Wayne23

May 1 Starting season 5. Hopefully we can do well this year. I feel like I’ve doing this long enough now to know what I’m doing. I know I make fewer mistakes than I did early on. Looked at transfers but not much there. June 26 5 scholarships to give. September 18 We’re chasing recruits and feel we’re close with a couple. Another year when we’re on the roads a lot, 8 of 11 pre-conference games. A couple of challenges but generally a fairly soft schedule because challenges on the road don’t often work out well. October 2 We have two PGs committed. First day of practice. Hope springs eternal… October 9 We get a big guy and decide to hold off until November, after the numbers change for the last time. We’ll offer our last two then. November 6 After the exhibitions and the lineup remains very unsettled. Eight getting significant minutes and only Flint at C and Hart at SG seem set. Everything else is wide open. December 11 Some lineup tweaks. We’re at 5-3. So far we’re taking really good care of the ball but we should be rebounding better. December 25 6-5 going to conference. Again, 8 of 11 were on the road and 2 were against ranked teams. I think, or at least hope, we’re ready to take the conference. Still tweaking the lineup. Grades were excellent. We had another long holiday break and I got home. Mom’s still on my case. Frankly, I haven’t met anyone at all in Utah. I just don’t see Jersey and Utah making any kind of a match. Hopefully next stop will be better. I don’t want to get too much older before starting a family. January 24 12-7, 6-2 at the halfway point. Alone in 1st, but 3 teams one back, 5 more 2 back. We’re playing well and I’m still making lineup adjustments. Flint, Hart and Wild are leading us. February 7 8-4 then Len Hart went down for 10 days. Uh oh. We finish the regular season at 16-11, 10-6, RPI #71, 3rd seed but in a 3 way tie for 1st. We need to get to the title game to keep playing. I would love to win this thing. March 3 #11 seed Weber State won in an upset. We play them in the round of 8. Split with them in the regular season. 70-63. 9 TOs (+9), and some great ball movement late. March 4 #10 seed Portland State, 11-18, won in another upset. We won by 9 in the regular season. 62-50. 8 TOs (+8), +5 RB. Balanced scoring, 10 guys scored. March 5 #1 seed, 16-13 Montana State for the title. Beat them by 7 at our place early on. If we play well we can win this thing. 52-64. We played well for about 28 minutes and then it all fell apart. +6 TOs, -7 RBs. 4-18 on threes, 33.9% overall. We should have done enough to get an invitation somewhere. Time to wait and see. RPI is at 55. March 12 Not invited to the NCAA but I didn’t expect to be. NIT, #8 seed West. We play #1 seed Purdue, 16-13. Tough 1st round match up but if we win it we could have some fun. March 14 66-56! 8 TOs, 42 RBs. As well as we’ve played all year. March 16 #4 seed, 16-14 Texas. A big name in hoops but they didn’t have that great a season. Again, if we play I think we’ll be okay. 56-57. I want to scream. I may have done that a time or two. They led all the way but hung in, tied it a couple of times. With 3.3 seconds left Scot Wild banged a three to put us up 56-54 and it looked like a win. They called time, threw a pass to half court, and threw up a 48 footer. It went in off the glass as the horn sounded. We did a lot things right tonight and I was very proud of my guys. We should have moved on. That’s life, I guess. March 20 I decide to go to the final four. I’ve never been to one. I figure I’ll meet lots of the “right” people, at the very least. It’s Denver, which isn’t that far, and I make decent money and don’t spend any of it so why not. And yes, I am looking for a job. If the right one comes along I’m outta this place. It simply is not a good match for me. But again Michael Hunt and everyone really, has treated me well. April 4 The atmosphere was incredible. It really was exciting to be here. I met LOTS of A.D.s and coaches, some of whom were living legends to me. I also got a few feelers regarding coaching jobs. Let’s see what happens. Oh, North Carolina beat Indiana by 10 for the title. Awards: Len Hart and Ike Green made 1st team, Ty Flint and Scot Wild 2nd. All four will be back. Maybe I should rethink leaving. I got the shock of my life when I was named Coach of the Year. April 9 Central Florida, major conference. No. There’s no way I can get the program competitive in that conference. I visited, talked to the people and it was clear they won’t make the commitment to do what they would need to do. Richmond in the Atlantic 10. Visited. Hm. I asked for 48 hours. There’s a lot to like but I do hate the heat. If I go I’d be in the heat for at least 2-3 more years. If I stay here maybe one more. Hm…Staying here. April 30 I asked for more budget money. Got $8,600. At the end of my 5th season my record is 98-55, .641. Off- 17, Def- 27, Recruit- 72, Scout- 40, Player Development- 22, Reputation- 20. I look forward to a great season!

January 1 Happy 1995 Great start to conference play. We beat Weber State, projected at #1, there. 29 for Len Hart, 16 and 11 for Joe Brown. January 25 NOT happy. 12-7, 4-4 at the halfway point. We simply are not playing well. We are being outrebounded for one thing. Staff met and we’re making a lineup change. Ad Jay will start at 3. Hopefully this will shake things up. January 28 A 78-49 win with Jay getting 12 and 8. February 12 This is definitely an underachieving team. I am very disappointed. 15-9, 7-6, tied for 5th. We’re losing way too many games we should be winning. February 21 17-10, 9-6. The last regular season game, at 1st place Northern Arizxona. A win gives us 3rd place, possibly 2nd. A loss could drop us a long way, there are a lot of teams bunched up. 63-69. We end up in a 3 way tie for 3rd, seeded 4th. That means we’ll face #1 in the semis, if we get there. March 4 #5 seed Weber State in the quarter finals. We beat them twice this year but this is not an easy game. 62-65. It’s been that kind of season. This loss may well have ruined our chance to be invited to a tourney. It drops our RPI to 120. #9 seed Idaho won the tourney. March 12 RPI is now at 121. I’m sitting by the phone but I don’t really expect a call. Didn’t get one. This was my most disappointing season as a coach. At the end of the pre-conference season I thought we were on our way to a conference title. Things just fell apart after that. We never jelled as a team. Now what? If I were to get decent offer I would go but part of me wants to stay and fix this mess. April 4 I didn’t go to the final four, probably because I didn’t have a season that would attract a lot of attention. Kentucky won the title. Awards: Len Hart and Joe Brown made 2nd team. April 9 We dropped in Team Prestige from 24 to 20. No offers that it would make sense to take. Let’s fix this mess and hopefully next year we’ll move out and up. April 30 Our recruits have now all signed. I ask for $. Shocked! I got $8,200! Good old Mike- I mean Michael Hunt. I end the season with a career record of 79-42, .653. Off- 14, Def-22, Recruit-58, Scout-39, Player Development-18, Reputation-18. Hoping for a better season next year.

May 1 We buy the regional gold and both national and international basic scouting reports. June 25 We snagged two transfers. One will definitely help us. The other is a gamble. June 26 Three scholarships. Looking at 30 kids for now. September 18 Beefed up the schedule a bit, especially at home. Signed one, close with the other two. October 2 We’re picked to finish 2nd, behind Weber State. First day of practice. I like what I see. November 6 As always the exhibition games taught us some things. We’ll play 7, but #8 and #9 wouldn’t hurt us a lot. We’ll adjust. SF is particularly up for grabs. December 4 5-1. Wins over Texas, DePaul and Ohio State. Only loss was in OT. All 5 starters are playing well. December 25 7-1 quickly became 7-3 when we sort of lost our focus. Then we won to close out the pre-conference season at 8-3. That’s fine but it should have been 9-2, and could have been 10-1. We have a really good starting 5 but the bench has been less than impressive. 10 days between games so everyone got three days for the holiday. I went home again and mom got on me about settling down again.

