Brey, Barnes content with jobs
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
March 17, 2005

The search for Pete Gillen’s replacement is two days old and already it’s getting reaction on a national scope.

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, whose name has been linked to the UVa vacancy, was asked about his interest after the Fightin’ Irish fell to Holy Cross in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday night.

“With Virginia, my track record is I’ve been pretty committed here,” Brey said after the loss. “We’ve got some work to do with our young guys. I’m committed to Notre Dame - don’t let anyone speak for me.”

Brey, whose team finished 17-12 after the 78-73 loss to Holy Cross on its home floor, has recruited a strong class to Notre Dame for next season. While reiterating his commitment to Notre Dame, Brey took general aim at the coaching speculation at this time of year.

“I find it kind of funny because it’s amazing how job speculation becomes more than the NCAA and NIT [Tournaments] this time of year. It’s unbelievable. It’s juicy gossip,” Brey said. “I’m going to meet with my players and get on the road recruiting. That’s where my head’s at.”

Brey concluded that comment by saying that he’s done commenting about the Virginia job.

“You have my statement. That’s it,” Brey said.

Texas coach Rick Barnes, another of those mentioned in connection with the UVa job, told the Austin American-Statesman on Sunday that he is “happy at Texas” and intends to remain there after this season.

Texas Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds said no school has contacted him seeking to interview Barnes.

Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage is in Cleveland for the first- and second-round NCAA Tournament contests. Each member of the NCAA Basketball committee is assigned to one of the eight first- and second-round sights.

Littlepage has stated flatly that the search will last four to six weeks.

Sources indicated Wednesday that while preliminary “feelers” have already been put out on certain candidates, the search will not truly begin in earnest until the beginning of next week.

Little interest thus far in vacancy at Virginia
College notebook by Doug Doughty
The Roanoke Times

Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage, a member of the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee, will be in Cleveland to observe first- and second-round games starting Thursday.

Among the participating coaches who might interest Littlepage, who is in the market for a new coach to replace Pete Gillen, are West Virginia's John Beilein and Alabama's Mark Gottfried. The field in Cleveland includes Wake Forest, incoming ACC member Boston College and Littlepage's alma mater, Pennsylvania, where he served as men's head basketball coach from 1982-85.

Somewhat surprisingly, Littlepage has not been besieged by job-seekers since the Gillen announcement Monday afternoon.

"No one is going to risk putting their name out unless there is a legit shot for them at an opening," said Littlepage in response to an e-mail. "Most of what I'm receiving is e-mails with suggestions. Those that are credible have been thought of already.

"Little happens in the first few days since most of the really good ones are coaching their teams. I'd expect more activity after this weekend with the tournament fields narrowing down."

Finding a home

Harding Nana, a 2001 Virginia Tech basketball signee, was named to the All-Colonial Athletic Association first team after averaging 18.5 points and 10.4 rebounds this season for Delaware.

Nana, who played in three games for Tech in 2001-2002 before redshirting, did not play at all the following season before leaving the team in December. Nana, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound junior, had 27 points and 19 rebounds for the Blue Hens in a season-ending loss to Virginia Commonwealth in the CAA tournament.

• Ex-Virginia basketball player Majestic Mapp finished as the leading scorer (18.2) for West Georgia, which went 23-7 after losing in the first round of the Division II tournament. Mapp had more than 100 assists but was the shooting guard for West Georgia, leading the team in 3-point field goals with 92. Among ACC players, only J.J. Redick finished the regular season with more than 88 3-point field goals.

Dean Smith says Peterson should not have been fired
By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS : AP Sports Writer
Mar 16, 2005 : 6:46 pm ET

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Esteemed North Carolina coach Dean Smith said Tennessee should have given his former player, Buzz Peterson, another year as coach.

Peterson's firing was not handled well and reflects poorly on the school, Smith said Wednesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

"Who am I to be telling Tennessee how to run their program -- but I think it could have been done much better. And ideally (Peterson should have) another year and let him know it would just be one more year," Smith said.

"I know he's capable, and I'm sure it would come through."

Peterson and his roommate Michael Jordan played under Smith on North Carolina's 1982 national championship team.

Smith, who retired in 1997, and current Tar Heels coach Roy Williams called Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton and UT President John Petersen last week before the Southeastern Conference tournament to voice their support for Peterson.

The Volunteers finished the season 14-17, the second losing record in four years for Peterson. Hamilton fired Peterson on Sunday, and the decision was made public on Monday.

