice with good cause? Yes, yes and yes.

But what about the athletic director? What about Robinson?

Maybe you’ve heard of her. She went to the Mount and her last name used to be Phelan. She knows a few things about Emmitsburg. In fact she actually played basketball at the Mount.

So what would your reaction be if I told you that she didn’t even have a say in the process? Well she didn’t; ask anyone in the athletic department who was around for the search.

That metaphorical bone Powell threw her in the press conference was nothing but a smokescreen:

“We have a superb director of intercollegiate athletics,” said Powell, who postured for her supposed role in the process throughout the entire press conference.

She should be commended for the manner in which she bit her tongue and raised the corners of her lips to produce a believable smile that day. After all, this was supposed to be her big moment. Her legacy could have been linked to the new coach at the Mount – and it still will be – but unfortunately for her she had little to do with it.

Maybe she would have still chosen Burke, who as I said many times, looks to be a great choice on all accounts. (Again, the selection itself of Burke troubles me none.)

I can only imagine what it must have been like for her to sit through the interviews and other components of the selection process dictated by her boss – an outsider who has spent a fraction of the time at the Mount that Robinson has.

Surely that was a disappointing experience for the woman who may not have another chance to choose the head coach of the school’s staple athletic program, but it could not have equaled the sting she must have felt when Powell used the interviews with candidates to insult her father, Jim.

Jim Phelan, of course, has 830 career wins and holds NCAA records for the most games and seasons coached at one school. His retired “jersey” – the first of its kind in Knott Arena, now joined by those of two of his former players – overlooks the court that bears his name and the trademark bowtie that he always donned on the sidelines.

How difficult it must have been for her to inconspicuously pick her pride – let alone her jaw – off the floor of the room in which candidates were interviewed when Powell had this to say:

“I want to distance the men’s basketball program from Jim Phelan.”

That’s paraphrasing of course – not an exact quotation. But according to multiple candidates who interviewed for the job (none of which was Dunlap, who I did not speak to for this piece), Powell expressed to them that he was looking for someone who could take the program away from the legendary coach’s aura.

To suggest to even one (or in this case more) of the six interviewees that you were no longer interested in having the program associated with the man who put it on the map – Phelan – is embarrassing. In fact if Powell resigned this summer, you would hear little in the way of objections for a myriad of reasons.

The school would not even be an NCAA Division I institution if it were not for Phelan. So how ironic was this statement from Powell in the press conference?

“One of the nation’s smallest Division I programs, it’s Division I in every sense of the word. It’s Division I because we have great student-athletes, it’s Division I because we have a superb director of intercollegiate athletics and it’s certainly Division I when you look at the caliber of our coaches,” Powell said.

And how brazen was it for his wife to be seated next to Phelan? Mr. and Mrs. Powell surely do not communicate well as she did not get the memo about distancing herself from Phelan. And Powell must’ve forgotten his own motives when he said this to announce Phelan to everyone in the room:

 “Of course we have the coach of coaches inducted into the basketball hall of fame with us right here, coach Phelan. Coach Phelan stand up.”

Yack!

Someone get this man an academy award. Or a polygraph.

Part II (the better half) of Tom Thumbs Down to be posted tomorrow

Multiple attempts were made to contact Powell via telephone (where he was not reached as I later learned he was in New York for business) and via e-mail. He accepted an e-mail request one week ago, May 26, for an interview regarding the contents of this piece but did not subsequently make himself available.

Burke won over Powell, now working on players, fans

Robert Burke may not have been the players' first choice for head coach, in fact most of them had not heard of him, but that has not stopped Burke from winning them over in his first week on the job.

When he was selected as Milan Brown’s successor last week, the players responded bitterly over the shunning of first assistant coach Brion Dunlap, who had been Brown’s right-hand man for all seven years of the Brown era. So committed to Dunlap were the players that team manager Matt Yeshnik delivered a petition to Lynne Robinson before the selection was made that featured, among others, the signature of every eligible returning player.

One week later, not only have the players heard of Burke, but they are drinking his Kool-Aid.