March 4 Did it! We end up the regular season at 20-7, 11-5, in 4th place (tied for 3rd), RPI #75. Last place Portland State upset 5th place Eastern Washington so they’re up. We beat them by only 2 at their place earlier. March 5 We win by 7. Oh, that local kid we picked up who was way out of our league? He just declared. Oh well. #21 Montana, 1st in the regular season, is up in the semis. They beat us by 3, then we beat them by 23. We can win this game but we need to play. March 6 42-51. Couldn’t make a shot; 15 points in the 1st half. The D was great. 21-8, RPI 67, but that will change once more before selection. I think we should be in a tournament. We’ve done enough. March 12 RPI is 74 on Selection Sunday. NIT. #5 South and we play #4 Georgetown, 16-15 but against much stronger competition than we faced. March 14 67-42. We could do no wrong! #8 seed East Carolina, 18-11, upset #1 Valparaiso so they’re next. We think we’re the better team but they can play. March 16 76-85, OT. We came from 18 back to tie it with 11 seconds left in regulation then we stole the ball. Couldn’t get it inside but Len Hart, our best outside shooter, got an open 15 footer. It rolled out at the buzzer and we lost in OT. We end up 22-9, great for the first season here, and the same record as last season. We have lots of good players coming back and a few good recruits, hopefully more on the way. April 3 I would love to have gone to the final four but I wasn’t interested enough to pay my own way. Next year if I have to I will. North Carolina won the title. April 4 Awards: Len Hart got Freshman of the Year and 1st team along with Joe Brown. April 9 Would I take another job? If it was the right one I would. I am NOT crazy about this desert, middle of nowhere place. I have to say I’ve been treated well. Columbia… Man! I need to think about that. Iona… In the end, tempting as it is to head back home, I decide to stay here for another year. April 30 We signed a lot of recruits, most of which seem iffy. I ask for a facilities upgrade. I remind Michael that we filled a lot of seats so we generated a lot of income. He agrees and says yes. I end the season with a three year record of 62-30, .674. Off.-11, Def.- 17, Recruit-44, Scout- 39, Player Development-14, Reputation- 16. Team Prestige jumps to 24. Yes, I want to be back East, but hopefully another good season here will get me there.

May 1 Cedar City, Utah is in the middle of the desert, about 100 miles from Las Vegas and 150 from Provo. As the man said, “It ain’t the end of the world but you can see it from here!” Hot… that is the total definition of the climate. I got myself a very small apartment with central AC. I’m close enough to jog to work but I’d be crazy to do it out here. Even at dawn it’s simply way too hot. I will do my exercising at the Southern Utah athletic facilities- indoors. Not complaining, just reporting. I knew about the climate. I think by year two we’ll be in position to win the Big Sky. Not this year though. June 26 Recruiting time. We need lots of guys. I took a flyer on a transfer who is WAY out of our league. He’s local though. Shocked me half to death when he committed. Looking at about 30 guys to start with. I’m guessing we’ll probably see more than 50 before it’s over. September 18 We’re getting some encouraging responses from recruits but no one has committed yet. The schedule is set. I told A. D. Michael (“Don’t call me Mike!”) Hunt that some home challenges would be okay. Let’s see how that works out. September 25 We get two recruits, a PG and a C. October 2 We get another PG. And we widen the search again. I said 50 but we may wind up looking at more than 100 recruits. First day of practice, which is always an exciting time. November 6 Exhibition time. As always we learned. Len Hart had not been a big part of our plans. He was all but unstoppable in the exhibition games. He will start at 2. Cris Flap was okay in practice but not all that noticeable. He played well enough here to start at 4. Rich Holt is our PG, as expected, Vik Barr and Vin Wolf will share the 3 until one of them claims it. Our star is C Joe Brown. We have Lon Takk and Ed Tone will be our 7th and 8th men. We look to be stronger inside than out but I like this team. December 25 I flew home for the holiday, just for 3 days. We had a week between games. Mom started with the it’s time to find a nice girl and settle down bit. Maybe it is, but who has the time! Heading into conference play we’re 9-2, playing well. As expected Hart and Brown are leading us but Holt is doing well at the point, and the others are doing fine. I like what I’ve seen so far. RPI is 118. We’ve signed three recruits and are in the hunt for a few more. January 29, 1994 All our guys hit the SAT score. February 5 We’re losing games we should and I believe could be winning. Still tweaking the lineup. February 12 Big win against #21 Montana but we have three left and we need to win them all. February 16 We beat Idaho State. Our last two are at home.

April 4 (Continued) Awards: Clif Penn was POY, 1st team. Chad Muir made 2nd team. I’m sure only the injury kept him from 1st. I was shocked and thrilled to receive Coach of the Year. April 9 We have an offer… Southern Utah. Bigger budget (by $39,000), Team Prestige of 18 rather than our 10, 4 starters returning from a fair team, better salary…. Very tempting. I’m flying out there. Didn’t expect to leave this soon but I need to explore this. I pretty much liked what I saw and heard. This was an incredibly difficult decision. In the end my dad said, “Son, you’re ambitious. You want to rise in your chosen profession. This is a step up for you. Your mother and I will miss you and we hate that you’ll be so far away but you’d be a damned fool not to take this job.” I applied. I was hired. April 23 Trimmed the roster a bit and found we still had recruiting money so I went after a couple of guys. Hired some assistants. I am really excited about my #1, recruiter Matt Thom, who retired as head coach at Washington two years ago, and really missed the game. SO glad to have him. Matt and I just clicked, all but instantly. I think he’ll be the mentor I wish I had had at Jersey Tech. #2 Brian Ward will scout. He was doing that as #3 with Brigham Young but wanted a promotion. Happy to give him one! #3 is Al Wills, and he’ll be my bench coach. I asked for a facilities upgrade. New A. D. Michael Hunt (“Don’t call me Mike!”) said no. At the end of two seasons as a head coach my record is 40-21, .656. Ratings are: Off.- 7, Def.- 11, Recruit- 26, Scout- 38, Player Dev.- 9, Reputation- 11.

