Props for Powell after Christian Selection

I first spoke with Jamion Christian in May 2010, days after he lost out on the Mount men’s basketball head coaching job to Robert Burke.

I had sent Jamion a Facebook message asking if we could talk on the phone. He said yes even though we hadn't met. All I wanted to ask was whether he was interested in being one of Burke’s assistants, but he told me more.

"I wouldn’t go for the first assistant job, no disrespect to coach Burke, but my goal is to be a head coach at Mount St. Mary’s one day or be a head coach at some level at some place," Jamion told me nearly two years ago.

At the time he was William & Mary’s second assistant. He added back then: “I think we’ve got something truly special going on here that I’d really only leave to be a head coach somewhere.”

(He left William & Mary to be a VCU assistant under Shaka Smart that offseason, so I guess he was only half-lying.)

Fortunately for the Mount, that day came years sooner than expected. And while Jamion deserves congratulations, I’m also happy to credit one of my biggest editorial targets: President Thomas H. Powell.

It’s no secret I didn’t like the Burke hire. I thought Brion Dunlap or Jamion should have been selected. The Mount not only needs a good coach, but someone who understands the campus. The students, administrators, local residents – the combination of them is unlike anywhere else. We do things “differently.” Mostly with pride, but sometimes with thinly-veiled shame.

So it’s important, not only to passionate alums, but for the good of the university, that we make the most of our limited resources. In 2010, Powell miserably failed to do that, and Burke shamed us on and off the court because of it.

This time, though, was different. We were scared by rumors that Burke assistant Matt Henry, who finished the season as interim head coach, was a shoe-in for the job. Not scared because of Henry himself, but because no one else was going to be considered for the school’s biggest coaching job. But the more days that passed, the less frequent the search updates.

Then, one glorious Friday night in March, word leaked that Jamion had gotten the job. This was great not only because the class of 2004 graduate meets the aforementioned requirements to coach at the Mount, but also because of how he was chosen.

Athletics director Lynne Robinson had a say, as did other prominent, athletic-minded people who care about the Mount. Powell proactively sought their opinion, to the point that they were surprised. Lynne was even included in the initial press release and led the press conference this time.

So I salute you, Dr. Powell, for a job well done. As much as I respect your efforts on the west side of campus, I don’t think you have much to add in the east, and that’s not meant as an insult. There are, however, some great people working in the ARCC, and others who have moved on, but know Knott Arena far better than you. (Again, not an insult.) I thank you for being part of the well-informed group that chose Jamion. I look forward to returning to Jim Phelan Court next season to watch the Mountaineers in action.

By the way, I already donated $100 to the annual fund this year, and that was before you hired Jamion. Just wait until 2013. For the money and the basketball.

As Mount Falls, Colonials Enjoy Continued Success

In 2008, Mount St. Mary's men's basketball won the Northeast Conference championship. Best three weeks of my life.

The next year, we lost the championship to Robert Morris on a BS buzzer-beater. The year after that – my final as head manager – the Colonials beat us in the semifinals en route to their second consecutive title.

That offseason, Mount head coach Milan Brown was hired by Holy Cross while Mike Rice left Robert Morris for Rutgers. Robert Morris replaced Rice with his assistant, Andrew Toole. Brown was replaced by outsider Robert Burke, whose qualities included his "devotion to Catholicism." (I wasn't happy, but I kept an open mind.) Brown's first assistant, Brion Dunlap (yes, my friend), was shunned, and joined his boss in Worcester.

Two years later, Toole's troops will play their fourth consecutive title game Wednesday (this with their best player suspended the entire season). Meanwhile, in Emmitsburg, Burke was placed on administrative leave Feb. 15, and there hasn't been an update since. (UPDATE: Burke's resignation was announced shortly after this post went live.) The seventh-seeded Mount lost a first-round road game by 19 in last year's NEC tournament and didn't even qualify this season.

Funny how Robert Morris, the program that opted for an in-house hire, had a smoother transition, and maintained its success.

Of course, Mount president Thomas H. Powell's quotations were all over the press releases announcing Burke's hire in May 2010, but athletic director Lynne Robinson wasn't even quoted. (Even the video for the press conference has been removed.) Then, when Burke was abruptly placed on leave, only Robinson was quoted.

If Burke doesn't return, maybe Robinson should ever-so-graciously be allowed to lead the hiring process this time. You know, since it's her job.

Powell's relative seeking hire

This article originally appeared on the now-defunct www.themountainecho.com. It has been republished here for reference purposes.


January 23, 2008

A new job opening in the admissions office called "Metro New York Regional Coordinator" may be filled by President Thomas Powell’s sister-in-law, Theresa Mahoney. The job, however, is news to human resources.

Director of Human Resources Barbara Miller and her secretary say they are unaware of any such job opening, and do not have it posted on the Mount's Web site, nor is it posted in the Department of Human Resources, the two places where they said all of their jobs are listed. The admissions department did not have any jobs listed as of 3 a.m. this morning.

