The University at Buffalo has announced that the expired contract of women's basketball coach Linda Hill-MacDonald will not be renewed and a search for her successor has begun.
The Bulls parted ways with Hill-MacDonald after a seven-year run during which UB went 75-137 and was unable to post a winning season. The Bulls were 9-22 this past campaign, including a 4-12 record in the Mid-American Conference. Hill-MacDonald's status remained in limbo while UB underwent a change in athletic department leadership, with Danny White hired earlier this month to replace the departed Warde Manuel.
While the UB news release contained a statement from interim AD John Lambert, doubtless White played a role in the process. Coincidentally, he was involved in Mississippi's decision to hire women's basketball coach Adrian Wiggins just 10 weeks ago.
Hill-MacDonald's hiring appeared a serious step forward for the program at the time. She arrived with a wealth of coaching experience, at Temple, Minnesota and with Cleveland of the WNBA. While she recruited some of the best players ever to wear UB uniforms, notably Kourtney Brown and Brittany Hedderson, the supporting casts proved inadequate.
The University at Buffalo baseball team won its first Mid-American Conference Tournament game in school history Thursday with a 6-5 extra-innings victory over Ohio University.
Kyvaune Brammer, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound wide receiver/LB at Brooklyn Tech, is saying he will attend the University at Buffalo beginning in 2013, sources tell me. The Bulls had an in on this one. The principal at Brooklyn Tech, Randy Asher, is a UB grad. Brammer is the first known verbal in UB's 2013 recruiting class.
St. Bonaventure's improbable journey to the Atlantic 10 basketball title and its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2000 has resulted in a five-year contract extension for coach Mark Schmidt. The deal ties Bona to Schmidt through the 2018-19 season, although certainly there's buyout language in the event Schmidt down the road accepts an offer from another institution.
"I'm happy we were able to reach a long-term agreement and give men's basketball at St. Bonaventure the security and continuity it deserves," athletic director Steve Watson said in a statement released by the school this afternoon. "Mark and his staff have done a terrific job with the program on the court, in the classroom, on campus and in the community. We look forward to their continued success."
"I'm pleased and honored by the commitment the University made to me and my staff," Schmidt said in the news release. "The players that my staff has successfully recruited the previous five years have brought our program back to prominence. We fully expect to continue building on the tradition of excellence and doing it the right way in years to come."
Financial terms were not disclosed. Schmidt made about $300,000 a year in his original contract. He was Sporting News Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year following Bona's first 20-win season since 2000.
New University at Buffalo Athletic Director Danny White says he wants the community to take ownership over UB athletics. Listen to what White had to say as he accepted his new post this morning:
Released statements from UB Search Committee on hiring of Danny White:
Francis M. Letro, co-chair: "Our search process drew a very strong, deep pool of applicants from across the country, which I see as recognition of UB's growing national reputation, both academically and in athletics. I have every confidence in Danny's ability to lead our program as we pursue even greater achievement.""
Dennis Black, co-chair: "Danny sets a superb example for our students. He has earned post-graduate degrees and is working on his doctorate, as well as achieving success on the basketball court and in his chosen profession."
Danny White, senior associate athletics director at Mississippi, has been named the new athletic director at the University of Buffalo.
White played basketball on Notre Dame's 2002 NCAA team and went on to become Director of Basketball Operations and eventually an assistant basketball coach at Ohio. He was an associate AD at Fresno State from 2007-09.
Athletics are prominent throughout the family. White's father Kevin is the athletic director at Duke and his brother Michael is head basketball coach at Louisiana Tech.
UB wideout Marcus Rivers (Lackawanna) has signed a free-agent deal with the Green Bay Packers that reunites him with former Bulls RB James Starks (Niagara Falls). Rivers caught 60 passes for 615 yards and 2 TDs last season. He goes 6-3, 220.
Rest easy, St. Bonaventure women's basketball fans. Jim Crowley is coming back.
The head coach who guided the Bonnies to the Sweet 16 signed a contract extension. Details were not disclosed the deal keeps Crowley behind the Bona bench through the 2018-19 season. Last June, Crowley and Bona negotiated a contract extension through the end of the 2016-17 season.
The annoucement comes a few weeks after the Bonnies made Big 4 history advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA basketball tournament -- the first time for a Big 4 program of either gender since the Bona men did it in 1970. The team went 31-4 and 14-0 in the Atlantic 10. Earning a national ranking and at-large berth in the NCAA field, Bona's season ended with a loss to national runner-up Notre Dame.
Bona's success drew national attention for Crowley, who was a finalist for the Naismith Award and won the ESPN.com National Coach of the Year honor.
