GNAC Hoops: Taking it to another level

The list includes coaches of world championship teams, former NBA and WNBA players, participants in the NCAA Division I Final Four, members of top-ranked basketball programs, members of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, and former Division I coaches and assistants.  It is, indeed, a veritable smorgasbord of success at the highest levels of the game.

And they’re all part of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.

As the 2012-2013 GNAC basketball season approaches, it’s safe to say that the quality of play will mirror those who are part and parcel of GNAC coaching staffs from Northfield to New Haven. 

Emerson College, understandably, made the largest splash last season, when it lured former Ohio State head coach Jim O’Brien to take the reins of the Lions’ historically successful men’s team.  While with the Buckeyes, O’Brien won two Big Ten championships and reached the NCAA tournament four straight times, including a Final Four appearance in 1999.  After playing for the legendary Bob Cousy and Chuck Daly at Boston College, and a brief playing stint in the old American Basketball Association, O’Brien  coached at Connecticut, St. Bonaventure and Boston College before moving on to Columbus.

While at BC, O’Brien’s Eagles reached the round of eight at the 1994 NCAA championships.

Emerson assistant coach Bill Curley is joining O’Brien for a second go-around.  Curley, a McDonald’s All-American in 1990, played for O’Brien for four years.  The Big East Rookie of the Year in 1991 was a two-time all-conference selection in his junior and senior years, and played on that 1994 Elite Eight team.   Curley’s seven-year career in the NBA began when he was selected in the first round of the 1994 draft by the San Antonio Spurs.  He’ll begin his second season alongside O’Brien when the Lions open their 2012-2013 campaign on November 16th.

O’Brien’s boss, Stan Nance, is no stranger to the Big Dance, either.  Nance was a member of the 1976 Rutgers Scarlet Knights, participants in that season’s Final Four.  Now the interim director of athletics at Emerson, Nance played with former NBA’ers Phil Sellers, Eddie Jordan, Hollis Copeland, James Bailey, and Mike Dabney on a team that went 31-2.

The Boston College basketball tradition has another GNAC connection.  Johnson & Wales head coach Jamie Benton, an all-stater at LaSalle Academy in Providence, moved onto BC in 1984.  After playing for Gary Williams for two years, Benton played for, you guessed it, Jim O’Brien, and graduated just before Curley arrived at Chestnut Hill.  Benton was paired in the BC backcourt with former Boston Celtic guard Dana Barros, and played alongside another Eagle standout, Michael Adams, in his sophomore year.               

Benton says O’Brien instilled a mental toughness during his playing days that is common to Division I basketball, and says O’Brien’s influence is palpable when his Wildcats are in tight situations.  “The things that Coach O’Brien taught me are things we bring to our team in those one or two-point games.  Our guys have bought into what we’re telling him, just like we bought into what he told us back when we played.”

For his part, O’Brien is justifiably proud of the crop of GNAC coaches that he’s mentored, which also includes Suffolk’s Adam Nelson, a manager on O’Brien’s first Boston College team; and Mount Ida’s veteran head coach, Rico Cabral, who coached with O’Brien at St. Bonaventure.

In Curley, O’Brien has someone he says has, “a very special place in my coaching life…Bill took Boston College basketball to another level, and he brings experiences that the current team here at Emerson can relate to.  Having him on the bench with me has unquestionable value.”

Suffolk University Director of Athletics Jim Nelson has had his share of accolades as well.  Like O’Brien, Nelson played for Cousy at Boston College from 1962-65, and played professionally in Greece before launching a coaching career that eventually landed him in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2006.

New Lasell assistant coach Corey Lowe had a more than productive four year career at Boston University.  A two-time all-conference selection, Lowe is the fourth-leading scorer in Terrier history, and set the BU mark for career three-pointers.   He went on to play professionally in Latvia, Israel, and Brazil before accepting a coaching position with the Lasers.

Albertus Magnus’ Mitch Oliver, who has appeared in two of the last three NCAA Division III tournaments, coached at two nearby Division I schools, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart.  Emmanuel’s Jamaal Jackson played at the University of New Hampshire. 

The GNAC’s link to big-time college basketball is not limited to the men’s side, either.  Emmanuel College director of athletics Pam Roecker had coaching stints at UMass, Seton Hall, and Wagner University before coming to Boston.  University of St. Joseph Associate Director of Athletics Deb Fiske was a member of the very first team from the University of Connecticut to reach the NCAA Women’s Final Four.  Current USJ head coach Kim Martin played Division I ball at Temple.  Longtime St. Joseph director of athletics Bill Cardarelli coached with both UConn men’s coach Jim Calhoun and women’s coach Geno Auriemma, and coached both the United States senior women’s basketball team, and the U-18 Irish National Team.

Fiske says her experience at that lofty realm of college basketball has helped enrich student-athletes at USJ to this day.  “I’ve been able to tap into a lot of their ideas,’ she says of her days with the UConn program, “It’s definitely lent some credibility to our entire program here,” she added, “It helped lay some of the building blocks at St. Joe’s.”

Kristen Rasmussen of Simmons College took her experiences one step further.  Rasmussen played in the WNBA after graduating from Michigan State in 2000.  Drafted 51^st overall by the Utah Starzz, she played for eight WNBA teams before going overseas to play in Greece in the 2008-09 season.

Rivier University assistant coach Laura Aloisi also played abroad after her Division I playing days at Holy Cross. 

Everyone knows about the dynasty that Andy Yosinoff has built at Emmanuel College—17 NCAA Division III appearances, including trips to the D-3 Elite Eight and Final Four, etc., etc., etc.    What isn’t widely known is that Yosinoff took the United States national team to a gold medal at the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel, and is the all-time winningest Jewish collegiate basketball coach at any level, men’s or women’s, of all time.  He, too, is a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

With the impressive breadth of experience at the highest level, it’s no wonder that the GNAC, in its relatively short existence, has become a major player on the national Division III stage. 

“You get the feeling,” says Benton, “that the more they buy into what we’re telling them, that they’ll respond the way we responded when we played in the spotlight.  It’s only going to make the current players a lot better.  It’ll rub off when there’s life after basketball, too.”

Written by: John Parente, GNAC Special Reporter