Powell, however, said that this is a mistake and that the job should be posted. "I'm surprised," Powell said, "because the position is a new position that we're developing to better recruit students in the 22 Catholic high schools that are on Long Island and both Brooklyn and Queens and Nassau and Suffolk counties."

Personnel from the admissions office interviewed Mahoney at 1:30 p.m. and she was seen taking a tour of the campus around 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.

"I don't know if I'm getting it [the job], but I think so," Mahoney said. "I'm going to be like a permanent presence on Long Island so that I'll be the go-to person between the alumni and the Mount. I can't wait to spread the word to Long Island."

According to Powell, though, the process is far from over.

"She has not been offered a job. 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 a phone interview.

According to the Mount St. Mary's Governing Documents that can be found at www.msmary.edu, "all positions will be posted for a minimum of three days." The documents later state that positions are not required to be posted for "temporary assignments, sub-contracted assignments, jobs being filled from within the same department, and positions reporting directly to the President of the University."

This position, however, is to be a full-time position and "the Regional Coordinator reports jointly to the Dean of Admissions and Enrollment Management and the Director of Alumni Relations," not Powell, according to a preliminary job description obtained from the admissions office.

Despite the claims that Mahoney has not been offered a position, she already has an e-mail account, which Powell said is also news to him.

According to Sue Lindsay of Informational Services who is in charge of creating e-mail accounts for individuals on campus, no applicant for a full-time position is granted an account until they are officially hired. Not even during the interview process, the state that Powell said Mahoney is undergoing, would that person be given an e-mail. She said the date which accounts were created is confidential.

"I'm going to get right on it and check that out," Powell said of her e-mail account. "I'll find out how somebody is jumping the gun."

Powell added that the position had been cut in the early 1990s due to budget constraints.

Whoever does fill the position will work primarily out of the Long Island area and receive a salary in the low $30,000 range, according to Powell.

He said that he did recommend Mahoney for the position because of her professionalism and experience with parents among other things that he felt made her a strong candidate.

When asked when she heard about the position, Mahoney said, "a couple of months ago. I just had my interview today and I got to meet Dean [of Admissions and Financial Aid Stephen] Neitz and [Director of Alumni Relations] Ms. [Maureen] Plant."

When asked about how she heard about the job Mahoney cited relatives that work at the Mount.

"They suggested that since I do live on Long Island that they recommended me for the job so I came for an interview," Mahoney said.

Mahoney confirmed that Powell was the relative who spoke with her and that he had told her about it "recently," not a couple months ago. At that point Mahoney declined to answer any further questions and continued her tour of the campus.

According to sources within the admissions office, the number of applicants from Long Island is expected to increase for the third consecutive year under the current recruiter that covers that region.

Powell confirmed that other than Mahoney being his relative, she has no other ties to Mount St. Mary's. She graduated from the New York Institute of Technology in 1983 with a major in fine arts and a minor in education.

Powell predicts national championship for women's lacrosse? Fine with me

I should have read the the entire press release (below in full) before I wrote the last post, because I would have seen what President Thomas H. Powell said about the women's lacrosse program's future under Lindsey Munday:


"We're excited to welcome Coach Lindsey Munday to the Mount," said President Dr. Thomas Powell.  "She brings a national presence along with great talent and experience and exemplifies the formation of character we try and instill in our athletes. I am confident this dynamic coach will take us to the next level and bring home a national championship."


My first reaction to this was, "A national championship at the Mount? Powell is one crazy son of a gun, and has no idea what he's talking about."


Then I thought, you know what? I have been complaining all this time about us setting our standards too low and hiring people for cheap. I don't know what we hired Lindsey Munday for, but damn, it has to be worth it.


So I have zero criticism for Powell's quote. Props to the president for dreaming big. Who cares if our only team national championship came in the 60's in basketball's "College Division"?

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.

Men's lacrosse is the favorite son in Emmitsburg (or should be)

Men’s basketball is no longer the top priority in the Mount St. Mary’s athletic department. At least it should not be.

The men’s lacrosse team, and to some degree, the women’s lacrosse team, need to be the big boys (and girls) on campus.

That does not mean the basketball teams should be neglected, nor should they receive any less attention or funding than they do now (in fact an increase in both would be fine), but they cannot be the top priority.

Not with Tom Gravante’s men’s laxers coming off of what is probably the best season in school history. School record 12 wins, second-ever NCAA tournament appearance, defeated two nationally ranked teams – both on the road, and best of all, almost all of the team’s big guns are coming back next year.

If there were ever a chance for a sport at the Mount to be nationally ranked in the NCAA Division I era, this is it. The men’s lacrosse team was this close to being ranked this year after beating No. 19 Robert Morris, and if it had followed up a win at No. 10 Lafayette with a win against No. 11 Georgetown, it would have been a top 15 team.