“I really never knew him before. I was hurt that coach Bri didn’t get the job but we had to move on and coach Burke – I looked at his background, he had a good background and seemed like a good dude so I’m ready to go to work under him,” said returning team captain Shawn Atupem.

Fellow captain and rising senior Jean Cajou echoes Atupem’s sentiments.

“Me personally, I’m going to try to get on board with coach Burke as far as what he wants from us this summer coming up. What he expects from us,” Cajou said. “I already know because we already had our meeting and stuff, like really find out when we start playing, when we get into workouts and stuff like that.”

Cajou does, however, wonder how Burke will respond to team's established style of practices.

"I think we’re definitely thinking like when we get after each other in practice, how will he react? Because definitely with our team we’re really competitive and we’re really aggressive during practice," Cajou said. "I don’t know if he’s that type of dude yet, like I said we haven’t seen that. I hope he likes that and is encouraging that knowing that at the end of the day we all walk out and we’re all cool, but between those four lines, we’re going to compete."

As much as Burke has won over the players he has inherited, so has he won over the administration and some of the fans. This is largely due to the respect and knowledge Burke has shown for the history of the program, namely the work Brown and Jim Phelan have done.

“I do again want to acknowledge the pride that’s associated with Mount St. Mary’s basketball that coach Phelan and coach Brown, and especially coach Brown, he was put in a position where he was supposed to fail,” Burke said. “It’s almost impossible to follow someone like coach Phelan in this business and to succeed.

“And to the credit to the university and to coach Brown and most importantly to the players sitting there, the group was able to maintain, reestablish, and push that product forward. It will be our responsibility to continue that process and see if we can’t just take it a little bit further each year,” Burke added.

Phelan was in attendance and was asked by President Thomas H. Powell to stand for the crowd of approximately 50 people, which yielded the loudest applause of the afternoon. In addition to Phelan, many of the returning players, team managers and Mount coaches from other sports were in attendance. Burke’s wife Michelle along with seven-year-old son Connor and five-year-old daughter Ella were seated in the front row across the aisle from three print media members representing the Frederick News-Post, Carroll County Times and Hanover Evening Sun.

Burke used the introduction of his wife to put his sense of humor on display as well. After wondering whether he was the Mount’s first choice as its new head coach, which Powell stated that he was, Burke had this to say about his wife:

“I wasn’t Michelle’s first choice either, so that’s how it goes,” said Burke, drawing laughter from those in attendance.

Burke also showed an emotional side as he choked back tears twice when speaking about his family before acknowledging the big shoes he has to fill.

The respect Burke displayed for the program’s past was not only evident in his knowledge of its history, but also in the style of play the team employed under Brown.

“We’re winning so ‘if it’s not broke why fix it?’ would be my approach … I’m coming into a situation where the culture is as good as it can be probably,” Burke said. “The team will be characterized by being unselfish, by being competitive and by being confident in what they do.”

But that is not to say he does not plan on making a few changes.

“Coach Brown left a great foundation, he left a great defensive foundation and that will continue to be our foundation, but I believe that some of the things I’ve done offensively, I have some different offensive experiences,” Burke said. “I want to use my Princeton knowledge, I want to use my Siena knowledge … People seem to forget ... at Siena where we [were] top five [in the country] in scoring [for] three years ... and we pressed every possession.”

That would be an eye-opening transition for a Mount team that seldom pressed and was able to compete if its offense was in the top five of the NEC, not the country. The players are well aware of the offensive philosophy Burke brings to Emmitsburg that will hopefully compliment the aforementioned defensive foundation.

“He definitely told us that he’s like an offensive dude,” Cajou said. “He’s going to try to keep some of the stuff we’ve been doing as far as pushing the ball, playing up-tempo, but he’s going to mix it in with his type, which seems more like a slow-down, set style offense.

“I’m not worried about that because I feel that we can adapt to anything, especially if coach Burke is still letting us run up and down then I think the addition to his set style offense will only help us – I don’t think will hurt us,” Cajou said.

