By Steve DiMiceli
They say old
habits die hard and I think this is true. Thought can become
habituated as well and old mental processes die just as hard. I don't
need to tell anyone reading this how woeful Duquesne basketball had
been in the 80's, 90' and the first half of the 2000's. I don't need
to tell anyone that many Duquesne alums born in the year of our last
NCAA tournament appearance are now pondering how they are going to
save enough money to send their own children to their alma mater.
Simply put, we lost for a long, long time and it skewed how we think
about college basketball, what it takes to be successful, and what it
means to be successful. Now after five years of winning we're still
falling back on old patterns of behaviors, expectations and
assumptions.
We have several loser habits as Duquesne fans that I've noticed coming to the fore over the last couple of weeks. First, we perpetually expect the next group coming in to immediately make next season better. Next, we assume the athletic department simply does not have the will or the resources to compete in the Atlantic 10. Finally, we accept that just winning more games than we lose is a tremendous accomplishment.
Loser Mentality and
the Diaper Dandy
I remember when
I first started following Duquesne during my junior and senior years,
I remember the excitement of the recruiting and the expectations of
what the next class would bring to the table. Under Danny Nee and
Darelle Porter, the players on the team didn't get much better from
year to year. So we check onthebluff.com database weekly to see about
new interest. I'd check Voy several times a day to see if anything
new occurred. Commitments would draw 50 responses and declarations of
triumph even if the guy was an unheard of JUCO. We'd Ask Jeeves
whether this guy or that would make it, but what did he know. No
wonder that brand died! Every year, we'd fall in love without having
seen these guys play, and reading two positive articles about them.
For the dearth of information we still get about recruits, it was
even worse just ten years ago. At the time we didn't need
information, we needed hope.
I still see it
now. Every year we expect almost every recruit to step in an
immediately turn the program around. I can excuse it with Damian
Saunders, Stuard Baldonado, and Melquan Bolding. We were happy if a
recruiting service even evaluated our prospects and gave them a
single star let alone 4. However, we're still doing it. Two years ago
it was TJ and Derrick Martin, this year it was Martins Abele, and PJ
Torres. Next year, it will be Donovan Jack. The good news is that
we've progressed to the point where don't expect every player to come
in and save the program overnight. However, we still cling to the
flawed logic that the incoming freshman will be the catalyst for
progress and we emphasize recruitment over development. I think this
has allowed a great number of fans to accept or even be excited by
the player turnover we've seen under Ron. While it's imperative that
we recruit well for sustainability, we need to remember that in
mid and high major conferences, juniors and seniors not freshman and
sophomores lead their teams on deep runs. While a freshman who can
give you a spark is always an added bonus winning programs and fans
understand the first year is all about development and not about
carrying the team. As our loser mentality dies away, we'll come to
realize this too.
Loser Mentality
and the Administrative Mistrust
I don't hear the
name Brian Colleary mentioned too much around Duquesne unless the
word "asshole" comes somewhere in the sentence. No doubt
the admin istration was to blame for our athletic failings and BC
gets the lions share of the blame. During the final years of the
previous regime, the athletic department couldn't even get inter
fraternity hockey schedules right.
When Charles
Dougherty was named president, the culture began to change
immediately and the department was modernized. He took the athletic
directer under his supervision rather than having them report to
Father Hogan. He wasted little time in firing the bureaucratic
Colleary and replacing him with the forward thinking Greg Amodio. He
has invested capital resources to make improvements to facilities.
All because he understands the a vibrant sports culture helps promote
the universities brand, attracts more student applications, and
builds the endowment with enhanced alumni engagement and support.
This has not waivered since the day he took over and I believe he
will continue to be a strong promoter of athletics. Speaking to men's
basketball specifically, the budget has increased 81% since he was
hired.
Loser Mentality
and the A-10 Inferiority Complex
In 2003, we had
good reason to feel inferior to just about every other A-10 school.
Most kicked the crap out of us game in and game out. They kicked the
crap out us on the floor and in the level they invested into their
programs. Times have changed and changed fast. Since Ron Everhart's
taken over we've at least split in a number of head to head series
against Atlantic 10 opponents. Competitively, we're making out
mark as evidenced by a top 4 finish last year and top 9 each of the
past 5. At the very worst, we're holding our own. However, there is
lingering concern among some fans that our current form is
unsustainable and future progress impossible because we lack the
financial resources to keep up with the more popular teams like
Xavier, Dayton and St Louis. Many assume a massive investment gap
between the Dukes and upper echelon programs. Simply put,
this is not true.
Whatever gap there was between Duquesne and the rest of the conference has closed even if their revenues are lagging behind. It's far closer than many might believe. Soon to be departed Temple outspent Duquesne by 1.3 million dollars in 2003 on men's basketball. By 2010, the Dukes were within $175,000 of the Owls with the top budgets in the conference only 40% higher than what Duquesne invested. Having spent 2.9 million, the Dukes ranked 100 in overall men's spending in 2010 ahead of schools like Old Dominion, Umass, UAB and Marshall and just behind St Louis. We are willing to pay our coaches. Everhart was paid more than recently fired URI boss Jim Baron.
Loser Mentality and Not Quite Loser a Expectations
This one I simply don't get. Some fans are satisfied with just winning. Having a .500 or better record year in and year out is enough for them. I can understand people being jaded by the losing but to simply accept mediocrity and not aspire to anything more is disappointing and in my opinion unsustainable.
While I have no
empirical evidence to prove it, they say if you're not moving
forward, you're moving backwards. I think this applies to college
basketball very well. If you stagnate, you're going to fall behind
because there is always going to be someone beneath you pushing
forward. It's the nature of competion. I think if we're content just
to win as a program, eventually we're going to start turning off
better athletes with higher expectations. No high school kid and his
ego is going to say I'd be happy to just win more than I lose. They
want to dance. They want Gus Johnson calling their name to cap off
the afternoon session on CBS. And they're going to pick a school that
gives them a better chance of getting it done over one that just
wins.
***
Duquesne is
heading the right direction and it will continue to get better
whether we're ready for it or not. Hopefully someday, we'll grow
spoiled by winning and want our freshman confined to the practice gym
after making a single mistake. We'll complain that the lower level
teams in the conference aren't spending enough and missing the NIT
was tradgedy even if we did play to .500. I'm kidding of course and
really this winning perspective is every bit as flawed as the losing
one. However, if we want to accept success, we need to accept
successful processes and trust that our admins know what they are
doing even if we take a little while to come around.
