• Entering his first season at Seton Hall after coming to
the Pirates by way of Iona, where he spent three years under Kevin
Willard.
• Worked as a staff assistant and video coordinator under
Rick Pitino at Louisville and Bobby Gonzalez at Manhattan.
Also learned under Tubby Smith while serving as a student manager
at Kentucky.
NCDS: Dan McHale, Asst. Coach - Seton Hall
Sometimes you just can’t figure it out. After losing at Pittsburgh last week, and returning home only to lose two tough ones to Georgetown and Rutgers respectively, we made the trip up to the Carrier Dome to take on 9th ranked Syracuse. That’s the BIG EAST for you and that’s what makes college basketball so special—you have a chance to erase a few bad performances by playing at one of the most hostile environments in the country…on only 48 hours of preparation.
A 90-68 win. That was the way we responded and that is how you bounce back in the BIG EAST. Coach Willard was able to put the Rutgers loss behind him and told each guy (as they boarded the bus) “not to come on this trip if they weren’t planning on winning this game. “ The 13 players, coaches, team managers, trainer, team chaplain and even Larry, the bus driver, were given strict instructions: we are going to Syracuse as a “Bundle of Sticks”… we can’t break if we stick together. And that’s exactly what we did that night…with 20 assists, and five guys in double-figures we showed flashes of what we can become when we play together.
Sometimes you need a road trip to get away. Sometimes you need to know that the only people that matter are the ones on that bus. Sometimes you need your leader to continue to show faith in his upperclassmen, when a lot of people have written us off. Sometimes you need to air things out and let your team work through a maturation process. Who knows? We might not play the way we played that night the rest of the year. But I do know that when you stay upbeat and positive - as Coach Willard demands everyday - good things will happen.
So coming off our biggest win of the year to-date, we will continue work to become a better team. Being able to build on this win will be the sign of a team getting ready to find its true identity. We will continue to stay upbeat and positive and continue to improve as a unit. Good teams show their true colors during tough times…and that is what we did at Syracuse. Best of luck to everyone as they battle through conference play.
Take Care,
Coach McHale
Go Pirates!
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