February 19 Great week, won 2! Brad Barr had 16 and 9 in the first. We barely hung on to beat Maine on the road but we’re two ahead with two to play. Home against New Hampshire, the worst team in the conf., so we should clinch. February 26 And we did. Lost to Binghampton in the finale but it didn’t matter. We are 20-7, 14-4, finished 2 ahead of Stony Brook. Tourney will be here, which can’t hurt. March 3 Two byes then Binghampton, which just beat us. They finished 4th in the regular season. We’re motivated, and the crowd will help but this is no “gimme.” On the other hand… 82-59. 35 and 7 for Penn, 19 for Brown. March 4 17-12 Albany for the title. They finished third. We won by 17 here then lost by 15 there. It would be a great tribute to this team to win without our leading scorer. We’ll give it our best. Not to be, 66-77. We gave up 15 threes and that did us in. Will we be invited anywhere? With an RPI of 95 I doubt it. I think if we had Muir we probably would be but that sort of thing is taken into account. The RPI will change once more before tourney selection. Nothing to do but wait and we will keep practicing. 21-8, 14-4. March 12 RPI is up to 93. Invited! #4 seed in the East at the CHI. We’ll play 18-10 Georgia Southern from the Sun Belt. March 14 LOTS of excitement about being in a post season game. We’d love to win the first one! 77-64! 35 and 11 for Clif Penn, 15 and 11 for Cole Ayls.+9 RBs and only 12 TOs. #8 seed New Mexico State, 19-11, upset the #1 seed so they’re next. #1 and #2 seeds lost in the West so this is wide open! We match up pretty well in this one so here’s hoping. March 21 62-71 in OT. We had a shot to win at the end of regulation but it rolled out. I suppose with Muir out this was to be expected but we did very well without him all in all. We finish the season 22-9. Considering everything, I’m delighted. Now to wait and see if I get job offers. I don’t really expect any that will be worth considering. I’m still really new at this, I still make mistakes, too many, really, and my stock will need to get higher. No problem. I am very happy here. We lose Brown, Black, Barr, and Clif Penn. April 4 Syracuse won the title. Awards: Clif Penn was POY, 1st team. Chad Muir made 2nd team. I’m sure only the injury kept him from 1st. I was shocked and thrilled to receive Coach of the Year.

January 1, 1993 Happy New Year! We split our first 2, losing on the road, winning at home. In the loss, again, we didn’t make shots. In the win Penn had 28 and 17! I’d like to get that every game! I guess I haven’t talked much about my personal life. Well, I don’t have a lot of time for a personal life. I’ve never dated much. A 6’11” beanpole like me is limited in some ways in who he can ask out. I would very much like to have a family someday though. As to friends, I always got along fine with the basketball crowd but never really formed any close friendships there. Actually my two closest friends are women. Katy Grace and I met in a psychology class sophomore year and became instant friends. We never dated but we do a lot of things together. Lauren Wilde often joins us. She was Katy’s friend and became mine. Katy is a history teacher at the local high school and Lauren is a biology professor at NYU. The three of us went to a New Year’s eve party and had lots of fun. We don’t drink so we got out of there when things got a little rowdy. Wound up at Katy’s place watching a movie. I was home by 1:00. Big party guy, that’s me! January 8 Another win at home, lose on the road week. We’re going to need to learn to win on the road if we hope to go anywhere. Ayls had his first really good game as a starter in the home win. Essentially, we’re taking better care of the ball than I expected, not rebounding as well, playing good D, but having trouble scoring. The staff discusses line up tweaks but we aren’t very deep so we’re limited in what we might do. January 15 Finally a road win- by 2 in OT, but we’ll take it; we came back from down 14. We were 2-0 this week. We’re 10-5, 4-2, tied for 2nd, 2 back of Stony Brook. January 22 I thought we’d clean up this week. We played the two worst teams in the conf. We did, 2 wins and Stony Brook lost twice. We’re now in a 3 way tie for the lead. January 29 Two tough games this week, including the rematch with Stony Brook, at our place. Won both games! We’re alone in first, 14-5, 8-2. Attendance has gone wild. Before I took overt crowds in the 100-200 range were normal. By the end of last season we were at almost 1,000 though we never quite hit that. Right now we’re selling out our 1,500 seat court. Biggie is loving it, and the crowd support is a real help. All three of our recruits hit our SAT score. Next week we play two teams that are one back of us. We’ll need to stay focused. February 5 We split, winning at home. 24 TOs and 35% shooting, 15% from three point range in the loss. We went to Penn and Muir all night long in the win; Black had 10 assists and 1 TO. Still alone in 1st, 3 teams are 1 back. Two on the road next week. Both week teams but the road is never easy. February 12 We won both road games easily. The bad news? Chad Muir broke his hand in the second game. He’s out for the season. Big adjustments. This is a disaster, Muir was our leading scorer. I guess these things happen. We’ll try to adjust. We were playing seven guys. Now we’ll play eight, which means two guys who weren’t getting many minutes will now get some. Our starters will play more minutes which, hopefully won’t leads to more injuries. We’re moving Tim Brown to SG and returning Brad Barr to the starting line up at SF. Ed Garr and Sid Hopp will pick up sub minutes, as will Jay Jones. Hopefully we can keep it together. The only good news is the break is not in his shooting hand. We have a 2 game lead with 4 to play but I don’t see us going anywhere in the postseason.

November 20 We started with two really close games, losing by 2 in OT, then winning by 1. It’s a tough schedule in that 8 of our first 10 are on the road. All three recruits signed, which means they’ll hit the SAT. Still one to nab. November 27 Two road wins this week. Ask expected Penn and Muir are providing the offense, and we’re owning the boards. When we take care of the ball we do really well. December 4 We split two road games. 4-2. Both losses by 2 points, one in OT. Looking at a few more recruits. December 11 Only one game this week. We beat Grambling by 6 at home. Low scoring game. We did all the things we needed to do. A good win. 5-2 with 2 to play before the conference season begins. December 18 Another one game week. A 10 point road loss. We just couldn’t make shots and we didn’t rebound, which is becoming an unexpected concern. D was fine. The staff decides to start Cole Ayls in place of Brad Barr, who hasn’t been getting it done. December 25 We win our last pre-conference game to go 6-3 entering conf. play. Ayls didn't do a lot but the chemistry changed. Grades came out and all my kids did really well. As expected Penn and Muir are our leading scorers. Tim Brown is doing a good job at PG. We need to get more from Tony Black, and we hope that Cole Ayls will help now that he’s starting.

May 1, 1992 I guess it’s safe to say that I am the only Division I head coach still living with his parents. We’re in a house about 2 ½ miles from campus and I just don’t see any need to move. Dad is the head of maintenance here at NJIT, and his office is in a building right next to the Fleisher Athletic Center where we play and where the athletic offices are located. Mom is an R.N. at a local elementary school. I try to do as much work as possible at the office but I have a TV in my room at home and watch lots of games, even late at night, at home, taking all kinds of notes. I turn the volume way down or off so as not to wake the folks. Dad often drives me to work in the morning. As a matter of fact he does that whenever I figure I won’t need a car. I work a lot more hours than he does except when there are winter storms so I usually jog home after I’m through for the day. In really bad weather I hitch a ride from someone or simply call a taxi. I’m an only child. Basketball has always been my major interest but I also enjoy reading, especially fiction, biographies and history, and I like really old black and white movies. Fitness is important. I try to run just about every day. Dad was my first coach. He taught me to shoot, and a few other things that were always a part of my game. We buy only the Eastern Gold report. Lots of spots to fill. We look for transfers. June 26 We managed to land three transfers. One, Jim Greg, looks like a really good PF, one, Drew Mack, looks like he will play some SF for us. The third is a gamble. We hope he’ll develop. 4 scholarships to fill. Looking at 25 recruits to start. August 21 Still not a lot of recruits talking with us. Next time we have a coaching vacancies I’m going to spend some money on a recruiting coach. We simply must do better in this area. September 18 We went with a pretty soft schedule again. A couple of recruits are listening. October 2 First day of practice. Difficult to say but we may have a bit more talent than last season. We’re picked first in conference. Good or bad? We landed two recruits, Gary Turn, PG, and Mike Camby, SF. Two to go. October23 We land a 3rd recruit, Arma Nurmi, SG. He will be close as to reaching the SAT score though. November 6 Still seeking that fourth and final recruit. Plenty of time. Exhibition games, as always, taught us a lot but one thing absolutely amazed me. Chad Muir had shown not very much in practice. In the exhibition games he hit for 30 and 27. He would have been my #8 or #9. Now he’ll start. Clif Penn lights it up inside but we already knew that. Now we have both inside and outside strength on O. D would be weak, as would ball handling, but at this level we should do really well.

