FEDORA

[PointGuard]

Hey, I’m Omar McDade. I’ve known Coach Aura since he was a very young 3rd assistant coach at Bowling Green where I was the 1st assistant. He says he looks up to me as his mentor, but I think that makes me sound even older than my 65 years. When he got the head coaching job at Towson, he released the 1st assistant coach who had been the interim coach for the last part of the season. He felt that that coach would be upset not to have be selected for the permanent head coach. After doing that he called me and asked if I would fill the first assistant position. I retired a couple years ago from the 1st assistant job at Louisville, so at first I demurred, but Frederick (well I normally call him “Crash” which was his nickname from he collegiate days due to the way he crashed the boards) was persistent and I finally agreed. He’s going to have me handle recruiting, something I’ve done in the past.

He kept on the other two assistant coaches. Michael Snoddy is our 2nd assistant. He’s 51 and is great at player development. His philosophies regarding are not completely in tune with Coach Aura so the two will need to iron that out soon. Coach Aura mentioned that he made an attempt to hire a coach who is a scouting wiz, but the guy didn’t want to be a 3rd assistant. So he kept 42 year old Harry Iacona in the same 3rd assistant position he filled last season. Although he doesn’t have much experience, Harry will be our scout. This is going to be a big challenge for Harry and he needs to produce or this could be his last year at Towson.

I imagine you would like to know what Coach Aura is like. He’s a hard worker who places a lot of importance on recruiting so he’s going to expect me to really go hard after recruits. Crash wants his players to do well academically so none of them better let their grades slip or he’ll be all over their ass. As a coach I think he’s stronger defensively than offensively so I expect the team to play defense with a high level of intensity. He’ll use man-to-man more than a zone. Offensively he likes a quick pace. And of course Crash likes his guys to crash the boards and try to create fast breaks. He wants the best guys on the floor as much as possible and it doesn’t hesitate using freshmen or sophomores. He likes keeping fresh legs on the floor so plays a pretty deep bench which tends to keep everybody on the team involved and happy.

Because I’m in my mid-60’s, I’m here to help him for a season or two and help Crash find a guy to replace me after that. I have grand-babies I want to play with, so have to get back to retirement as soon as I can. And a couple of my grandsons will be entering high school soon, and I want to be able to watch them play on their high school teams.

Today Coach Aura and I discussed what scouting reports we’d purchase and if we were going to attend any of the camps. We don’t have much of a recruiting budget and we have to fill 4 scholarships and figure that it may take all season to fill all 4, so need to be pretty frugal. We decide to purchase the Atlantic East Regional Basic Report but not attend any camps. That’s disappointing and will be a disadvantage for us, but as they say, money don’t grow on trees.

[PointGuard]

This is Mitchell Evans checking in. I’m a senior SG on the team. We all were bummed when Coach Masey, our last coach, was ridden out of town by rumors. I mean, even if he did mess around, it wasn’t anyone else’s business. Mase was real easy going, but this new coach seems to be kind of a hard-ass. The guy set down some rules and expectations that got us grumbling, but I guess if we want to play ball, we’ll have to toe the line.

Coach Aura almost always wears a hat…it’s a fedora. Since his first name is Frederick it could be shortened to Fred, but I hear he doesn’t like his name to be truncated. With his last name and him wearing that fedora hat, Eric Shannon, who’s our nickname specialist and resident smart-ass, suggested instead of him being Coach Fred, our new coach become “Coach Fed”…as in Coach Fed Aura. Got it? (If you don’t there’s absolutely no hope for you.) [I took a picture of Coach Fed…just so you know what he looks like in his fedora.



We tried out the Coach Fed nickname when talking to him. At first, I don’t think he liked it, but then after hearing it a few times, he was smiling when we used it. So at least he’s not all saddidy.

