Smart, several CAA brethren boast small-college roots
David Driver, Columnist
WASHINGTON - "I wish Shaka Smart was here," said Mike Lonergan, the first-year head coach at George Washington University.
Lonergan, Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and Notre Dame coach Mike Brey were in downtown Washington recently to promote the BB&T Classic that will be held in December. GW will face VCU and Notre Dame meets Maryland in the one-day event.
Former Catholic player Lonergan wanted the absent VCU head coach Smart, whose wife had just had the couple’s first child, to give him some support among Division III players. "I am the worst player up here," said a joking Lonergan, with a nod to former Kansas player Turgeon and former GW guard Brey. Smart played at Kenyon in Ohio from 1995-99 and was an assistant at Division II California of Pennsylvania, which is about one hour south of Pittsburgh.
Smart, 34, a few days later, did make the trip to the D.C. area and was a few Metro stops south for the annual media day of the Colonial Athletic Association.
It was the fall of October 2006 that former George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga was surrounded at CAA media day following his team’s Final Four run a few months earlier. Larranaga is now the first-year head coach at Miami while Smart was swarmed by media in late October in Arlington, Va., following his team’s own Final Four run last spring.
His first child, Zora Sanae Smart, was born on Sept. 25. “That changed my life a whole lot more than the Final Four,” Smart said.
VCU is 55-21 in two years under Smart. The Rams, who begin the season Nov. 11 at home against St. Francis of Pennsylvania, return two starters: senior Bradford Burgess and sophomore Rob Brandenberg.
“You’ve got to get your guys to understand that the Final Four run you did last year is not going to win you any games,” Smart said. “In fact, it’s going to provide the other team with motivation, so you’d better be ready to go.”
Smart, since the Final Four run, got to throw out the first pitch before a Chicago Cubs’ game at Wrigley Field, where he watched games as a young boy. He also attended a White House correspondents’ dinner.
“Shakespeare said the joy’s soul lies in the doing, what’s won is done,” Smart said. “It’s over with. I don’t sit there every night and look at my Final Four ring and dream about last year. I want to focus on having the success again.”
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Smart is just one of several head coaches in the CAA who, like Lonergan of GW, played at the Division III level.
Pat Skerry, the first-year head coach at Towson, is a product of Tufts, near Boston. “I loved my time at Tufts. I learned a lot,” he said.
Skerry played from 1989-92 at Tufts and had a school-record 650 assists during his career. He graduated with a degree in psychology in 1992 and a master’s in education three years later.
Skerry was an assistant coach in the CAA with William & Mary from 2000-03 and was also an assistant at Rhode Island under Jim Baron and at assistant Pittsburgh under Jamie Dixon. “Pat is an outstanding individual and one of the hardest workers I have ever coached with,” Baron said in a statement. “He did an outstanding job for us, both recruiting and developing players. I think he has a bright future ahead of him.”
Northeastern head coach Bill Coen played four years at Hamilton, a Division III program in New York.
Paul Hewitt, the first-year head coach at George Mason, is a 1985 graduate of St. John Fisher in New York. The former Georgia Tech head coach was a four-year letterwinner and a captain as a senior. The school was Division II when Hewitt played there but is now Divison III, according to sports information director Norm Kieffer.
Another small-college product among CAA coaches is Mo Cassara, who graduated from Division III St. Lawrence in update in New York in 1997. His first job out of college was an assistant at Division III Washington & Lee University (Lexington, Va.), a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).
Though they may be products of small-schools, these CAA coaches have big dreams thanks to the Final Four efforts of Mason and VCU.
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Editor’s note: David Driver, a Virginia native and Maryland resident, has covered the CAA since its inception in the 1980s. He can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com