In the last four years, the Bonnies have gone to the postseason four times with a 98-37 record.
"We are pleased to have Jim remain at St. Bonaventure," athletic director Steve Watson said in a release from the university. "This extension represents our commitment to him and likewise him to us. Jim has built a program which represents our University well on the court, on campus, in the classroom and in the community. We anticipate continued success under his guidance and leadership."
To honor the work of the late Nan Harvey, the University at Buffalo put together this three-minute video about her legacy. While Harvey, a former student-athlete and coach at UB, was a crusader for gender equity in UB's athletic department as an administrator, she also was a firm believer in expanding opportunites for women without cutting into men's programs.
The video is part the 40th annivesary celebration of Title IX and was entered in the Trailblazer Tribute Video Contest, sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators' Trailblazer Tribute. The video with the most views on YouTube will be awarded $9,000 for its women's athletics programs. The contest runs from 10 a.m. today (April 9) through 6 p.m. on April 23.
Could Turner Battle be leaving UB's basketball coaching staff?
Sources say that Battle has had discussions with UNC-Greensboro coach Wes Miller about becoming an assistant with the Spartans. Miller last month signed a five-year deal with the school, and Battle hails from Kernersville, N.C., about 20 minutes away.
Battle, one of UB's all-time playing greats and a member of the school's hall of fame, has spent five years as an assistant to Bulls head coach Reggie Witherspoon.
Jim Baron was officially announced as the head coach for the Canisius men's basketball team at a media event this afternoon. The former player and coach at St. Bonaventure accepted the job this week after he was fired from Rhode Island and the Golden Griffins fired Tom Parrotta.
A Bona guy coaching at Canisius?
For athletics director Bill Maher, Niagara is the biggest rival of the Golden Griffins, though he understands the intensity of the old Canisius-Bona rivaly for part of the alumni base. Heck, several times the gathering of alumni, students and friends of the program were reminded that the ticket office was open if you wanted to, say, purchase your season ticket package which would include a home game against those pesky Fraciscans.
But Baron doesn't have that game circled on his calendar just yet.
"There are a lot of games before then," Baron said.
And there's lots of work to do. Baron had one team meeting but still needs to meet individually with the players. He needs to hire his staff ("You're everybody's favorite guy when you have openings on your staff," Baron said) and he needs to reacquaint himself with the community and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Canisius College this afternoon confirmed it has hired Jim Baron as its next men's basketball coach.
"I am extremely pleased to introduce Jim Baron as our men's basketball coach," Canisius Athletic Director Bill Maher said in a press release issued by the school. "In naming Jim to this position, we have hired a man who has a proven track record of building successful basketball programs and developing young men. He is excited to return to Western New York to lead the Canisius College basketball program."
Baron has plenty of experience in the Big 4. He's a 1977 graduate of St. Bonaventure who coached at his alma mater for nine years (1992-2001), making one of his two career NCAA Tournament appearances with the Bonnies (in 2000). Baron went on to coach for the past 11 years at Rhode Island, leading the Rams to five NIT appearances and a 184-165 overall record.
Baron's hiring was first reported Sunday night by cbssportsline.com, although it wasn't made official by the school until this afternoon.
Baron, 58, will be introduced at a press conference at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Koessler Athletic Center. The coach, who was fired from Rhode Island last month after a 7-24 season, signed a five-year contract. He has an overall career record of 390-367 in 25 years as a Division I coach.
Prior to his time at Bona, he coached St. Francis (Pa.) for five seasons, including his other NCAA Tournament appearance, in 1991.
"This is a great day for Canisius College basketball," school president John J. Hurley said in a release. "Jim Baron has demonstrated throughout his career that it is possible to match success on the court with success in the classroom. He has been a positive influence in the lives of hundreds of young men, and I'm tremendously excited about the prospect of working with Jim to restore Golden Griffin basketball to glory."
Baron takes over for Tom Parrotta, who was fired last month after a 5-25 season. The Griffs do return all five starters from that team.
Baron and his wife, Cindy, have two sons: Jimmy, a 2009 graduate of URI who played for his father, and Billy, who just completed his sophomore season with the Rams.
Jim Baron will be returning to Western New York as head coach of the Canisius men's basketball team, according to a report tonight from Jeff Goodman of cbssportsline.com. Goodman's report can be found here.
There has been no official word from Canisius on the hiring as of yet. Baron, 58, was fired last month by Rhode Island after a 7-24 season.