Peterson told the AP on Tuesday he was surprised by his dismissal, particularly after a discussion he had with Hamilton after Tennessee beat Arkansas in the first round of the SEC tournament.

Hamilton said he later apologized to Peterson for any misunderstanding.

"I just think it could have been handled differently by the athletic director," Smith said. "That's a hard one for me. I don't want to deal in other people's business, but it's a way to treat people. If you're going to do it, don't lead them on."

When asked if he thought the decision to fire Peterson made Tennessee look bad, Smith replied: "To me it does, but maybe that's just what it is today."

"(Duke coach) Mike Krzyzewski, after three years, he was really way down ... and people wanting him gone. You shouldn't listen to boosters anytime. It happened to me in my fourth year. I know there were some big boosters that wanted me (gone), but the chancellor was a strong guy."

Hamilton said Wednesday he did not have anything more to say about Peterson's dismissal.

"I've got to move on," Hamilton said. "I think I'm at a point where any further comment in unhealthy."

Tennessee has hired the firm Champ Search, led by former NCAA President Cedric Dempsey, to help find Peterson's replacement. The firm has already made some contacts, Hamilton said.

Auburn coach Jeff Lebo, Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight, Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz, among others, have been reported as possible candidates. Tennessee interviewed Lebo for the job four years ago before choosing Peterson. Smith wouldn't say if he would encourage or discourage Lebo from going to Tennessee.

"I'm sure he's set at Auburn. That would be up to Jeff. I'm sure we would talk about it if he was interested," Smith said.

Smith also spoke to Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt, who voiced her support to the Tennessee administration along with former Tennessee athletes Peyton Manning and Todd Helton.

Peterson was hired at Tennessee in 2001 after one season at Tulsa where he led the team to the NIT championship. He coached the previous four seasons at Appalachian State, which won the Southern Conference tournament championship in 2000 and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

The Vols did not reach the NCAA tournament during his four years.

Peterson said he would like to find another coaching job, but plans to stay in Knoxville until the end of the school year.

"If he gets another job, you'll see a great job done by Buzz Peterson I know that," Smith said.

East Carolina hires Stokes as new coach
By AARON BEARD : AP Sports Writer
Mar 16, 2005 : 6:35 pm ET

Before Ricky Stokes ever played on a pair of Final Four teams for Virginia, coach Terry Holland told him he was too small to play point guard in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Two decades later, Holland is giving his former player another chance to prove people wrong -- this time by reviving East Carolina's struggling men's basketball program.

The South Carolina assistant coach took over Wednesday in Greenville, replacing Bill Herrion in a move Pirates fans hope marks a step forward for a program that has had to fight to stay out of the Conference USA basement.

"The only way I know how to (win games) is hard work," Stokes said at a news conference. "For me, there's no substitute. We have the resources and the fan support, so all that's left is for us to do it."

That's been a long-running challenge at East Carolina. At Drexel, Herrion went to the NCAA tournament three times and compiled a 121-32 record in eight years. In Greenville, he managed just a 70-98 record -- and no NCAA tournament trips -- in six seasons.

Herrion announced his resignation last month, though he coached through the end of a 9-19 season.

East Carolina has just two NCAA appearances in program history, the last coming in 1993, and traditionally has had trouble finding its share of the spotlight in the shadows of ACC schools Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State. But Holland said his 5-foot-10 former player is the man to turn things around.

"I'm very partial to people and institutions that have to prove themselves," Holland said. "I'm partial to East Carolina that way, and Ricky Stokes falls into that category. He was told by people, including me, that because of his size he couldn't play in the ACC. He proved everybody wrong."

Stokes has previous head coaching experience at Virginia Tech. He bracketed that job with stints as an assistant to Dave Odom at Wake Forest and more recently at South Carolina.

Stokes wasted no time assembling a staff, announcing immediately that former Chattanooga and Virginia Commonwealth coach Mack McCarthy will be his associate head coach. McCarthy coached the Mocs to the round of 16 in the 1997 NCAA tournament.

Wednesday's announcement came during a break in the NIT schedule for South Carolina, which beat Miami 69-67 on Tuesday night. The Gamecocks next face the winner of the Arizona State-UNLV matchup. Stokes said he and Odom would play it by ear on whether he would stay with the Gamecocks through the end of the season or begin work on his own program.

"Ricky's departure from our staff leaves a void that will be difficult to fill," Odom said in a statement. "Personally I could not be happier for Ricky as he has worked hard to earn this opportunity."