December 25 We finished the pre-conference schedule at 6-3. I was delighted with that. Clif Penn led us with 20.7 and 7.6, but Jory also did well. Our other three starters were adequate and the bench was barely so. We were dead even on TOs, and +4.7 on RBs. We didn’t usually get into too much foul trouble. In short, the kids were learning the things we were teaching. When grades came out we had one senior not doing too well but it looked like he would graduate. Everyone else was at 3.0 or higher. Now to see what the conference season would bring. January 8, 1991 We split our first 4 so we were definitely competitive. January 29, 1991 At the halfway mark we were 9-8, 3-5, tied for 7th with two other teams, but we’d lost 4 of our last 5. February 5 Then we got hot, 13-8, 7-5, tied for 3rd, 1 game back, with 6 to play. Our next two were with the #1 and #3 teams in the conference though. Unfortunately recruits continued to show no interest in us at all. February 19 With 2 to play we were 15-10, 9-7, in a 2 way tie for 4th, 1 behind the 3 leaders. This far exceeded my expectations. February 26 We split our last two to finish the regular season 16-11, 10-8, 5th seed in the tourney but in a three way tie for third. We would face Vermont, who we beat twice. March 5 We beat Vermont by 15 and faced Hartford in the round of eight. We split with them in the regular season. We beat Hartford by 7 and we were in the semifinals. We had split with Albany in the regular season. We were playing our best ball of the year so confidence was high and so were expectations. We had actually developed a following on campus. Given that we’d won almost as many games this year than in the last 5 seasons combined it was not surprising that people were noticing. We never sold out a game at home but we’d averaged 883 per game, about 400 more than the previous season. Albany beat us by 13 to end our season. We wound up 18-12, 10-8. I was proud of my team and more than happy with what we had accomplished. Now if we could only attract some recruits! Oh, Albany won the tourney. April 9 Awards: John Case got the Defensive POY award. Greg Jory and Clif Penn made 1st team. Jory and Case graduate but Penn, easily our best player, will be back. He’s a junior. Our Team Prestige jumped from 2 to 5. I did not receive any job offers but then I did not expect any. I want to spend another year here anyway. After that we’ll see. April 16 I promoted my #2, Kyle Bradley, to #1 assistant and hired two new assistants. Rob Kellogg, retired from Seton Hall will be my #2 and my recruiter. He should be a good one. Lonnie Jones is my #3. He was the bench coach at Penn State before retiring. I signed both for three years. Happily, two recruits signed, #149 PG Chad Murk, and #319 SG Jam Jones. April 23 We need both recruiting dollars and a facilities upgrade. I asked for facilities. Denied, and frankly, I’m not happy about it. “Ya brought in a little revenue, kid. Bring in more next year and you’ll get what you’re looking for.” My argument that a facilities upgrade would have helped with recruiting, which would have helped to generate revenue, fell on deaf ears. Recruiting was not very successful this year. We absolutely HAVE to do better next year. I ended the year with ratings of 4 for Offense, 6 for Defense, 8 for recruiting, 37 for Scouting, 5 for Player Development. Reputation is at 7. So I went up in all categories. I look forward to the new season.

November 6 Yep, 4 players. Brown at SG, Jory at PF, and Penn at C are my players. Black worries me at PG but I don’t really have a Point Guard. Case at SF worries me more; wish I could suit up and play the 3. They tell me the guy playing the coach’s position always has a tough time. Two guys coming from the bench and really only two, Brad Barr at 1 and 2, and Cole Ayls at 3, 4, 5. We’re thin. But, thin as we are, I think we may be okay given the competition both pre-conference and within the conference. I can see us finishing in the middle of the pack. Oh, it was fantastically fun to coach a game. We were in both exhibitions all the way, winning one and losing one. November 20 First week of play is finished. Lost the first game in OT. How about that. The very first game I coach and it goes to OT. Won the second easy. That first win was quite a thrill. So again, how in the world did I get this job to begin with? Here’s what Biggie Small said: “Kid, I been the A.D. here since before you were born. Sports at Jersey Tech aren’t much of a big deal. We’re never gonna have enough of a budget to compete. If we get a good coach in football or basketball he won’t stay. A bigger school will snap him up. Coach Gordon was here because we didn’t care enough to fire him even though he never won. Well, then he did something that gave us no choice. I hear he went to Atlantic City and got addicted to black jack, and he took his two top assistants with him and they got addicted too. Dunno if it’s true but that’s what I heard. When all of that went down I figured why not take a chance on you. You’re popular here because of all those three pointers you made. You seem to be a clean cut kid. Just as good you as anybody else.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement but hey, I’m a Division I head basketball coach. I’ll take it. He’s right though, if I’m successful I will definitely look to move up to a better school. That’s a couple of years away, at the least though. I’ll talk more about me as a player some time down the line. Oh, and Coach Gordon? It eventually came out that this was supposed to be a one shot deal, and worth exactly one million dollars, which would have been split three ways. The coaches decided to take the risk. Bad decision, as it turned out. And the Atlantic City thing was pure myth. The whole thing was about three guys sick of being broke, going for the big score. When asked Coach Gordon said he never considered involving me in the deal. He knew I was completely the Eagle Scout type and that I would have probably turned him in. Would I have? I don't know, but I sure would NOT have joined him in the coke deal. November 27 Next up was our first home game and we won it! Then we won our next one, at home again. Suddenly we were 3-1! How’d that happen! Well, we were rebounding extremely well, and not quite as bad with the ball as I’d feared. Clif Penn was getting 20 and 8.5, and Greg Jory 12.3 and 8.0. Tony Black was doing a decent job at PG. No way of knowing how long it would continue and remember, we were playing all cupcakes, but it was certainly fun!

May 1, 1991 Considering who we are, how little money we have, and how little regard the hoops world has for us I thought I was able to get three decent assistants. None will ever coach at Duke, but I’ll take them. Recruiting is next and what am I going to offer recruits? Playing time and location, I guess. Those two things are what I have. September 18, 1991 Okay, we’ve called everyone on our list more than once, and we’ve added quite a few; matter of fact we’re maxed out at 50, and subtracted and re-added a few times. Not a one has been willing to talk with us so far. It’s time to put a schedule together. I told “Biggie” to give us as many easy games as possible. I want wins, and we’ll need to face easy teams to have any chance to get some of those. He did what he could. None of the teams in the pre-conference schedule is impressive. I’d be very happy with 5-4 against this group. Wins will give me something to sell later in the recruiting process and next year so I want some. October 2, 1991 We’ve got four guys who can play a little. After that we’ll need to see what we can develop, and what we can do to hide our flaws. Remember, I know this team. I was here as an assistant last year when we won 2 and lost 25. My goal? Don’t finish last in the conference, and win 10 games. Possible? I don’t know, but of the three sports writers who picked the conference one had us 8th, and the other two had us 7th in this 10 team conference. We’ll see. Still nothing on the recruiting front. We’re not overspending since we think we may have more luck in the spring and we don’t want to run out of money before then. Oh, and these guys we’re looking at? Not exactly headed for the NBA, any of them. November 6, 1991 Time for our two exhibition games. This will tell us a lot. I hope it will tell us some good things, at least a few good things. I need to say that of my three assistants only one has been worth much. Scouting coach Kyle Bradley, my #2, has gone above and beyond, and he really seems to know the game. He was retired, from scouting for Rutgers, when I talked him into joining us. I signed him for three years and I’m glad I did. #1 and #3 have been less than impressive. I signed them for a year each and neither will be back next year. I should also say that I really like my job. Yes, I am in over my head at times but I’m learning. This is an exceedingly complex job but I do love the challenge. Of course tomorrow night will be the first time I coach a game. It will be interesting to see what that’s like.