Coach Fed laid out what he wanted each of us to work on this summer and helped set up camps for us to attend. So most of the team is heading out of Towson to do just that. Matt Heard is the lucky guy from our group. His mom’s family is from China, so he’s going there this summer and will work out with some Chinese teams. He wanted to go to Hong Kong or Shanghai, but turns out most of his family is from some place we never heard of…sounds like woo-hahn but I think he said it was spelled W-u-h-a-n…or something like that. He said about the only thing he knows about it is that it’s a big city. But I guess there’s a lot of big cities in a country with as huge a population as China has. No matter, it’s better than me having to stay in Maryland this summer.

As for me, I’m just hoping to get more playing time in my final year. While I’ve enjoyed playing for the Tigers, it would have been a lot better if my butt hadn’t been planted on the bench so much during my 3 seasons here at Towson. So I guess I better bust ass this summer so I can impress the coaches. Coach Fed wants me to work more on 3’s and not worry about getting into the post. Don’t tell him but I don’t go to the post much anyway, so where really am I going to get the time to work more on 3’s. I don’t think I need to change my game. I just need to refine what I already do. So I’m not going to pay attention to that initial bit of “brilliant advice” he gave me. Unfortunately, I think overall we’re pretty deep and strong at SG, and actually all the positions are good except the 3 position, where we have a sophomore walk-on who didn’t get any playing time last season and 2 freshmen coming in without much hype. I wish I were taller than my 6’0” so I could shift over to SF. I’m doubting I can add 6 inches to my height this summer, though.

[PointGuard]

Omar McDade (1st asst coach):

Crash and I have really been talking about what we need to do for recruiting this season. We have 4 scholarships to fill. If the gods of recruiting are on our side we’ll land 2 PG’s, a SF, and a big man, all of whom are pretty good. Preferably one of the PG’s will be a JC player who can come right in and direct our team.

I’m not happy about not going to the Big Apple camp. That would have been a good opportunity to see some of the guys from our region going up against each other and to make some good contacts with them. But I agree with Crash that we’re likely going to need all the money that’s left in the kitty to do the normal recruiting activities which I expect will go all the way up to April, 2020. Sitting here in June that seems a helluva long way away for my 65 year old mind and body, but I’ll hold up.

[PointGuard]

Perry Winkle, AD:

Coach Aura has been asking for upgrades for the training facilities for his team. As AD, I had to tell him we just don’t have the money. If we spent it on what he wants that means I’d have to cut the funds for another sport. Just can’t be doing that. I told him that if his team does well enough to draw more fans and bring in more money for the university, then maybe we could talk next spring. All the coaches here are continually making pitches for better facilities, uniforms, equipment, etc. It never ends. It’s tiring.

Time for me to send Keira out to get me an iced caramel macchiato.

[PointGuard]

Meet Frederick Aura:

Seems like you’ve heard plenty from other people so guess it’s time for me to add my two cents. I’m not much of a talker so I’ll keep it short. Recruiting is turning out to be a fulltime job for both Mac (Omar McDade, my first asst coach) and me. It’s making me think maybe I should have become a high school coach. Just coach and teach a few classes without having to try to go out and find my future players. Plus have the summers off. But then I’d have to put up with all the teenage angst. Not that some college players don’t have that as well, but it’s much less.

Mac and I are burning up the phones trying to entice recruits who’ve never heard of Towson and who all think they deserve to be going to North Carolina, Duke or Kansas. We’ve not yet made much headway, to be honest. Long hours watching tapes of high school players, calling and recalling them and getting some to visit our campus. We’ve also sent Harry Iacona, our 3rd asst coach, to do a few scouting visits. Getting a few guys interested, but it’s still early so who knows how it will all unfold. I’m not overly optimistic about getting highly rated recruits, but we’re gonna work it hard and hopefully find some hidden nuggets of gold.

