Patrick Stevens never really went away after The Washington Times shuttered its sports section. He continued blogging on his own, and wrote for several area publications. But now that the Times is back, he's been able to expand the breadth of his work. We, the readers, benefit. On Wednesday, he published a story and blog post on the difficult job facing new Towson coach Pat Skerry.
These types of stories are always fascinating. Every coaching change brings with it almost unfettered optimism. Fans naturally want to believe. They'll jump on message boards or blogs and dissect every hire, every decision with startling precision. They'll cast doubts, find soft spots in resumes and explore similar situations in search of an indication of how the hire might work out. But ultimately they hope to be wooed. So when a new coach comes in and promises change, they're easily won over.
Skerry is, by most accounts, a charismatic guy. He's known as a top recruiter because of it. His introductory press conference was radiant with promises and smiles and pep band tunes. The outgoing president and new athletic director see him as the centerpiece of a university-wide resurgence.
At that opening press conference, Skerry's energy was enough to convince former John Carroll star Isaiah Philmore that he wanted to stay. A few weeks later? Not so much the case.
It'd be unfair to read too much into that defection, or Braxton Dupree's decision to seek a pro career. Coaching transitions are chaotic times. Ego-clashing between the incumbent players, who remain faithful to the old regime even if they despised it or found little success under it, and the new coach is inevitable. So, too, is the new coach winning that fight.
Skerry was no doubt scouring the region for players over the past few weeks. He's got two scholarships to fill right away, but more importantly he's got to reconnect with his network of coaches and convince them that Towson is a place where their players can thrive. Given that the Tigers haven't had a winning season since 1996, that's a tough sell.
Towson is banking on Skerry's hunger to succeed. Recruiting is a hustle game (in more ways than one, of course) and perhaps former coach Pat Kennedy settled for trading on past success instead of actually building relationships and working the area to find players who might fit at Towson. Colleague Matt Bracken of Recruiting Report tells me there were 60 or so players from Baltimore playing Division I basketball last year. The best Skerry can do for now is hope to pluck one or two of those kids per year and begin to build a reputation slowly.
It would take a major leap for Towson to ever own Baltimore, as athletic director Mike Waddell envisioned in Stevens' article. Butler, after two consecutive trips to the national title game, no doubt has made headway in Indianapolis. You'll still find more Indiana and Purdue fans there, though. Elite players in the city know they'll get better exposure at those schools, too, and crave the competition of the Big Ten. Maryland, whether it's a "D.C. school" or not, will always have the same allure for Baltimore kids.
A typical basketball program can do a 180-degree turn in two or three years. It only takes a few players. But Towson, despite it's athletic director's claims to the opposite, will be held back by its past. High school players aren't generally students of history, but they do know who wins and who doesn't.