(Author's note: Once again, I am doing two associations at once) April 25, 1991 Alvin Price is the name I was born with. I was born in Nutley, New Jersey on May 1, 1968. I very quickly grew to be long and lean. I reached my full height of 6’11’, and my full weight of 195 in high school. With a body like that it’s no wonder I came to be known as “The Blade.” I looked like the world’s tallest steak knife, viewed in profile. There was actually a second reason for my nickname. My shot cut like a knife. Given my body type I was never going to be anything other than a Small Forward, at times even a Shooting Guard. And my shot did indeed cut like a knife. 1986-’87, my first year in college, was the year that introduced the three point shot to college hoops. For a time, actually, for three times, I held the record for most threes in a game. I hit 11 in my very first college games, 14, late that season, and 15 during my junior year. When I graduated from NJIT I held the Division I records for most threes in a game, a season, and a career. Still do as of this writing. So how did a 23 year old with exactly one year of coaching experience, as a graduate assistant no less, get to be the head coach of a Division I team? Well that’s a story! As a matter of fact it is THIS story, since I signed all of the paperwork to make it all official just a few minutes ago. As a player my strength was my shot. I was a decent passer, a terrible rebounder for my height (white boys don’t jump), and not a great defender since I am quick but not fast. I took a real interest in the game though, and my coach here at NJIT, Bart Gordon, took an interest in me. Face it, the only favorable publicity he and the program were about to get was as a result of my three point shooting. During my four years at NJIT, all under Coach Gordon, we went 17-89. Last year, my year as grad assistant, we went 2-25. So 19-114 in our last 133 games. Anyway, when I graduated Coach Gordon asked me to stay on as a grad assistant and then at the end of the season Coach promoted me to third assistant when his #3 left. Then things happened, as they say. Coach and his #1 and #2 assistants were arrested and indicted in, of all things, a cocaine running operation. They were caught red handed- or maybe white handed- cutting coke in Coach’s basement. I was cleared completely. Heck, nobody was more surprised than I was. With a very low budget ($125,000), very low prestige (2), a very low salary for the head coach ($80,000), a very unsuccessful program, with exactly one recognizable asset, me, A. D. “Biggie” Small decided to give me the head coaching job. I took it, realizing that I have A LOT to learn. (Author’s note: I gave myself ratings of 1 in every category except Scouting. Since that category seems to improve very slowly, I gave myself a 36; total of 40 rating points. The game gives lowest rated beginning coaches a total of 150 points. Final ratings are 75 for Offense, 80 for Scouting, 90 for each of the other three. I believe the Blade will learn, grow, and develop, eventually, into a terrific coach. He is at the top in ambition and integrity, and high in academics, average in the other categories.) I hope to work hard, hire experienced coaches, probably bringing them out of retirement, picking their brains, and listening to their advice. I expect success to come slowly but I will set reasonable goals. (Author’s note: House rules are in effect. These limit availability of recruits- severely until I get to Team Prestige of 21, then gradually less when I reach 40, 51, and finally no restrictions at 61- use of walk ons after year two, creation of assistant coaches- again on a graduated scale…) Let’s see how this goes!

Michigan, 0-1, is here. They didn’t look good against LSU. Nov. 23: 73-52. 37-16 at the half. 28, 5, 4, 2 steals for Gatt, 18, 11, 2 for Budd. Herr and Rand also played well. 5 TOs, 39 RBs. We are averaging an amazing 7.2 TOs per game, and an equally amazing 41.2 RBs. A rematch with #5, 3-1 North Carolina here. We won by 4 at the NIT. They beat us up inside last time but our outside game was terrific and we turned them over 20 times. We’d like to repeat that and do a better job inside. Nov. 26: 89-76. A foulfest with the three blind mice blowing their idiotic whistles 45 times. Ridiculous but we benefited- 33-40 to 23-30. They outscored us inside again this time but we were +4 RB. Outside it was 48-17 so that is clearly where we won the gamer. TOs were 12-12. We were the better team but all the whistles made for an unsatisfying win. Still, we’ll take it. Nov. 27: 6-0, #1 ranked, #5 RPI. At #14, 4-0 Ohio State. They haven’t played anyone. Good outside game and great outside D but they are weak inside. We need to keep going to our big guys all night long, and we need to contain their very good guards. Nov.30: 77-54. Much easier than I expected. Gatt was unstoppable, 33, 8, 3. 17, 10, 2 for Budd, 14, 9 for Wyck, his best game of the season. PG did not help us, Herr did little and Rand had 8 TOs. 17 TOs for the team, our worst in that category, but +8 RBs. At 3-2 Butler. Good at PG, decent inside, but we seem to have considerably more talent. It’s a road game and they play well at home. Dec. 3: 82-69. 15 lead changes, 8 ties. It took almost 35 minutes but we finally opened up a lead. 18, 13, 2 for Budd, 20, 8 for Gatt, 13, 4 for Hart, 10, 3, 6 for Herr. Rand is still off his game, 6 TOs this time. 13 TOs (even) and +12 RBs. We won it inside. 8-0, #1, #2 RPI. Ed Jobe is getting healthier but still 3 ½ to 4 weeks away. He’ll start at PF when he’s ready. Still limited time for music, still writing. I not to do two concerts with Dawn over the past few weeks. We also spent some time in the studio. She’s recording another album. I’ll be doing the same, We’re home until Dec. 20 and we hope to complete an album before the team hits the road.

We’re the #4 seed in the preseason NIT, which is interesting since we’re preseason #1 ranked team in both polls. We play #11 ranked Temple. We know they have a very good C but don’t know much else. Nov. 14: 76-52. First half score was 60-16! We quit at halftime though. 7 TOs, 43 RBs. 24, 4, 2 for SG Jon Gatt, 13, 8 for Wyck at PF, 9, 6, 2 for Herr despite foul trouble, 7, 2, 9 for Rand backing him up. We were very inconsistent tonight. #5 seed, #16 ranked Oklahoma in the round of eight. Excellent outside. Inside game was not impressive in their first game. Nov. 16: 89-63. 51-26 at the half. We had a much better second half than last time. 26, 6 for Hart at SF, 21, 5, 5 for Gatt, 14, 9, 2 for Owen from the bench, 8, 6, 5 for Herr. 10 TOs, 39 RBs. #1 seed, #2 ranked North Carolina, 2-0. VERY tough inside but good everywhere. This will be a challenge. Nov. 18: 71-67. NC took an early lead, built it to 11. We chipped away and at the half it was 3. We kept chipping in the second, took the lead, very slowly stretched it to 8, then hung on to win by 4. This was a heavyweight fight and we won it with patience and discipline. 7 TOs (+13), 44 RBs (+6). We had trouble making shots all night (28.4%) but got to the line often enough to eke out the win (27-35 vs. 17-19). 17, 8 for Gatt, 14, 5 for rand, 8, 6, 4 for Herr, 13, 3 for Hart, 6, 10, 5 for Budd. Ranked #2. All three of our recruits sign. #4 ranked, #3 seed UConn for the title. All 5 starters are in double figures. They do everything well. This one will be a real challenge. Nov. 20: 69-57. We took an early lead and never relinquished it. 7 TOS again tonight, and 41 RBs. Those numbers will get a lot of wins. 19, 15 for Al Budd, 23, 11 for Gatt, 14, 3, 4 for Herr. Very good D and we didn’t foul. We looked very good tonight. Not a lot of time for music but I’m practicing every day, as always, and finding a little time to write. At this point a bunch of my songs. Both those I’ve written alone and those Dawn and I co-wrote, have been recorded by other artists, some folk some pop, some blues.