In four seasons at Blacksburg (1999-2003), Stokes coached Virginia Tech to a 46-69 record being replaced by Seth Greenberg.

Stokes said he always expected that he would get another chance as a head coach.

"All things don't work out all the time, but if you have faith and you're doing the right things, then you're doing your best," he said. "I fully expected to get another shot. I didn't know when and didn't know how, but I kept my fingers crossed. A lot of times when you're not looking is when things happen."

Greenberg credited Stokes for helping the Hokies transition from the Atlantic 10 to the Big East Conference. Virginia Tech moved to the ACC this season, and finished 8-8 in the league with several players recruited by Stokes.

"There's no doubt that the foundation Ricky laid has enabled us to enjoy the success we have now," said Greenberg, who was named league coach of the year this week.

As a player at Virginia, Stokes was part of Cavalier teams that played in four NCAA tournaments. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant during the 1984-85 season, joining Odom on Holland's staff.

Most teams don't graduate 50 percent
A study finds that 42 of the 65 tournament men's teams graduated less than 50 percent of its players, but women's teams did much better.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 17, 2005

ORLANDO, FLA. -- A study says 42 of the 65 teams playing in the men's NCAA tournament graduated less than 50 percent of their players.

The graduation rate statistics, compiled in a study released Tuesday by the University of Central Florida, also found that women's teams in the NCAA tournament continue to graduate players at a much higher level. The numbers are based on athletes who entered the universities from 1994 to 1997 and were or were not able to graduate in six years.

If the NCAA's new academic reform plan was in place, the teams with less than 50 percent graduation rates would face penalties that include loss of scholarships and a ban on postseason play.

The NCAA has said penalties won't be issued until 2004-05 graduation data is included, which will happen in the 2005-06 academic year.

"Regarding graduation rates for women, we can cut down the nets in celebration. As for men's graduation rates, especially for African-American student-athletes, the dance has barely begun," said Richard Lapchick, director of UCF's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

The study also found an increasing disparity between the graduation rates of white and black athletes on NCAA tournament teams.

Two men's team, LSU and Minnesota, failed to graduate a basketball player, according to numbers supplied by the 2004 NCAA Graduation Rates Report. Two No. 1 seeds - Illinois (47 percent) and Washington (45 percent) - graduated less than half of its players.

Bucknell and Utah State both graduated 100 percent, but only four other schools topped 70 percent.

Numbers looked much better for women's teams, where only six schools in the 64-team field failed to graduate at least 50 percent, while 35 graduated at least 70 percent. Eight schools graduated at least 90 percent with Holy Cross, Vanderbilt and Montana registering 100 percent.

All four of the top-seeded women's team graduated at least 53 percent.

When the numbers were broken down by race, the study showed 40 women's teams graduated at least 70 percent of their white players and 24 graduated at least 70 percent of their black players - more than double the numbers for the men's teams.

Only 17 men's teams graduated at least 70 percent of white players while just 10 had the same percentage for black players.

Ten women's teams failed to graduate a black student-athlete while only two failed to graduate a white player. On the men's side, nine schools each failed to graduate white or black student-athletes.

Graduation rate numbers did not include Ivy League schools - Dartmouth women and Pennsylvania men - which do not report graduation rates.

ECU's Holland chooses Stokes
AD pulls surprise in naming coach
Stokes played at Virginia.
By JAYMES POWELL JR. AND CAULTON TUDOR, Staff Writers

GREENVILLE -- Terry Holland is apparently a creature of habit.

The East Carolina athletics director has once again tapped South Carolina to fill a head coaching position. This time Holland chose Gamecocks assistant Ricky Stokes to take over as the Pirates' men's basketball head coach.

Holland and university chancellor Steve Ballard introduced Stokes as East Carolina's new coach at a Wednesday afternoon news conference, just three months after the pair introduced former South Carolina football assistant Skip Holtz as the school's new head football coach.

"I believe that in Ricky Stokes, we have someone who will be a leader -- not only for our basketball program, but for this community as well," Holland said. "He's going to be a very good coach for us."

RICKY STOKES

AGE: 42

FAMILY: Wife, Karen, and 8-year-old daughter, Sydney

PLAYING CAREER: University of Virginia, 1980-84. An undersized but tenacious guard, Stokes averaged 4.8 points over his career. He also had 215 assists, 173 turnovers and 140 steals. Virginia had tremendous teams in the era with center Ralph Sampson but never could break through and win an ACC Tournament title. However, the Wahoos did reach the Final Four twice in Stokes' career.

