Wait, just a second. He doesn't belong here, does he? Shouldn't he be on an NBA bench somewhere as an assistant, or maybe running a mid-major college program?
Armon Gilliam was an All-American at UNLV and the No. 2 pick in the 1987 NBA draft. While he wasn't a star in the NBA, he was good enough to play 13 seasons and score more than 12,000 points before retiring in 2000. Normally that alone is good enough to land some sort of Division I job, but Gilliam is a rarity in that he doesn't want to pursue that just yet. Instead he's content to be head coach rebuilding the program at Penn State-Altoona, which was winless in 12 games through Dec. 15. He took the position over the summer after a season at Penn State McKeesport, where he went 13-9.
"This is something I want to do," said Gilliam, who graduated with a communications degree and intends to eventually finish masters studies in sociology. "I'm an hour and 45 minutes from my hometown. I wanted to stay near Pittsburgh. For me, it was either work in the NBA and travel year-round, or scout overseas and travel year-round, or coach at Division III, be a head coach right away and learn through hard knocks. I think it's better this way. This is where I can perfect the craft."
Gilliam hasn't been at all afraid to rock the boat a little bit. During fall tryouts, he cut several players who were regulars on the team that went 3-20 last season. That created a negative vibe on campus, and got him some nasty reactions from students, but those disappeared with time. He started the season with a roster of 13 freshmen, one junior and one senior, then brought in forwards Dave Rizzo and Mark Librizzi, who enrolled and became eligible to play during the second semester.
Gilliam's strength is his basketball knowledge. He played collegiately for Jerry Tarkanian, in the pros for Chuck Daly and Jerry Sloan and with Team USA for Lute Olson, Bobby Cremins, and Bob Knight. He also spent each of the past 19 summers coaching and teaching at 5-Star Basketball Camp, one of the nations premier summer stops for high school players.
"Defense is one of my focal points, because Tarkanian and Daly always focused on that," Gilliam said. "My sets on offense are kind of my own little inventions. I don't impose a strict system. I try to fit the talent on the floor."
Even though the team has struggled mightily, Gilliam has boldly stated that changes will come quickly.
"It's hard winning with all freshmen, but these kids don't have to play like freshmen all year," Gilliam said. "They can play like juniors and seniors. If we can get our new guys comfortable, I think we can get on a roll. When it's all over, I think we'll be right in the thick of the heap. I think we have the talent to win in the (AMCC) postseason tournament. I had a good experience last year (turning a team around), so I don't get discouraged easily."
TO THE WNBA AND BACK: Linda Sharp coached Cheryl Miller and Cynthia Cooper and won back-to-back national championships at Southern Cal. She coached Lisa Leslie in the WNBA. Now, she's in her second season as head coach of the Concordia-Austin Tornados, and despite a losing record, seems to be greatly enjoying it.
Sharp originally took the position as a favor to her friend, athletic director Linda Lowery, two weeks before the 2001-02 season started and basically did everything from coaching to sweeping the court before practices. After guiding the Tornados to their first winning season in team history, she decided she liked it enough to come back, even after spending the summer as the interim head coach of the Phoenix Mercury following Cooper's resignation.
"The egos are a lot different at this level," Sharp said. "You have some strong egos (at Division I and in the pros). Here, you have to do a lot of encouragement. A lot of the kids don't have the confidence. Some do. You try to convince them that they can do things. I like working with this age group. They're a lot of fun to work with. As long as I'm coaching, I'm going to love the game. I want my players to love the game as well."
Sharp said this season was the first time she could recall one of her team's starting at 3-7, which they were before a two-point win against Texas-Dallas. Two of the defeats were by three points or less and another came in triple overtime.
"Right now, we're trying to learn how to finish games," Sharp said. "We've lost a lot of close games. They're going through a transitional period here. Concordia's never had a history of winning. The same things happened at Southwest Texas and USC when I coached there. It takes time. We're trying to gain respect. Teams used to look at Concordia on their schedule and say that was a guaranteed win. This year, it's a different situation
MAKE THE BIG TIME WHERE YOU ARE? Originally this was supposed to be a three-person story, but Brandeis coach Chris Ford declined the opportunity to speak to us about his experience coaching at Brandeis after NBA stints with the Boston Celtics and L.A. Clippers. It is the first time in the two-year history of this column that a coach has declined to speak to us, and we must admit our disappointment.