May 1: I’m concerned about our inside game. With graduations and guys leaving for the NBA we have four decent big guys. Ed Jobe is the fifth but we won’t have him until January. We buy the usual reports. June 5: Nothing in the transfer pool. June 13: “Hart and Soul” is out. Let’s see if the album sells! June 18: The album debuted on the charts at #19. I’ll take it. I’m told it’s getting a lot of play on the radio. I’ve been invited to appear on lots of TV shows. We’re scheduling those we can fit in. June 25: Again, we have the money, we’re going to the camps. June 26: Rick Jay goes #4 in the draft. Al Tann goes #18. Kent Hawk is an absolute steal at #21, Dan Mack goes #22. Three scholarships to fill. We’re going for all bigs. Aug. 7: It’s been an exciting six weeks or so. I’ve done eleven concerts and sang on 9 television shows, most of them also including an interview. The first concert where I was the person the people had come to see was a thrill. The most nervous I’ve ever been but once the first song started it was incredible. I even managed to talk with the audience, tell some stories about the songs, talk about Dawn and how we started doing music together and that kind of thing, a very little bit about basketball, and even one statistics story. The audience seemed to enjoy it. After the first concert it was a lot easier but every one was fun. Takes a lot of energy though. Afterward I just wanted and needed to read- and eat! Can’t eat before the concerts. I’ll only manage a few concerts once practice starts on Oct 2. The album got to # 7 and I’m pretty proud of that. My agent says we’ll do another one so start writing. Dawn and I are writing alone and together, for ourselves, for each other, and just writing. We spend time together when we can but it isn’t really a romantic relationship. I’d like to be in one of those but of course it isn’t that easy. Loving my music and really loving the fact that I’m starting to be a pretty decent guitar player. First love is keyboard though. Six on the Norton list: SG Jon Gatt is #4, PG Will Rand #14, PF Ray Hart #15, C Al Budd #25, PG Earl Ash #28, SF Ed Jobe #30. Jobe is hurt, out until January. Aug. 21: We offer to three bigs: #4 Jed Tyl, C, #7 Al Ford, SF, #12, Rae Sims, C. We think we have a shot at all three. Sept. 11: Got one! #4 Jed Tyl. Visiting the other two and two others with whom we are speaking. Sept. 18: Got the other two! And we have a schedule. We’re at the Preseason NIT. We play lots of home games for a change and again this year we play lots of ranked teams. Oct. 2: I’ve done a few more concerts, some on my own, some with Dawn. Loving it! That will all slow down now since today was the first day of practice. I really like what I see. We’re a little thin up front until Jobe gets back but as long as we stay healthy we’ll be fine. Nov. 6: Exhibition games this week. The guys have looked good. We’re ready to face opponents. We make some changes. Mike Wyck earns lots of time he didn’t have before the exhibitions. Ready to start the season!

April 4: Awards: Rick Jay is national freshman of the year and 1sdt team All American. I get national coach of the year. In conference, Jay is player of the year and freshman of the year, first team along with Rand. Hawk and Herr make 2nd team. I get conf. coach of the year. Awards do not make up for losing the title game. April 9: Not interested in any job offers. April 15: A week in the studio and I have an album! I really enjoyed the process. Six of the songs were just me, singing and playing either guitar or keyboard. Two were duets with Dawn, with some studio musicians playing alongside my guitar or piano. Four were soloes with studio musicians playing alongside my guitar or piano. My agent and the producer both say the record label is going to promote the album nationally. We’ll see. It should come out some time in June. I will do some limited live concerts and some TV shows. April 16: No staff vacancies. April 23: I ask for a facilities upgrade for the third straight year. Rejected again. My end of season numbers: 203-48, .809. Off.- 42, Def.- 61, Recruit- 99, Scout- 95, Player Development- 59, Reputation- 81. Team Prestige 91, Conf. Prestige- 78.

Well, we made it back to the Final Four. I’m guessing that means my job is safe but you never know. I’m thinking mostly about hoops but I must admit, the fact that I go into the studio on April 10 to start recording a solo album? That’s definitely on my mind. I make small, final tweaks to some of the songs I wrote in my music time, which is still an hour or two a day. The producer has said twelve songs. I’m doing 8 originals, one Dylan song, one Blind Willie McTell song, and two by Johnny Mercer, just to add a different flavor. The producer didn’t like the final idea but when I sang the songs, accompanying myself on keyboard, he wound up loving both songs. #6 ranked, #4 RPI, 28-5 North Carolina. They are a very good team but they’ve lost a couple to teams they should have beaten. They’re good at everything, but not great at anything. We think we’re the better team and if we can stay focused and prevent them from easily doing what they want to do we like our chances. April 1: 82-65. NC jumped out to an early 10 point lead, 5 minutes in. At the first media time out we did two things, first, we tightened up the D on their outside shooters, and second we decided to go right at their inside players. The first took care of the easy baskets they were getting and the second got their bigs in foul trouble, allowing us to score easily inside. From then on we took control. We built the lead to as many as 21, and cruised to a 17 point win. 23, 11 for Jay, 15, 7 for Budd, 14, 6, 2 for Mack from the bench. Herr and Rand did enough, outplaying their opponents. Barr had a big game from the bench. We really looked good tonight, 11 TOs, 40 RBs. It’s #15 ranked Louisville, 25-10, for the title. One loss since Feb. 4. SF and PF are their players. Starting SG lost to grades. They turn it over regularly. If we can get turnovers and win, or at least hold our own with the inside game we should be fine. April 3: 58-64. A huge disappointment. The shots simply would not drop, we shot 29.2%, 0-12 from three point range. We lost the game outside. Their starting PG and SG combined for 37 points, and the team shot 11-22 on threes. Still, when we give up 64 we should win. The offense simply wasn’t there. We got nothing from the bench. +6 TOs, +4 RBs, we went to the line 38 times, they went 23, and still we lost. This was a very disappointing way to end the season and the careers of Rick Jay, Kent Hawk, Lee Barr, and Dan Mack. A sleepless night. I am really frustrated by this loss. When the shots won’t drop there is simply nothing to be done. Go inside? We did. Jay was 4-12, Hawk was 2-8, Budd was 2-12. They were missing layups. True, Louisville was all over us, playing excellent D, but we missed a half dozen to a dozen shots that nobody ever misses. Make four of those and we win the game.