He previously coached St. Bonaventure from 1992-2001, leading the Bonnies to one NCAA Tournament appearance and three trips to the NIT. At Rhode Island, he took the Rams to the NIT five times in 11 seasons, but was never able to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
Canisius fired Tom Parrotta last month after a disappointing 5-25 season.
The season is over for the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team, but the beat continues for senior Jessica Jenkins. Jenkins will be traveling to New Orleans to participate in the State Farm Women's 3-Point Championship on Thursday on the campus of Tulane University.
The event is part of the 24th annual slam dunk and three-point shooting championships traditionally held the Thursday before the men's Final Four in the event's host city. This year, for the first time, ESPN will air the event live from 9-11 p.m.
Jenkins will compete against Purdue's Brittany Rayburn, USC's Ashley Corral, Louisville's Becky Burke, Michigan State's Taylor Alton, Toledo's Courtney Ingersoll and South Carolina's Markeshia Grant with possible additions coming in the next day.
The winner will face off against the men's later in the evening.
Jenkins has quite the long distance resume. Her 338 career three-pointers smashed the school and Atlantic 10 conference record of 291. She hit eight three pointers in a game three different times this season. In her career she's knocked down five or more in a game 25 times.
But perhaps the most fun fact on the Jenkins' Three-Point resume is this tidbit: She owns more than 100 pairs of sneakers.
No wonder she posted the following photo to her Twitter feed this week, asking which pair she should wear for the competition.
The News' Amy Moritz and Bucky Gleason report from Raleigh, N.C., where the record-setting season for the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team ended in the Sweet 16 to last year's national runner-up Notre Dame, 79-35.
How St. Bonaventure lost: They played Notre Dame, a team with a national championship and three Final Four apperances under its belt. The Bonnies played good defense for a stretch of five minutes but failed to score in that time to keep the game interesting. Lack of offense doomed the Bonnies. Jessica Jenkins got off only six shots and was held scoreless. Megan Van Tatenhove managed just three points from the free throw line. The Bonnies had 21 turnovers. They could not find their way against a deep, solid, experienced Notre Dame defense.
Player of the Game: Brittany Mallory. She had the defensive assignment on Jenkins most of the game and made life miserable for the Bona senior.
Stat Check: The Bonnies shot just 18.8 percent (9 of 48) from the field for the game and were just 1 of 12 from three-point range.
Stat Check II: Sophomores Doris Ortega and CeCe Dixon combined for 25 of Bona's 35 points, which was the lowest point total in Sweet 16 history.
Stat Check III: With an enrollment of around 2,000, St. Bonaventure is the smallest school ever to advance to the Sweet 16.
Play of the Game: There really wasn't one "play" of the game, but Notre Dame had a 13-2 run to open the game and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
She said it: "No one knew what we were. Half these people didn't even know we had a women's basketball team." -- junior guard Chelsea Bowker.
She said it II: "When we grew up that's all we thought about. We watched March Madness. Who ever thought St. Bonaventure would be part of it? I've got tears going because it was a tough loss, but I have a smile on my face because some people never get the chance to come." -- Bowker.
In the House: 3,108 at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.
What It Means: St. Bonaventure season ends with a 31-4 record.
What's Next: Rest. Then conditioning. Then summer ball.
Watch the video as St. Bonaventure coach Jim Crowley and his players met the media Saturday in Raleigh, N.C., following practice for the Bonnies' Sweet 16 game against Notre Dame.
Sophomore forward and cancer survivor Scott Arnold became the sixth Purple Eagle to ever sign an NHL contract, agreeing to a two-year deal with the Phoenix Coyotes on Friday.
"It's an honor to sign a professional contract," Arnold said. "Growing up, I always dreamed of playing in the NHL and now I am one step closer to making my dream reality. I'm really looking forward to becoming a part of the Phoenix Coyotes organization and thank them for this opportunity."
The 6-foot-2 forward played in 67 games for Niagara, scoring 26 goals, 14 assists and 40 points.
The only two Purple Eagles to ever play in the NHL are Matt Ryan (Los Angeles Kings in 2003) and Sean Bentivoglio (N.Y. Islanders in 2007).
"We wish him all the best as he reports to the Coyotes," NU coach Dave Burkholder said. "Everyone associated with our program is proud."
The contract highlights quite the interesting year for Arnold, who overcame testicular cancer late last summer and worked his way back into the Niagara lineup in time for its season opener at Michigan. The only games he missed this year were four in February due to an upper body injury believed to have been a shoulder injury.
He came public with his story in February about being a cancer survivor in hopes of being an inspiration to others and also helped coordinate Niagara's "Get Checked" campaign against testicular cancer in conjunction with Mount St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston.
