The Blade

[Wayne23]

(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!

[Wayne23]

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.

[Emark]

Those coke cutting operations will get you every time...

[Wayne23]

hee hee hee

[PointGuard]

Going 2-25 last season, coke was probably the only high Coach Gordon had.

Ohh..and by the way..."The Blade" was really not part of the coke cutting group?

[Wayne23]

Nope. The kid was innocent. Coach Gordon did not want to involve him. More on the coke operation in the next post, coming right up.

[Wayne23]

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!

[Wayne23]

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.

[Wayne23]

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.

[Wayne23]

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.