Virginia made it in 1981, losing to North Carolina in the semifinals, and then made a surprising run to the Final Four in 1984, the year after Sampson graduated.

ASSISTANT COACHING CAREER: Stokes has been an assistant at Bowling Green, Wake Forest, Virginia and Texas and spent the past two seasons as an assistant at South Carolina.

HEAD COACHING CAREER: Had a 46-69 record in four seasons at Virginia Tech before being fired after a 12-17 record in 2003.

(N&O RESEARCH)

Stokes has an agreement in principle, East Carolina associate athletics director Nick Floyd said Wednesday, and hopes to have a contract finalized and approved soon by the Board of Trustees. ECU did not release details of the contract on Wednesday.

"I want to be successful," Stokes said. "We want to win Conference USA championships. That's what we want to do next year. The only way I know how to do that is hard work."

Stokes was Virginia Tech's head coach from 1999-2003, compiling a 46-69 record, before being fired. He has also been an assistant at Wake Forest, Virginia, Bowling Green and Texas.

Including his stints at South Carolina and Wake Forest, Stokes worked for current Gamecocks coach Dave Odom for 10 seasons. Holland said he had spoken to Odom about Stokes before actually talking to his new head coach about the opportunity. Odom, Holland has said, also endorsed Holtz.

Holland, however, already knew Stokes well.

Stokes, 42, played basketball for Holland at Virginia in the early 1980s during an ultra-successful run by the Cavaliers. Holland said Wednesday he hopes Stokes can bring him more good fortune this time around.

"He's the kind of guy that's not afraid of anything," Holland said, recalling Stokes' playing days. "You wouldn't tell him not to take the ball in there against [Georgetown's] Patrick Ewing. ... He's a tough competitor."

Stokes, who has a master's degree from Virginia Commonwealth, has begun putting together a coaching staff. He already named Georgia Tech women's assistant Mack McCarthy as associate head coach and said he has spoken to former Virginia teammate Ralph Sampson about a position on the staff.

The ECU coaching job has been available since Holland informed former coach Bill Herrion last month that he would not be retained. In a whirlwind courtship, Holland said he did not speak directly to Stokes about the job until Tuesday afternoon and then immediately decided to hire his former player.

Stokes, who was on the sideline Tuesday night for South Carolina's National Invitation Tournament victory over Miami, arrived in Greenville Wednesday afternoon, about an hour before his introductory news conference.

"Last night I got the offer," he said. "And today I'm here."

Holland said he moved quickly because he didn't want another school to scoop up Stokes.

Stokes becomes the first African-American head men's basketball coach at ECU. No Big Four school has ever had a black head coach in men's basketball, and Charlotte has had only one, former coach Melvin Watkins. On Tuesday, Holland discussed ECU's coaching search and said he had looked very closely at minority candidates.

Holland also emphasized bringing in a coach who knew how to recruit this part of the country, an area in which the Pirates believe Stokes can excel.

Successful recruiting should go a long way toward fixing what's wrong with the Pirates, who have had only six winning seasons in the past 30 years.

"It's hard for a lot of minority coaches to get the UCLAs, the top programs in the country," Stokes said. "Sometimes we have to take difficult jobs, but I think if you have the resources and work hard, good things happen."

Tudor's take

Columnist Caulton Tudor assesses Terry Holland's pick of Ricky Stokes for ECU coach.

Not that I own a lot of socks, but Ricky Stokes doesn't knock them off.

For East Carolina, Phil Ford or Steve Robinson or one of the Duke assistants -- Johnny Dawkins, Chris Collins or Steve Wojciechowski -- would have been preferable.

Stokes' Virginia Tech teams went 46-69 in four seasons for the lowest winning percentage by any Hokies coach since the early 1950s.

But Pirates athletics director Terry Holland deserves the benefit of the doubt on this hire. His basketball knowledge should not be judged without a recollection of the 1984 NCAA East Regional, in which Holland took a team that included Stokes, Kenton Edelin, Rick Carlisle, Othell Wilson and Olden Polynice to the Final Four. The other three teams in that regional were Indiana, North Carolina and Syracuse.

Had the normally reliable Carlisle hit a 12-foot baseline shot against Houston, the Wahoos would have faced Georgetown in the title game.

So, if Holland thinks Stokes is the best option, so be it. But I'm keeping my socks on.

After the Gillenium:Top five possible coaches for the next era
J.D. Moss, Cavalier Daily Sports Columnist

The Pete Gillen Era is over. Finally. The fiery Irishman still got his golden pot at the end of the rainbow, but the ride turned out to be quite bumpy with just one NCAA bid in seven years.