SECU Arena is a nice facility for basketball, with a seating capacity of a little over 5000. Hope we play well enough to fill some of those seats. It’s a multi-purpose facility for such other things as indoor soccer, gymnastics, wrestling, graduation, trade shows, concerts, etc. Overall, our facilities for practice and workouts are a little better than average. Here’s what SECU Arena looks like in its basketball configuration:



With all I have on my mind and all the things that need to be done, don’t expect me on here all that much. It’s too damned time consuming.

[PointGuard]

Coach Aura [A] meets with his assistant coaches, Omar McCabe [M], Michael Snoddy [S], and Harry Iacona [I] to discuss summer recruiting:

A: We’re midway through August and while we're getting a pretty high percentage of the recruits on our list showing interest, most of that interest has been tepid. But we do have some who have us on their list of favorite colleges. Those aren’t the highest rated recruits though.
M: Yeah, Towson isn’t on the radar for most recruits, even those within the state here. So far we’ve spent our available recruiting funds conservatively. When we get into the home visit period in September and October, we can go full out. That’s when we need to really hone in on the prospects we really want and think we have a chance on. And if we continue to watch how we spend our funds, we should have enough money to recruit well in the spring if need be.
I: The trips I’ve taken to the in-state summer camps for high school players to scout some of the recruits on our list have been productive. But there are other recruiters there, so its difficult to make much of an impact on the minds of the potential recruits when they have scouts from big time colleges there.
S: Even if you can’t influence them much if any, the intel you bring back about the recruits is valuable, though.
A: That’s true. Mac and I really do value the information you’ve brought back, particularly since it comes from actually seeing them on the court.
M: The positive in what we’ve all done thus far this summer is that we’re increasing the number of recruits who know about Towson University.
S: Most of the guys who have come for campus visits have been satisfied and some of them impressed by what we’ve shown them here.
A: Right! And we're going to continue that as much as we’re able. Also the info we're getting from watching game films is giving us some good preliminary information so thanks for the work you have done on that. I know at times it can be a little mind-numbing.
M: I was disappointed that the high flyer, Antoine Grove, who we finally got to show interest after repeated calls, came here and then lost interest. He’s a Maryland boy who has a lot of talent and potential and it would have been a real feather in our cap if he’d committed to us in September.
A: Realistically though, we just don’t have much of a chance at kids that highly rated nationally. They have all these big-time programs stroking their egos and their parents and coaches encouraging them to go to teams in power-5 conferences. So it would have been surprising if he’d come our way.
S: Yeah but that Thomas kid, the 4-star small forward from Connecticut...umm...
I: ASKIA Thomas, right?
S: Yeah...Askia Thomas. He liked what he saw when he visited.
M: True, but while he’s showing interest, we’re still not in his top 10. And he’s got a bunch of schools up in New England that he has to choose from. While I’m optimistic, I think our better chances come when we look at recruits on our list who are further down the rankings. You know, so far we’re doing better with interior players than perimeter players. Since our biggest pressing need is for one or two point guards, we need to focus our attention and efforts more there in these next few weeks.
A: That's absolutely correct, Mac. We still have a few weeks before we'll be ready to offer any of our scholarships. So lets just keep grinding away. Later this month we’ll re-prioritize our list to focus on those who we think we have the best chance with when we do home visits. We want those home visits to go well and yield results.
M: You need to sweet talk their mama's, Crash.
A: HA! You must be thinking back to your good ole days, Mac. Anyway, great work so far guys. Keep at it. Ready to go get some Italian food for lunch now?

[PointGuard]

Billy Thomas, Sophomore SG:

I just got back to Towson since school is about to start. Spent the summer up near Philly interning at a law office since I would like to go to law school after graduating from Towson. I also was able to spend time at the Full Court Basketball Training Center working on my game. Coach Fed wanted me to work on my ball handling skills and 3 point shooting, so focused as much as I could on those. I thought the Full Court Center was great. Some great players there and some good coaches working with us.