Those that read this column on a regular basis know that the wins and the losses are secondary to an intriguing story. There are just as many interesting stories on lousy teams as there are boring stories on good teams. Chris Ford's story may be really interesting, or really dull, but we never got the chance to find out.
Sure, Ford probably doesn't have any use for us. We're not going to advance his career with whatever publicity we give him. But isn't the job of a coach to set an example for his players? What example does it send when a coach brushes away the little national attention that his program gets?
HE'S A RINGGER: Want to know why the DePauw men's and women's basketball teams have been so successful lately? It's because they get the maximum production out of their top players.
By Marilyn E. Culler |
Senior center Joe Ringger has battled back from arthroscopic knee surgery a month ago to post 18.3 ppg. and 10.0 rpg for the Tigers, while averaging a little more than 23 minutes over his past six games. Since Ringger made a full return to the team, DePauw is posting a 16.5 rebound margin and has outscored its opponents by an average of 15.4 points. He has posted four consecutive double-doubles, all in DePauw wins and the most recent in just 19 minutes of action. In games in which Ringger has not played, DePauw (8-5) is being outrebounded by 0.7 rebounds per game and outscored by 4.3 points per outing.
Meanwhile, on the women's team, which is 11-2, senior forward Dana Ferguson is averaging 16.8 ppg and 8.1 rpg also in just more than 23 minutes per game.
ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES A COMEBACK: That Concordia (Wis.) is 10-5 and leading the LMC with a 4-0 mark, is pretty amazing considering the way that the season has gone. The Falcons have had five games decided in the closing seconds, and have rallied to win three games in a 10-day span in which they trailed by 15 points late in the second half. The most recent rally was an 85-83 win over Carroll on Tuesday, after which head coach Pete Gnan was heard to say: "We should just play the second half ... avoid the halftime frustration."
HOME SWEET HOME: Think some Division III coaches might be a little jealous of Occidental? The Tigers women's basketball team recently concluded what we're guessing is the longest homestand in Division III, a nine-game set in which they went 4-5. Occidental bookended the stretch with games against Southwestern College, an NAIA program, winning the last one 53-19.
LEFT IS RIGHT: Lefty Driesell had a simple choice last Saturday — stick around and watch his son Chuck coach the Marymount men's basketball team against Villa Julie or drive down to Durham, N.C., to watch unbeatens Duke and Wake Forest go head-to-head. Driessell, who announced his retirement as men's basketball coach last week, chose the latter, and received a standing ovation from the fans of his alma mater when introduced to the Cameron Indoor Stadium crowd.
Knowing that his dad finally had the chance to make such a choice made Chuck Driesell, right, feel good.
"I'm real happy for him," said Chuck Driesell, now in his sixth season at Marymount, which is 5-7 this season. "He's got a boat and he and my mom will be living in Virginia Beach. He'll be able to do all these things that he wasn't able to do before, which is great."
Lefty has offered his son his share of advice on coaching, but don't expect him to be sitting on the Marymount bench at any point.
"He always has told me not too get too negative about the losses," Chuck Driesell said. "Losing sometimes would really bother him. He didn't coach for the glory, but to compete and too work with kids. I'm like that too. We've both always been in it for the relationships."
Lefty and Chuck entered the season with 856 total wins, and Lefty added four before his retirement. Chuck's Saints have five in 13 games through Jan. 15, and Chuck will need to get the last 249 by himself to catch Leon and Dean Nicholson for the top spot in NCAA history at 1,114.
THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT ... A pair of very close women's basketball games on Tuesday night were postponed due to a power outage in New London, Conn. The Coast Guard women's basketball team led Trinity, 34-32 at halftime, literally shooting the lights out with six 3-pointers. Meanwhile, a couple of blocks away, Wheaton had its 58-54 lead with 1:47 remaining over host Connecticut College put on hold when the campus went dark. Both games will be resumed from the point of interruption at a later date.