It's a shame that he did not turn in more on-court success, but he's left some valuable pieces for his successor. Given what Virginia has to offer, it should be able to draw in a top coach.

Virginia is a top-notch academic institution with a breathtaking campus and a storied tradition. A state-of-the-art arena and practice facility will be finished within year two of the new coach's regime, giving Virginia a tremendous recruiting edge over older ACC venues. Plus, there is an exciting young core, with rising sophomore Sean Singletary at point and a pair of explosive wings in Gary Forbes and J.R. Reynolds.

Granted Virginia does not have a great basketball history, but that doesn't mean that the future has to be similarly mediocre. In fact, with John Paul Jones Arena still needing to be fully financed and a 15,000-seat capacity to fill every game, athletic director Craig Littlepage has to make a big-time hire to rejuvenate this program. Leaning on the rumor mill, I certainly am dreaming with my top five, and I have left off the biggest reach of all: Rick Carlisle, the Virginia alum who is now one of the best coaches in the NBA.

1) Tubby Smith: The current Kentucky coach may also be a pipe dream, but his name keeps popping up, from message boards to Lexington to the halls of the MCI Center during the ACC tournament. He is coaching the nation's most storied program at a school that annually contends for the Final Four. He makes $2 million a year with job security through 2011, so it would take at least that figure to lure him to Virginia. So why would he come?

Raised in Maryland, he has roots in the area -- his wife is from Virginia and his first assistant job was at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has never coached in the ACC and could be up for one final challenge. And he is said to be friends with Littlepage.

Though it seems insane that he would leave Kentucky, people said the same of Al Groh leaving the Jets.

2) Marc Iavaroni: I heard this name last year for the first time, and it remains unfamiliar to most people. He is currently an assistant with the Phoenix Suns and a great one at that, helping develop big men like Amare Stoudamire. He has worked for 10 years at Pete Newell's Big Man Camp.

Iavaroni played here in the '70s, leading Virginia to its only ACC Tourney title in 1976. He served as a graduate assistant on the 1981 Final Four Team and did color analysis for Virginia hoops from 1994-96; so he kept interest in the program. And he started on the 1983 NBA Champion Sixers.

He has an NBA ring, is an alumnus, has a wealth of experience and works with big men. He's recruited before, as an assistant at Bowling Green, and could provide a pipeline to the NBA. If only Virginia could draw him back...

3) Rick Barnes: Ironically, he preceded Gillen at Providence but has had more success at later stops, leading Clemson to three straight Big Dances and Texas to six straight, including one final four. He has an outstanding track record and can really coach 'em up.

Barnes, according to reports at the time, initially agreed to take the Virginia job in 1990 but Providence officials convinced him to stay there.

Rumors swirling around Austin have him taking the job for good this time, wanting to leave football-first Texas and come back to the ACC -- where he grew up. Rumors are rumors, but...

4) Mike Montgomery: Though also under contract, the former Stanford coach could leave the Golden State Warriors at season's end and return to college.

Virginia could be a prime option, as Montgomery was the bridesmaid when Barnes almost took the job; after Barnes initially accepted, however, Montgomery returned to Stanford and did not look back.

5) Johnny Dawkins: His name has not come up as much, and, yes, he's a Dookie. He will certainly take over for Coach K when he retires and there may not be a chance that he would take this job. But why not try? He's got a great mind and pedigree and knows the ACC inside and out. If he left in 10 years to return to Duke when K retires, so be it. Let's get to 2015 first.

Other names floating around the rumor mill include Notre Dame's Mike Brey and DePaul's Dave Leitao. Brey is from the area, worked under K at Duke and has led the Irish to three tourneys in five years but also just lost in the NIT to Holy Cross. Sound familiar?

Leitao, a former assistant at UConn, whose time coincided with current Virginia president John T. Casteen III's time as president there, has quickly revived a sinking DePaul program through outstanding defense.

Given what happened with Gillen, however, I'm not sure Littlepage can afford to take a chance on a rising mid-major coach like Leitao, but he seems to be a better option than Brey.

Littlepage needs a proven commodity, and he just lost a big chunk of money to Gillen that he could have used to try to lure in a new coach. He'll need to find a good deal more to entice the top candidates. While Barnes and Smith may seem like longshots, where there's smoke, there's usually fire.

Let's just hope that those flames start in Lexington, Phoenix or Austin.