Smizik: What Dukes really need is new conference
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Duquesne is set to name Ron Everhart of Northeastern as its sixth basketball coach since 1982. By all indications athletic director Greg Amodio has lured a good coach to take over the Duquesne program.
But is a good man enough for losing culture that permeates Duquesne basketball?
History tells us that it's not.
Jim Satalin was a highly regarded coach when Duquesne hired him away from St. Bonaventure for the 1982-83 season. In nine years at St. Bonaventure, Satalin was 63 games over .500, never had a losing season, had been to the NCAA tournament and had won the NIT when it meant a lot more than it does today. At Duquesne, he was 85-120 with one winning season (15-14) in seven years.
John Carroll succeeded Satalin. He was the top assistant on the Seton Hall staff of the highly regarded P.J. Carlesimo. The Pirates were coming off a one-point overtime loss to Michigan in the NCAA tournament championship game. Carroll was just about the hottest assistant in the country. At Duquesne, he had one winning season and was 73-98 in six years.
Scott Edgar succeeded Carroll. He was a protege of the highly successful Nolan Richardson at Arkansas and in four seasons as a head coach at Murray State was 79-40 with two NCAA tournament appearances. At Duquesne, he was 29-55 in three seasons.
The message is clear: Even good coaches fail at Duquesne.
It will take more than coaching to elevate Duquesne from the lower rungs of the Atlantic 10 conference. The conference, in fact, is part of the problem. To paraphrase an old adage, Duquesne's strategy should be: If you can't beat 'em, quit 'em.
That's right, Duquesne should leave the Atlantic 10, a conference in which it is a charter member. The Duquesne basketball program has fallen into such a state that no one short of the next Rick Pitino or the next John Calipari is going to make it highly competitive in the Atlantic 10.
It's entirely possible Everhart might do what his predecessors couldn't and upgrade the program. Basketball is the easiest major sport to turn around. Turning a program around is one thing, catching up to most of the teams in the Atlantic 10 is quite another.
Duquesne has too many shortcomings to compete in the Atlantic 10, and they go well beyond the losing tradition that has put the program out of sight to most high-quality Division I recruits.
Duquesne is in the process of upgrading some of its facilities, but its primary facility, the Palumbo Center, is below standard. When it was built almost 20 years ago, the Palumbo Center was nice. Today it has more the look of a high school gym than a Division I arena.
Schools like Duquesne need to be surrounded by a fertile recruiting ground to achieve success. Although Western Pennsylvania basketball appears to be in somewhat of a revival compared to decades when it was virtually barren, it is not lush and, more important, when there are good players Pitt gets first crack at them.
Duquesne is simply not going to catch up to the likes of George Washington, Charlotte, St. Joseph's and Xavier. It will have a difficult time equaling Temple, St. Louis and La Salle.
The Atlantic 10 is too good for Duquesne. If Duquesne hopes to win, if it ever wants to get back to the NCAA tournament, where it has not been since 1977, Duquesne needs to downgrade.
It's an unusual move, one that will have alumni screaming and one Amodio, in his first year, is not likely to make. But it's the way to go.
Duquesne has two alternatives: The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and the Patriot League.
Duquesne plays football in the MAAC and has much in common with its members. Manhattan, Iona, Marist, Siena, St. Peter's, Loyola (Md.), Niagara, Fairfield, Canisius and Rider comprise the MAAC. Most of those schools are private Catholic institutions like Duquesne. At least one MAAC team, Niagara, is a rival from the days when the Dukes were a national power.
The fact Duquesne plays football in the MAAC makes the switch a natural.
Bucknell, Lehigh, Holy Cross, American, Lafayette, Colgate, Navy and Army comprise the Patriot League. These are private schools with high academic standards. Only one, Holy Cross, is a Catholic university.
A downside to joining the Patriot League is Duquesne would have to upgrade its football program in terms of size, coaching staff and scholarship money available. Fans of the school's football program, which has been highly successful, might consider that a positive. But the additional finances might be more than Duquesne wants to handle at this time.
Changing conferences is not easy. There's often a fee to leave and a fee to join. Nor would Duquesne walk in and be a contender or even a winner in these conferences. Many of these programs, despite playing in leagues that are less prestigious than the Atlantic 10, are decidedly ahead of the Dukes.
But in the MAAC or the Patriot League, Duquesne would have a chance to be successful in the near future.
That's not on the horizon in the Atlantic 10 -- not in the near future or the distant future.
First Published March 29, 2006 12:00 am
