April 20, 2023: Jackson, Novak, hired as head coaches, Lang steps down at Brooklyn
Happy Thursday morning! Checking back in as we near the end of yet another week in this offseason. Coaching news continues to be the main conversation starter in D3 basketball circles, and rightfully so. I’ve also seen some schedules released for the 2023-24 season, so that is cool.
A little known fact about scheduling in D3 is that due to finances, a lot of coaches are forced to somewhat finalize the schedule for the following season in September of the current year. In other words, many teams had their 2023-24 non-conference schedules set before the 2022-23 season even tipped off! Just another reason why we need to commend the coaches out there who literally have to be thinking a full year in advance, and all the while, putting their teams in non-conference games that have the potential to create results vs RROs (regionally-ranked opponents) and improve strength of schedule, two factors that play a pivotal role in the Pool C selection process for the NCAA Tournament.
Keystone College put out a schedule with only CSAC games on it (conf play begins Nov 28), and Aurora did the same. Medgar Evers appears to have a complete schedule out, with a Nov 10 season opener at the Cairn Tournament.
The biggest piece of coaching news so far this week came in an announcement from Brooklyn yesterday, stating that longtime head coach Alex Lang will be stepping from his position, but does plan to stay on as the Associate Director for Athletics. Reasons for the leadership change weren’t explicitly stated, but it’s clear it wasn’t due to performance. Lang built Brooklyn’s program from the ground up in his 20-year tenure, making it into a CUNYAC power.
What Lang accomplished as Brooklyn’s head coach is an extensive list…here are a few of the highlights:
14 consecutive winning seasons (2008-2023)
Led Brooklyn to first NCAA Tournament win in program history (2022)
4 CUNYAC Championships
10 straight 20+ win seasons
2023 ECAC Coach of the Year
340 career wins at Brooklyn, which is a CUNYAC record
Lang’s shoes will be big ones to fill, and it was very cool that the press release included fairly extensive quotes from various people who have interacted with Lang over the years; former players, opposing head coach, Brooklyn’s current and former head men’s basketball coaches, and others. He truly had a large-scale impact on that program.
This could be a situation where an internal hire is made. Assistant coach Amalea Sideris has been on the staff since 2013, and appears, at least on paper, to be a very good candidate. It will be an interesting coaching search to follow, and I would have to guess that the search is already underway.
The other coaching announcement came yesterday, when Mary Hardin-Baylor officially announced Katie Novak-Lenoir as its next head coach. I wrote extensively on the hiring in Tuesday’s post, which you can check out here.
"I am truly honored to be at the helm of such a historic program and to join the championship culture of UMHB," Novak-Lenoir said in a press release. "I want to thank Dr. Randy O'Rear, Dr. Steve Theodore, Dr. Mickey Kerr, and Randy Mann for the opportunity to lead this stellar group of young women on and off the court. There is an abundance of talented returning players, and I am looking forward to working with them to achieve our goals this coming season.”
In another head coach hiring, former Cazenovia head WBB coach Rasul Jackson was been tabbed to lead the program at SUNY Delhi. Good to see him find a landing spot after the announcement that Cazenovia is shutting down.
That said, this is a major rebuild. Delhi went 2-22 this past year, and 0-14 in the NAC. But Jackson has been around the NAC for years, and knows how this league works. That knowledge is likely a large part of the decision by the Delhi search committee to select Jackson to lead to the program.
Cazenovia was his first head coaching job, and it is likely that Jackson is one of the youngest head coaches in D3, considering he graduated from Northern Vermont in 2018. He led Cazenovia to a first-round win in the NAC Tournament a year ago, and spent two seasons at the helm of that program.
I think that just about covers it. Let me know if there are any topics of interest that I missed! By the way, I’m planning to put out a post highlighting some of the current multi-sport athletes (D3 WBB players who play one or more collegiate varsity sports in addition to basketball) early next week. Turns out scouring rosters isn’t the easiest task in the world! Coaches/readers, let me know if there are any multi-sport D3 WBB players that you know of. Email is rileyzayas@gmail.com.
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