Alas the men fell to Georgetown 11-6 – it was the Mount’s fourth game in 11 days, three of which were on the road, and just three days before a game in Detroit for which they would have to fly – and the pollsters stopped voting for the Mountaineers, who were three spots from the top 20 the week before playing Lafayette and Georgetown.

After going nearly unblemished in MAAC play (and eventually avenging the only loss to Siena in the MAAC championship) the men showed that their early season victories were no fluke.

We already have a wonderful stadium, brand new locker rooms and coaches we want to keep around in both the men’s and women’s programs. Now we need some capital.

Gravante stated last week that he believes the team has won five MAAC titles since he’s been here even though only two of them qualified the team for the NCAA tournament. As for the women, Sonia LaMonica kept the women’s team afloat this year with a shorthanded roster in her first season as head coach.

LaMonica is better known, however, for her work ethic and uncompromisingly high standards she sets for her players, who love her.

And for the first time this season, both teams had two paid assistants who received a stipend. Next year, however, one of those assistants will become full-time for both teams. Let’s make it worthwhile. I’m not talking a $10,000 salary for each team’s full-time assistant and a $5,000 stipend for the other one.

Pony up the cash, Tommy P (our president). Twenty-thousand dollars should be the absolute minimum we’re willing to pay a full-time assistant to coach any of the sports here, let alone some of our most successful. Both teams have capable assistants in place, so why scare them away with an insulting salary when they will need to work for full-time pay at some point? Let’s give them an offer they would have some trouble refusing, and if they do, we’ll be paying enough to bring in a capable successor.

(Or did we not learn our lesson with Denise Wescott? I mean, we got lucky with LaMonica, but really, how many bullets can we dodge? Just because we're a Catholic school doesn't mean God is going to throw us a lifeline every time stupid athletic decisions are made. Oh yeah, see ya later, coach Brown and staff. You get the point. Right? You know who I'm talking to and it's not Lynne Robinson.)

Maryland is the hotbed for lacrosse – how lucky we are to reside in the state that is home to the best prep lacrosse in the country (sorry, New York). It would be foolish to run a program that many of the Maryland high school players would consider second-tier.

With all that being said, I can guarantee you that Tom Gravante never wins another MAAC championship for as long as he coaches at the Mount.

That’s because the Mount is joining the NEC next year, making every sport at the Mount a member of the NEC. While that may not seem like a big deal, the NEC will operate with teams that have been uncapped for quite some time while the MAAC just recently became uncapped. What I mean by that is that until recently, MAAC members were only allowed to give out a capped number of scholarships regardless of how much money each school had to offer recruits. Each year that number increased by two scholarships until it recently allowed its members to grant the NCAA maximum of 12.6 scholarships to each school. Unfortunately, the Mount never got the memo and still caps itself. (Take that in as many ways in which you can interpret it.)

There will be no such lag in the NEC and many of the teams the Mount will be joining – such as well-heeled Bryant in Sacred heart – in that conference have been operating under a full budget for years.

The Mount, however, only has four scholarships to give, according to Gravante. That’s the same as Wagner, which has a 2-74 in its last five seasons including going 0-45 from 2006 – 2008.

Gravante is doing a lot with a little and has been for years. He could accept a Wagner performance to match his Wagner budget, but he doesn’t.

Of course the Mount has had down years, but that is to be expected with this shoestring budget. If we want to compete on a consistent basis, we’re going to need more cash. Like 8.6 scholarships and $25,000-plus for a full-time assistant – times two (to cover both programs.)

Like someone rich always said; scared money don’t make money. It’s time for the Mount to stop being scared. Although there’s probably a better chance this administration will take the statue of Mary off the mountain before it starts investing some serious money into athletics.

If it does not act soon, this window of opportunity will close. Focusing just on the men’s team, the future could not be brighter. (The women and their not-bad-looking head coach are more than welcome to tag along for the ride, and any other activities for which they wish to tag along.)

First of all, junior goalie T.C. DiBartolo needs a nickname. I’m thinking Barnum, Bailey or both. The man is a circus act inside the crease and best of all, the team MVP is back next year.

So are offensive stalwarts Brett and Bryant Schmidt (the BB guns?), Cody can’t-decode-me Lehrer – fourth in the nation in goals per game this season, even without a goal in his final two games – Andrew “Agent Zeros” Scalley (he scored the MAAC championship winner with zeros on the clock, a buzzer beater. You can’t think of anything better so stop making fun of these nicknames), Ben “Bear” Trapp (because he wins so many faceoffs, it’s like he gets the ball in a bear trap and won’t let it go) and a slew of other important players are all coming back.

Thanks for everything, Matt Nealis, Russell Moncure, Drew Dunn, Jim O’Shea and all the other seniors. You will be missed. But hopefully not too much.

At least not if the Mount does what any sensible school would do and invests in the one program that has glimmering hope to become a national power.

All eyes are not on us – but they could be. What are we going to do about it? What are you, Mount administration, going to do about it? (It's not a rhetorical question.)

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.