Burke also hinted that he may not schedule as ambitiously as his predecessor. When asked his philosophy, the first-time coach discussed using the non-conference schedule to prepare the team for NEC play while still competing for victories.

“Now we will have the approach, and I talked to Dr. Powell in the interview about this, we’re not just going to play whomever just to go play them,” Burke said. “We’re stepping on the court to win. I don’t care what’s on the other person’s jersey, or how big or little, or what arena we’re playing in. And so it is good to test yourself, hopefully you’re going to play some of those teams again in March when you win the NEC tournament.

“But yes, a variety of plays, styles of play helps so that you’re prepared for different styles of play. You know, you use your non-conference schedule to get your team ready, that’s what you’re doing,” Burke said.

Perhaps the most interesting portion of the press conference was Powell announcing that Burke’s contract was for five years. That matches the length of Brown’s new contract at Holy Cross, although Brown had seven years of head coaching experience to Burke’s zero before signing the new contract.

Additionally, it took Brown five years to earn a contract of that length at the Mount despite serving multiple seasons as an assistant to Jim Phelan before taking the reins. And Brown’s five-year vote of confidence did not come until April of 2008, a few weeks after he won the school’s first NEC tournament since 1999 and first NCAA tournament game ever.

This signals two things on behalf of the school, and namely, Powell: 1. He already has more confidence in Burke than he ever did in Brown. 2. Burke’s performance will have no correlation to how long he remains the coach at the Mount because the school surely would not be willing to pay two coaches at once if it had to buy-out Burke’s contract.

Burke, however, cannot be blamed for receiving such a generous first-time contract. All he did was pursue the job and sign the contract. It was Powell and company who took such a risk by granting him a lengthy contract.

But to say the school is stuck with Burke would be unfair. He has an impressive background for a first-time coach, handled himself well at the press conference and most importantly has already won over the players.

“Like I always say, change is just different, and something you gotta get used to. And I think after awhile we’ll get used to it,” Cajou said. “I’m just excited, I’m excited to see what’s next. I’m excited for us as a team. I’m excited for everybody, even all the young guys that haven’t played that much to see what they’re going to do for this opportunity. I’m excited.”

Atupem, while equally excited, says he has accepted the change and is in a calm frame of mind.

“I’m not really too worried anymore. I’m at ease now. I’m at ease,” Atupem said. “I’m just more focused on trying to get better than wasting my time on things I can’t control.”

The one man who has all the control now is Burke, and there are plenty of people eager to see what he does with it.

Cajou says he never asked for release / Sam Atupem on staff? / Burrell update

Mount St. Mary’s rising senior guard Jean Cajou says he never formally asked for a release from his National Letter of Intent at Mount St. Mary’s.

“The way I went about it I was like ‘if I had to leave, what would happen?’ I don’t know if I was like ‘I’m gonna leave,’ I just wanted to see,” Cajou said.

A 2009 – 2010 collegeinsider.com Mid-Major All-American Defensive team selection, Cajou confirmed Monday that he did speak to director of compliance Jen Wivell about his options if he got a release. Cajou, however, says he stopped short of asking her for paperwork that would grant him leave from the school once he met new Mount coach Robert Burke.

“I wanted to keep the family aspect and I felt that if I had left that I’d be letting my team down – letting my family down,” Cajou said. “I figured that wasn’t the right thing to do for myself, for my family, for my team and honestly for coach [Milan] Brown.”

Cajou, whose loyalties to his former coach run deep, was disappointed that first assistant Brion Dunlap was not named head coach, but says his animosity over that decision was quelled once he heard about and met coach Burke.

Said Cajou: “[I will] try to do whatever [Burke] asks us to do because I’m definitely trying to go out with a bang. I’m trying to get another championship."

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ATUPEM MAY BE PART OF BURKE'S STAFF

Class of 2009 Mount graduate and a four-year member of the men's basketball team Sam Atupem may be in line to get a spot on coach Burke's staff. Atupem was seen at the press conference as well as speaking to Burke afterwards, which could mean that he is being considered to be part of Burke's staff.