I didn’t get as much playing time as I wanted last season as a freshman and think I might still be looked at as the back up to Mitch Evans. But I’m planning on giving him a run for his money in practice when it starts up in October. Mitch is a senior this year so unless I can make a big-time impression, he’ll probably get the nod. Eric Shannon will also be competing with the 2 of us so it will be a battle. Eric is strong defensively and is a bigger guy but I’m the better passer and ball handler. I want to be a starter this year.

Spoke with Coach Fed as soon as I got back on campus and he wants me to do a lot of work in the training room in the next month so I come into practice strong. When I told him about wanting to go to law school, he set me up with a tutor for the next month so I raise my GPA this term. My grades have been good, but definitely could be better.

[PointGuard]

This Omar McCabe again. It’s September and time to offer scholarships. So Coach Aura and I got together today to finalize our initial plans.

We’d like to land 2 PG’s, possible one of those a JC transfer. We’ve got a lot of PG’s on our list, but here’s the top ones who have shown interest from our lengthy list:

Adrian Brown, a highly rated coming from a JC in Oklahoma. Good passer and good scorer with a sweet outside shot. Getting him to leave the Midwest might be difficult.
Mateen Carroll, a high school senior from Maryland. Very good passing and ball handling skills and a ball hawk. But his GPA makes us concerned me might not meet our SAT minimum.
Torrey Marsh, a high school senior from Pennsylvania. Good outside shooter but with his excellent passing skills he prefers to feed others than shoot. He’s interested in us but it’s not been as keen as we’d like yet.
Gale Johnson, another JC player. He’s from Utah so distance is an issue. Probably the best rebounder of the group of PG’s and has good assist numbers. We’re still working to improve the level of his interest in us.

We’re going to offer a scholarships to both Brown and Carroll and see if either bite.

SF: We’d like to land a good SF and would be willing for it to be either a HS or JC player. We have fewer SF’s on our list but there are some good ones:

Askia Thomas, a high school senior from Connecticut. Very highly rated due to his great scoring abilities and good overall game skills. He’s interested in us but has a lot of other schools going after him.
Wayne Burrough, another HS senior from Pennsylvania. A good scorer with excellent outside shooting skills and a strong rebounder. Interest level in us is pretty high, but again we’re contending with many others for him.
Keiron Stone, a high school senior from Maryland. Very good overall skills. We’re on his top 10 but he’s been rather tight lipped about opening up with us.
Tyreck West, another high school senior from Maryland. Very good scorer and outside shooting skills and he also has strong passing skills. He wants to play close to home but there are a lot of other colleges in the area.

Thomas is definitely the best of the four so we’re going to offer a scholarship to him and see if we can pass up the others on his top 10. The other 3 are very good and overall pretty equal. We’re going to make a try to land Burrough and if he doesn’t accept our offer, we will go after one of the two from Maryland.
We’ll be lucky to land one SF and if and when we do, we could take the other scholarships and go after an interior player with it.

Let’s see how our home visits go and if we can pry any of these guys away from the other schools that are dangling bait to them. We don’t carry the name or prestige to make any of these guys sure shots so landing even one will be a victory.

[PointGuard]

Coach Fed:

The home visits we conducted in September went well and we gradually advanced the interest in the players we visited. But it wasn’t until the end of the month that we finally got our first acceptance of a scholarship offer from SF Wayne Burrough.

The same week we received the news that Askia Thomas, the other SF to whom we had offered a scholarship opted instead to go to the University of Virginia. Tough competition for little Towson so it wasn’t surprising we lost him.

With scholarship offers still hanging for 2 PG’s we were going to focus our efforts on a big man for the now open 4th scholarship. But after a lengthy review of the remaining recruits on our list, we opt to offer the last scholarship to SF Keiron Stone. He shoots better from inside than outside and is a strong rebounder and a good defender. So if he comes our way, we think he could play PF as well as SF.

We visited him at his home in early October and he showed interest but remained uncommitted. Therefore we will continue to work with him and the 2 PG’s who still haven’t made any final decisions.

[SouthernRebel]

interested to see how recruiting turns out set to brutal