"It feels a little surreal. I'm just trying to take it all in. It's a dream come true. I'm just really excited and really grateful to the Phoenix organization for giving me this opporutnity."
St. Bonaventure and the Olean-Allegany area have always been a bit basketball crazy. Historically, that fervor was reserved for the men's team. Not any more. Drive down Route 417 and every other business has a "Go Bonnies" banner celebrating both the men's and women's teams. Marques in Olean wish the Bonnies good luck in the Sweet 16 and people of all ages came out for sendoffs and welcome back rallies.
And then there's this interesting note:
The St. Bonaventure book store ordered 72 speciality t-shirts for the women's team in the Sweet 16. They came in Thursday morning. By the end of the day, there were only about five shirts left and the store had to place a re-order.
That's selling as many t-shirts as there were fans in the stands about six years ago.
The Bonnies leave today for Raleigh, N.C. and are expected to arrive this afternoon in preparation for their Sweet 16 meeting with Notre Dame on Sunday. The 2:30 p.m. tip-off will be shown nationally on ESPN2.
---Former St. Bonaventure coach Jim Baron has been offered the job at Canisius multiple sources have told The News.
Baron, who was fired after 11 years at Rhode Island, is in negotiations with the school and is seeking additional funds for assistant coaches to help build a stronger infrastructure in the program.
While waiting on a commitment from Baron, Canisius AD Bill Maher is still talking to candidates in case Baron turns down the job. A source told The News that Maher on Wednesday spoke with Jayson Gee, the associate head coach at Cleveland State and former a St. Bonaventure assistant.
Baron, who coached at St. Bonaventure from 1992-01, had four consecutive 20-win seasons at Rhode Island before last season’s 7-24 finish and was fired a year after he agreed to a contract extension through the 2013-14 season. He has a career record of 390-367 (.515).
Norfolk State's Anthony Evans and Rhode Island College's Bob Walsh are also candidates, according to sources.
---Canisius College placed as 4-6 week window to hire Tom Parrotta’s replacement and the process appears to be on schedule.
Canisius AD Bill Maher, with the help of Bill Carr Associates, is narrowing his list of candidates, which includes former St. Bonaventure coach Jim Baron, according to multiple sources. The list also includes Norfolk State’s Anthony Evans and Bob Walsh, the former San Diego and Iona assistant now at Division III Rhode Island College, according to sources. All have head coaching experience which Maher desires.
Baron, who coached at St. Bonaventure from 1992-01, had four consecutive 20-win seasons at Rhode Island before last season’s 7-24 finish and was fired a year after he agreed to a contract extension through the 2013-14 season. He has a career record of 390-367 (.515).
After leading Norfolk State to its first MEAC championship, Evans led the school to an upset win over Missouri in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. A native of Brooklyn, Norfolk State has seven New York natives on its roster.
Walsh just completed his seventh season at RIC where he’s made seven consecutive trips to the postseason and six straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The News' Amy Moritz recaps Bona's 66-63 win over Marist in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Bonnies will face top-seeded Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 round on Sunday in Raleigh, N.C.
You can also download this audio by clicking here.
How St. Bonaventure won: The Bonnies won the rebounding battle, 40-26, and had 15 offensive rebounds -- key to keeping possessions alive, particulary late in the game when Bona got tight and missed some easy shots. CeCe Dixon hit two free throws with 23 seconds left and solid Bona defense iced the game.
Player of the Game: Jessica Jenkins. She struggled at times in the second half, but her 16 points in the first half and went 4 for 7 from three point range. That set the tone. When Jenkins is on, the rest of the team relaxes.
Player of the Game II: Doris Ortega. The sophomore had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. She was strong in the paint and a smart player.
Stat Check: Bona won the reboudnding battle, 40-26.
Stat Check II: Bona did not have a turnover in the last 11 minutes of the game.
Play of the Game: Chelsea Bowker's three-pointer to give Bona a 52-49 lead with 9:38 left. That was a huge lift for a stalled offense.
Play of the Game II: CeCe Dixon iced a one-and-one with 23 seconds left to give Bona three-point lead.
She said it: “We really feed off his energy. I’ve never seen him get a technical since I’ve been here. We knew he was trying to get us going a bit. That worked.” -- Jenkins on her thoughts on the technical called on Jim Crowley.
In the House: 713 at the Tucker Center in Tallahassee.
What It Means: St. Bonaventure is in the Sweet 16 in its first trip to the NCAA Tournaemnt.
What's Next: No. 1 seed Notre Dame on Sunday in Raleigh, N.C.