The focus has been very much on basketball but I manage a couple hours a day with my music. March 13: UCLA won in the NIT. March 14: Oregon won in the NIT. March 15: UCLA won in the NIT, Colorado won in the CHI. We play 18-13 Fairleigh Dickinson. They won their tourney after finishing 6th. This should be ugly. March 16: 72-57. Closer than I thought. We were never in any danger but FD played with poise and never stopped working. +6, +8. 24, 12 for Hawk. Will Rand was awful so I put Barr in at SG. He had 15, 4, 7 in 26 minutes. Mack had 7, 5. Arizona and Arizona State won in the NCAA, Oregon lost in the NIT. March 17: California lost in the NCAA. #8 seed, 19-11 Florida State is next. We beat them by only 4 in the Las Vegas Jam. 3-3 in their last 6, lost in the opening round of their tourney. D is weak. We simply didn’t play well against them last time. This is a team we should beat without all that much trouble. March 18: 68-65. Whew! We led most of the way but it was never easy. These guys have our number! 13 TOs (-1), 43 RBs (+11), a huge advantage at the line, and they still stayed with us. Clay Herr had a good game again, 16, 6, 4, 3 TOs. 11, 13 for Budd, 11, 11 for Hawk, 11, 5 for Jay. I’ll take it, on to the Sweet Sixteen! Arizona won, Arizona State lost in the NCAA. March 20: UCLA won in the NIT and they’re in the round of four. March 22: Colorado won in the CHI. They’re in the round of four. #4 seed, #13 ranked, 23-10 Michigan. Finished 5th in the Big 10, lost in the round of 8, but 6-1 in their last 7. They can score points, especially outside. Inside D is weak- inside GAME is weak. That’s where we need to put the ball on O. On D, get in their faces. March 23: 78-66. 18 TOs, and it was all 5 starters. +5 RB. 29, 7, 2 for Jay saved us. We did not look good. This level of play will send us home so we need to refocus, and fast! Arizona won in the NCAA. We play #2 seed, #2 ranked Oklahoma, 32-3. How do the #1 and #2 seeds (in both polls) play in the round of 8! They beat us by 7 in the title game at Las Vegas. We had 21 TOs, only 29 RBs, let them shoot 46.2%. We need to do better. Their SG had 32. That can’t happen either. They’ve won their last 10. We have our work cut out for us! Their starting PG broke his leg in their last game though, and that will certainly change the equation. March 25: 57-55! We took an early 12 point lead but it evaporated in the second half when there were 9 lead changes and 7 ties. Both teams played really tough defense. We were -1 TO (13), -3 RB. We shot 34.5%, they shot 30.4%. With 1:01 left they were down one with the ball. They hit a three at :47 to take a two point lead. We raced down the floor and got it to Jay for a layup with :39 left to tie the score. We practice scoring quickly in order to not let the other team have the ball without needing to take a shot before the clock runs out. They made a mistake and shot too soon, with :09 left. The shot missed, Hawk go the RB, passed to Herr, who passed to Al Budd, who hit a 12 footer with a hand in his face. And that was it! Final Four! 12, 11 for Jay, 13, 9, 2 for Hawk, 12, 3, 4 for Rand. Lucky? Definitely a little lucky, but we never quit. Arizona lost to North Carolina. So we’ll play #6 North Carolina, and #15 Louisville will play #5 Indiana in the Final Four. March 27: Colorado wins in the CHI. They will play Gonzaga for the title. March 28: UCLA lost in the NIT. March 29: Colorado won the CHI title, 71-69.

We won by 8 there. They’ve struggled against good teams and their starting SF is hurt. If he plays it won’t be much. March 10: 76-63 and we led most of the way. 26, 3, 3 for Rand, 17, 3, 2 for Herr, only 2 TOs, 11, 10 for Jay. We didn’t get much from our bench. 11 TOs, 30 RBs. All the favorites advanced so it’s #3 seed, 18-11, 10-6 Arizona State next. Beat them by 12 and 17. They’ve been up and down lately. We think we can turn them over. They’re deep though. March 11: 67-45. We played well tonight except for Clay Herr. Herr was throwing the ball away regularly (7 TOs) so I went with Barr. He responded with 19, 1, 5 in 25 minutes. 10, 14, 2 for Jay, and the other starters all had 8-10 points. 19 TOs, 46 RBs. We need to do better with the ball in our next game, and for the rest of the way. It’s Arizona for the title, as expected. They’re #4, 27-3, 15-1, beat us by 7 at their place. We had 17 TOs that night and didn’t rebound well enough. In order to win we need to do better in both areas, and we need our bench to give us more than they did last time, that was a huge factor. They’ve lost once since Dec. 15. The two teams are evenly matched so let’s see what happens. March 12: 80-63. Clay Herr had 6 TOs but he also had 23, 5, 6. 18, 6, 4 for Rand, 18, 8 for Hawk, 9, 12, 2 for Budd, 7, 12 for Jay, 5, 5, 2 for Barr. We outplayed them for the full 40. 12 TOs, and an amazing 48 RBs. This is as good as we can play and if we continue to play this way I don’t think anyone can beat us. We should be the #1 overall seed. Selection time: #1 in the East, as expected. We’ll play the winner of a play in game, to be determined. Oklahoma is #2, Memphis #3, Michigan #4, Butler #5. North Carolina is #1 in the Midwest, Arizona #2. Florida is #1 in the South. Indiana #1 West. We’re 29-3, #1, #1. Won our last 11.

At 16-7, 7-5 Cal. They won by 2 at our place so this won’t be easy. They’ve won their last 4, 2 over ranked teams. D is shaky but they’re deep and keep fresh legs in the game. We did not play particularly well last time against them. We need to play much better tonight. Feb. 9: 74-66. All 5 starters in double figures. 11 RBs for Jay, 8 for Hawk with 6 assists and 3 steals. +12 RBs. We looked good tonight. It will be very difficult for us to finish anywhere except second, but a win in our next is vitak if we’re to have any chance at all at 1st place. Feb. 12: We’re still #1, #1. Rick Jay is #2 on the Norton list and Will Rand is #13. At 14-10, 6-7 Colorado. We won by 12 at our place. They’ve been very up and down. Balanced everything. They play lots of guys. Feb. 13: 72-59. Last time it was 72-60. That’s kind of scary! We absolutely owned them inside. 19, 11, 2 for Jay, 10, 10, 1 for Hawk, 14, 6, 2 for Budd, 8, 5 for Mack. +13 RB. Lee Barr hurt his wrist. He won’t be at 100% for about a week but can probably play some. 14-12, 6-8 Oregon in our last home game. We will honor Hawk, Barr and Mack, and we’ll no doubt lose a couple who go pro early but we don’t know who they are yet. Won by 19 there. They don’t play much D. Feb. 16: 67-51. It was close for way too long but eventually our superior talent showed. 16, 12 for Hawk, 17, 6, 4 for Budd, 11 each for Herr and Rand. 11 TOs, 40 Rbs. It’s official, we will finish 2nd to Arizona. Before we left for our last regular season game A.D. Stottlemyre came into my office and told me he was not at all happy with “the way you’re so distracted by outside interests.” I answered that we’re still #1 in the country. He replied that he didn’t care about that. He didn’t like it, felt that with what I am being paid I should be entirely focused on coaching. When I pointed out that I never was, that before the music I was a full time professor here, he said that was different. Whatever. I’m guessing if I get to the Final Four he won’t be able to do anything but if I don’t he may go after my job. Not sure how I feel about that. I love coaching and I would miss it, but music is a bigger and bigger part of my life and an ever greater passion. We’ll see what happens. At 9-17, 6-9 Oregon State. Beat them by 21 at our place. They’ve lost 4 of 5. Starting PG is slowed with a hammy. He’ll play though. They don’t play great D. Feb. 20: 70-49. 24 for Rand, 13 each for Herr and Budd, 9 and 9 for Jay. 18 TOs though and only 28 RBs. It was an easy win but we were not sharp. Given that it was almost a sure win and the game was meaningless I guess it’s understandable. Not that I won’t use it at practice to focus the team. We finish 1 back of Arizona, 4 or more ahead of everyone else. 26-3. About 2 ½ weeks until our next game. Still writing, practicing my instruments. Dawn and I have gotten together 2 or 3 times and just jammed. Love doing that with her. I also get to do it with some other SF area musicians, sometimes on a stage somewhere, sometimes just at somebody’s home. It’s always fun. March 5: We knew we’d lose some guys. We did: Al Tann, a Junior who doesn’t play, and as expected, Rick Jay. Jay is simply too good not to go. I thought we might lose at least one more, possibly 2 or 3. Not so bad, really. March 9 is play in day. We'll play 19-11 UCLA in the round of eight.