Although there is a chance that Atupem could be named third assistant, he would likely find himself in a director of basketball operations or video coordinator position that covers his graduate classes and provides a modest stipend if he is hired. Atupem was unavailable for comment after the press conference.

A four-year starter for the men's basketball team, Atupem, alongside classmate Markus Mitchell, was a frontline stalwart of the Mount's most recent NEC championship team in 2008. In Atupem's first year away from playing for the Mount, he worked under former second assistant basketball coach Tyrone Perry as a graduate assistant in the Mount's Third Century Scholars program for minority students and was a volunteer assistant for the men's team.

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COMMITMENT UPDATE

Justin Burrell is still undecided as to whether he will come to the Mount next year. According to players who have spoken to Burrell, coach Burke talked to Burrell and remains optimistic that he will be able to retain the 5-foot-8 point guard who garnered Washington Post All-Metro second-team honors this season.

Jeff James from Bowie High School will honor his commitment to play at the Mount next season, while the third member of the original class of 2014 recruiting class, Donte Morales, has since signed with UNC-Wilmington.

Save for walk-on Mike Harvey, all of last year's eligible returning players will be back including David Golladay and Ja'Colby Wells. Wells was the last of this year's freshmen class who was up in the air after Raven Barber and Kristijan Krajina announced they were staying. Golladay redshirted this season and would have been free to transfer without having to sit out for a year. Harvey plans to play at Mary Washington, an NCAA Division III school in Fredericksburg, Va.

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ROBERT MORRIS TO HIRE TOOLE

The Colonials are expected to announce the promotion of assistant coach Andrew Toole to head coach tomorrow, filling the void left by departing coach Mike Rice. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, this paves the way for NEC Rookie of the Year Karon Abraham to stay with the team.

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Check back tomorrow for details on the men's lacrosse's MAAC championship as well as more information on coach Burke.

Something's Bru-in in The Alamo

I still have UCLA over Carolina, 83-79. That was my pick the day after Selection Sunday, even though The Mount played Carolina that Friday.
I have a valid explanation for picking against the team I work for and it's the same reason I picked Coppin State to beat us in the play-in game.
When we played at St. Francis (Pa.) on Feb. 23, and I asked coach Milan Brown who he had that night, he picked the Red Flash. He then picked Monmouth the following Saturday, and all of our opponents through the NEC Tournament. Those were all part of our five-game win streak that propelled us into NCAA's, and therefore I stuck with another one of my superstitions until it ran out in Raleigh.
And with my conscience clear let's shift to tonight's matchups.
I don't give Kansas a shot, not only because they're more overrated than Saw IV, but also because the top two teams they've played by seeds are 8 UNLV and 10 Davidson. Clearly Davidson didn't deserve to be as low as a 10, and while UNLV was a decent 8, the Jayhawks haven't had a thorough test.
I don't mean to discredit the 59-57 struggle they had against Davidson. The Wildcats, although carried by Stephen Curry, get contributions from all of their players. At the same time, they don't have a Danny Green coming off the bench, not to mention Tyler Hansbrough and Deon Thompson inside.
After seeing the Heels in person I didn't think that anyone would be able to beat them this year if they're firing on all cylinders, on top of the fact that Kansas is overrated and trying too hard to use the Roy Williams thing as motivation.
I had Memphis in the Final Four of my original bracket until I realized that I had put all four No. 1s in San Antonio and promptly slipped Texas out of Houston and into the Alamo. I believe that Memphis has the most talented starting five in the country. Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey are better than any top three including Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Tyler Hansbrough.
I don't, however, see how leaving Andre Allen at home won't be a distraction for the Tigers. And most importantly, the Bruins are playing in their third straight Final Four and have Kevin Love who I believe to be the missing link.
My early final score projection of 83-79 could be a little high with UCLA's defense and Carolina's fresh emphasis on the same side of the floor.
I won't be disheartened if the Tar Hells win though. That would strengthen an argument for the Mount as the No. 2 team in the country.