As covered in an earlier post, the men’s basketball team has had their own set of coaching turnover this offseason. In the previous entry, we focused on departures. Now, let’s look at who’s joining the fold.

Sam Roditti: The Internal Hire

And golly, do I mean internal. Sam’s first year at American University was also Coach Mike Brennan’s first year. The main difference was that Sam arrived as a freshman on campus in 2013, not as an experienced basketball coach. He spent his four years on campus working with the basketball team as student manager, taking over as head manager his junior and senior seasons. After a one-year stint as a grad assistant with Long Beach State, Sam was back in Bender Area in 2018, this time as director of basketball operations. After four years as DOBO for the Eagles, Sam was announced as a new assistant coach at the end of May.

Coach Roditti is the epitome of a program hire. He’s actually been working with Coach Brennan one year longer than fellow assistant Eddie Jackson. We should expect his familiarity with AU & Coach Brennan to pay dividends.

Finally, his words on the matter:

As an alumnus of AU, I have a lot of pride and passion for the program. Between the athletics department staff, coaching staff and players, I know we have the pieces in place to be successful here in the coming years. I’m excited about the opportunity to continue to be a part of that.

Jonathan Jones: A Story of Ascendance

Now, Coach Jones does come to AU from Princeton, but he’d probably contend that he’s more Cougar than Tiger.

Jones played his college ball at D-III Kean University, and his story is a bit of an interesting one. Never a star in high school – indeed, never even a starter – Jones arrived at Kean as a fringe first line/second line player. He actually started nine games as a freshman, but didn’t reach that mark either of the next two years, as he started eight games as a sophomore and junior.

His senior year was a bit of a revelation. Coach Jones ended up starting twenty-five of Kean’s twenty-six games, averaging a double-double with 23.9 points and 13.7 rebounds. His rebounding mark in particular was impressive: it was third-highest in the country that year across all divisions. (Say what you want about level of competition: 13.7 boards per game is a ton. I bet you can’t match that mark down at your local YMCA.) To hear Jones and Rob Kurzinsky, his coach at the time, talk about it, it seems like the product of maturity and hard work.

“I was immature and I didn’t know all the parts of the game,” said Jones of his time at Linden [High School]. “It wasn’t my time to play. I pretty much watched great players like Darrell Lampley (now at Eastern Michigan) and Desmond Wade (at Fairfield, where he transferred to from Houston). I’ve become a student of the game. Coach Rob (Kurzinsky) saw something in me and kept pushing me.”

“Kean senior Jonathan Jones is painting a dream season” – The Star-Ledger

Kurzinsky’s push clearly had an effect on him. After graduating, he spent several years playing basketball overseas. In 2015, he returned to the states as a high school JV coach. Shortly after that, Kurzinsky plucked him away to be associate head coach at Kean. Two years there followed by four at Princeton has led Coach Jones here to AU.

The Princeton Tie

Now, in case anyone wasn’t aware, Mike Brennan played his college ball in the ’90s at Princeton under Coach Pete Carril. Carril, over his illustrious career, was known for his “Princeton offense”, a scheme that Coach Brennan runs. Coincidentally, Mitch Henderson, coach over at Princeton, is also a Carril acolyte and also runs that Princeton offense. Therefore, much like Brennan and departed assistant Scott Greenman before him, Coach Jonathan Jones (at Princeton 2018-2022) is more than a little familiar with the scheme AU runs.

So, to spell it out, Coach Brennan has lost a long-time assistant who has Princeton roots, and brought in a demonstrated hard worker fresh off of four years at Princeton. He has lost a one-and-done coach who left for his alma mater, only to promote in an AU alumnus who has been around this program since Brennan’s first year. Assuming this staff is able to gel, this may be an upgrade over what we had last year.

How It Will Work

Which brings us to the upshot here. Whether expected or not, Coach Brennan and the Eagles were left in a difficult situation when two coaches left for other jobs this past offseason. The Eagles can’t rebuild here. They’re on the ascent. While major program player Stacy Beckton, Jr just graduated, you have a young core approaching their peak. Continuity is paramount. Which is why it was so important to add two staff members who won’t have much of a learning curve. Coaches Jones and Roditti check that box, but bring so much more to the table.

Coach Roditti is AU through and through. He has spent more time in Bender Arena over the last nine years than anyone not named Clawed. His level of familiarity with Coach Brennan’s program will be an asset. On a staff going through a bit of transition, it will be valuable that Sam could slot into whatever role is needed of him.

Speaking of being on the ascent, we have Coach Jones. Having felt the impact of good coaching and hard work – not everyone can play pro ball overseas for a number of years – it’s easy to envision Jones being a positive force for the team. On top of that, he has experience dominating in the post while being slightly undersized (listed as 6′ 5″ on his college roster). That particular piece of expertise fills a hole that was mostly uncovered on this coaching staff.

Overall, these hires fit what the program needs right now. Let’s hope they can right the ship and build back to a PL championship.