The schedule actually favors us from here in. Both 1st place Arizona, and tied for 2nd Arizona State have much more challenging schedules than we do. 10-10, 4-4 Washington State is here. Better inside than out but they don’t play a lot of D. Jan. 26: 77-41. This one was never in doubt. Clay Herr strained a hamstring. He’s out about a week and will miss at least one game. We’ll start Barr but the bench will be really short. Jan. 29: Rick Jay is #2 on the Norton list, Will Rand #13, Kent Hawk #25. All of our recruits hit the SAT score. At 7-13, 3-6 Washington. Another team that’s strong inside but not good with the ball and not great on D. With Herr I’d call it an easy win. Without him, given the short bench, we’ll need to work for it. Jan. 30: 65-63. We escaped! 9 TOs (+4), +8 RBs. Barr didn’t do much but he played good D and he didn’t hurt us on O. 18, 7, 3 for Rand, 12, 12, 3 for Jay, 11, 7 for Budd, 6, 4, 3 for Mack from the bench. Herr will be back, close to 100%, for our next game. Arizona lost so we’re now one back of them and one ahead of Arizona State. Everyone else is out of it with six to play. #16, 16-7, 3-7 Utah is here. They loaded up on cupcakes in the pre-conf., but have not competed in conference. This is one we should win, even with Herr at less than 100%. Feb. 2: 68-66. Another escape! Herr wasn’t effective, 7 TOs (as a team we had only 12 though). I would have been better off sticking with Barr. They had foul trouble up front and that made the difference, we were 24-37 from the line, they were 10-15. I’m spending more and more time playing, singing and composing. I plan to resign my professorship at the end of the school year. I still really like stats but I like music more. Dawn and I are having trouble finding time together. She is on the road much of the time and when she’s home I am often traveling with the team. We spend lots of time on the phone but it’s kind of frustrating for both of us. 15-8, 10-3 Arizona State is here. This is the battle for 2nd place. We won by 12 at their place. They’re tough inside. Last time we rebounded very well and played good D. We were awful with the ball. Feb. 6: 55-38. We led most of the way. +6 TO, +13 RB. A good team effort, it seems all 7 who played contributed in one way or another. 15 TOs, but only 5 in the second half. Arizona won by a single point or we’d be tied. 3 of our last 4 are on the road so it will be difficult for us to move up. We’re two up on 3rd place Arizona State now, so we probably will end up second.

5-10, 2-2 Oregon State comes to town. This is a team we should beat. Jan. 12: 61-40. Excellent D and just enough offense. Lee Barr came from the bench with 13, 1, 3, and the front court really delivered. +7 TO, +13 RB. 6-10, 1-4 USC is here. Another team we should beat. Jan. 16: 67-49. In control all the way. 17, 13 for Jay, 16, 7, 5, 1 TO for Herr. We’re alone in 2nd place, one behind Arizona. But two very tough road games back to back coming up next. I’d be happy with a split. At #10, 14-5, 3-3 UCLA. 3-4 in their last 7 games. Strong inside but their guards are vulnerable. We need to make them cough it up. This is a big game. Jan. 19: 71-63. We did what we needed to do tonight. 16, 2, 5 for Rand before he fouled out, 14, 6, 3 for Barr in his place, 11, 6, 2 for Herr, 9, 12 for Hawk. Their backup SG killed us but they only played him 16 minutes for some reason. He was on fire and should have played more. Jan. 22: The Harrison single of my song, “Lovin’ Lovin’ You” was at #8 in its first week and is #2 this week. I’m getting a lot of ink as the songwriter. We’re at 18-2, 6-1, #1, #1. At #6, 17-2, 7-0 first place Arizona. They are very strong inside and decent with the ball. The strength inside is on O, their bigs don’t defend that well. We’ll try to work it inside, and try even harder not to let them do what they want to do. This will be a real challenge. Jan. 23: 65-72. We fell behind and then WAY behind early, as many as 22. We had a great second half but we couldn’t catch up. 17 TOs, didn’t help. RBs were even. Bench play was the difference, 30, 13, 8 for them, 8, 7, 5 for us. Our starters played better than theirs. The injury to Jobe hurt us more in this way than any other, it shortened our bench. But, he’s out for the year, that’s the way it is. When we got home A. D. Rick Stottlemyre told me he thinks my music is affecting my concentration as coach and he is concerned about it. I told him I disagreed and that we’re having a great season. It turned into a somewhat heated discussion. Hm, trouble ahead?

We start at 7-5 Arizona State. They are not the team they were last year but they are strong inside and the 1-3- is not a D we see often. Dec. 29: 60-48. Down 11 at the half. We adjusted and won the 2nd half 39-16. 23 TOs nearly did us in, but +21 RB made up for it. Al Budd continues to play well at SF, 9, 14. 9-3, 0-1 California is here. D is less than great. Jan. 2: 57-59. Not quite sure how this happened. 11 TOs, 45 RBs. Held them to 33.3% shooting, went to the line five times more than they did. Well, Al Budd and Lee Barr shot 10-13. The rest of the team shot 10-42. That may be part of it. Nothing wrong with the defense but you need to score more than 57. We haven’t been ourselves lately. Hope we can regain our focus soon. Dust up between little used sub Al Tann and PG Clay Herr. I spoke with both of them. 9-4, 1-1 Colorado is here. Good inside, decent with the ball. This is a good team. We need a win. Jan. 5: 72-60. We were more like ourselves tonight, scored in the 70s, played good D, 13 TOs, 44 RBs. 21, 5, 3 for Rand, 14, 9, 8 for Herr. Colorado was definitely good inside. We played them even in there though and won it outside. Jan. 8: surprised to still be #1. At 10-5, 2-1 Oregon, one of 6 teams tied, one behind Arizona. Four bad losses. Starting PG, first big off the bench hurt. They may play, but how well? D is a little weak. But they win at home. Jan. 9: 66-47. 13, 19, 4 for Jay, 20, 7 for Hawk, 16, 2, 5 for Rand, 9, 6 for Budd. 11 TOs, 41 RBs. Harrison’s version of my song is released. Excited to see what happens with it. I sign a contract to do an album. I’ll start recording right after the Final Four ends. I gave this a lot of thought before agreeing but as time passes I want to do it more and more. I will accompany myself on guitar for some songs, piano for others. The songs are written. Still fiddling with a few of them.