Post by hurtinturkey on Jun 10, 2013 22:37:26 GMT -5
Coach McDermott was a very good coach who did the best he could with extremely limited resources. I believe his first head coaching job was at LaSalle Military a NYC high school where he would have many great games against another high school and college coaching legend Coach Don Kennedy, who coached two high schools at once, one being Regis, with whom he led to the mythical national championship in 1948, Kennedy later coached St. Peters College for many years making the Peacocks a regional power, once beating Duke in the NIT. Jim McDermott unfortunately didn't have the Jersey City Armory, packing in sellout crowds of 7,000 to house St. Peters. McDermott did his best playing at high school gyms as his home court. In the early 70's when I was in the program, we played at the Mount and Iona Prep! We had some very good players, Ray Hyland and yes, Tom Woodring a six foot five shooting guard we stole from Holy Cross College. Wood ring is the dad of the shooting guard who just signed with Providence as a preferred walk on. Tom was a great shooter who had NBA three point range well before three was an NBA three point shot. Wood ring went on to play seven years in Europe and then coached in the middle east. He followed Iona great Warren "Joe" Issacs who played many years in Italy and then served as a head coach in Milan, in-between stints back in the states here at Iona, St. john's and the Nets. Getting back to Coach McDermott, he was the glue that kept Iona basketball going. He kept the team competitive with no resources, even landed one of the best and a very important cross over Gael, Kevin Bass, Fish. Fish played for Roberti and then helped Jimmy V's first two teams build a solid foundation to help recruit V' s guys, Dave Brown and Lester George and then Vickers and Hamilton. Any way you cut it, without McDermott keeping the program going and competitive, the administration would have gone Division three and this board would not easier. Anyway congratulations to Tom Woodring's son and thanks again Coach McDermott! Go Gaels
Coach McDermott was a very good coach who did the best he could with extremely limited resources. I believe his first head coaching job was at LaSalle Military a NYC high school where he would have many great games against another high school and college coaching legend Coach Don Kennedy, who coached two high schools at once, one being Regis, with whom he led to the mythical national championship in 1948, Kennedy later coached St. Peters College for many years making the Peacocks a regional power, once beating Duke in the NIT. Jim McDermott unfortunately didn't have the Jersey City Armory, packing in sellout crowds of 7,000 to house St. Peters. McDermott did his best playing at high school gyms as his home court. In the early 70's when I was in the program, we played at the Mount and Iona Prep! We had some very good players, Ray Hyland and yes, Tom Woodring a six foot five shooting guard we stole from Holy Cross College. Wood ring is the dad of the shooting guard who just signed with Providence as a preferred walk on. Tom was a great shooter who had NBA three point range well before three was an NBA three point shot. Wood ring went on to play seven years in Europe and then coached in the middle east. He followed Iona great Warren "Joe" Issacs who played many years in Italy and then served as a head coach in Milan, in-between stints back in the states here at Iona, St. john's and the Nets. Getting back to Coach McDermott, he was the glue that kept Iona basketball going. He kept the team competitive with no resources, even landed one of the best and a very important cross over Gael, Kevin Bass, Fish. Fish played for Roberti and then helped Jimmy V's first two teams build a solid foundation to help recruit V' s guys, Dave Brown and Lester George and then Vickers and Hamilton. Any way you cut it, without McDermott keeping the program going and competitive, the administration would have gone Division three and this board would not easier. Anyway congratulations to Tom Woodring's son and thanks again Coach McDermott! Go Gaels
Didn't you guys play some big name schools at Iona Prep? UMass with Dr. J comes to mind.
'59 I'll defer to your take on Valvano's X's and O's ability; one thing you have to take the bad with the good with Valvano, and, again IMO, while I think at heart he was a really good guy, he ran a loose ship when it came to monitoring his players. One result of that was Ruland signing with an agent during his Junior year, which came to light after the season was over. Valvano claimed not to know about it. Our lone NCAA win over HC was vacated because of that. Its a shame. Then V left for NC State. So V was responsible to raising the profile of Iona, but his successor Kennedy righted the program and made it a solid mid-major power at the time.
As for the Sweet Sixteen, I'm of the opinion that we had a VG chance to make it in 1998, when we lost to Syracuse in the first round at the buzzer. The next game would've been a not very strong New Mexico team. We had a very strong team that year, and a first round win would've given them confidence and they would've been playing with house money. Same thing in 1984 when we lost to final four Virginia by one point in the first round. Again, some favorable match ups and that team could've gone to a Sweet Sixteen, IMO.
Post by hurtinturkey on Jun 11, 2013 9:32:21 GMT -5
ctbill, Playing Dr. J at the Prep was before my time, but I did hear all about that game as well as the game against Jacksonville and their twin towers Pembrok Burrows III and Artis Gilmore a team that went all the way to the NCAA finals and lost to UCLA and Sidney Wicks. I'm not sure if we played them that year but to hear JB tell the story it was like we played them right down to the wire, but lost by 25! We did play Seton Hall an very good NIT team, I believe double or triple overtime and many other games at the Mount and in I believe 73-74 we played Army at Iona Prep. In my opinion Jimmy V was a great motivator and relentless recruiter. I loved the guy and had many great times with him. He became a great game coach but wasn't one at Iona. One too many jerks hanging around a rising basketball program just as college basketball was becoming big time and that one jerk paying cash out to our star forced Ruland to go pro a year too soon. In my opinion, Corvino I believe was his name, cost Ruland millions and the school basketball program, which was very hot, was given a black eye. I think you are correct in saying Pat Kennedy, another great guy, was amuch better game coach and yes he kept the program going and recruited some monster players in Hargraves, Grimes, Truesdale and Coleman. Those were great years! Go Gaels!
What hurt Jeff was his loyalty. He had a friend at Iona named Corvino, or Covino, and Jeff would hang around with him. And it didn't take much of an effort for the kid's father to hook him. And hurtin you were absolutely correct in saying that it cost Jeff a lot of money. As far as JV's lack of oversight we have to remember that there were a lot fewer coaches then than we have now. It seems that teams have more suits than players. And of course the stakes are higher.
Jim McDermott unfortunately didn't have the Jersey City Armory, packing in sellout crowds of 7,000 to house St. Peters. McDermott did his best playing at high school gyms as his home court. In the early 70's when I was in the program, we played at the Mount and Iona Prep! [...] Any way you cut it, without McDermott keeping the program going and competitive, the administration would have gone Division three and this board would not easier. Anyway congratulations to Tom Woodring's son and thanks again Coach McDermott! Go Gaels
This is all great stuff. I definitely appreciate it and see McDermott in an entirely different light than simply W/L record.
Post by hawaii bill on Jun 11, 2013 18:13:05 GMT -5
Again my impressions from a guy who's been a fan of the program since 1978, starting as a student, but with no inside knowledge or personal relationship with any of the coaches, the impression I got of Ruland as a coach was that he was always trying to find himself, i.e. a big time recruit who chose Iona over big time programs. I think it led him to take chances on the Sensley kid and the kid from Syracuse from time to time. His drop off from the NCAA tournament appearance to the 2-28 season is directly attributable to the recruiting class he brought in to replace Burtt Jr, Soliver, Wachsman, and Marvin Mc. I understand he clashed with Brother Ligouri over some of the players he wanted, and the administration forced his hand with recruting later on. That coupled with some completely poor judgment with some public comments he made did him in. I think he was a good coach in terms of X's and O's. I think he got a lot out of his players also. When it came to what came out of his mouth, he never appeared to me to be very savvy. You guys who know him personally can offer a better perspective.
I knew McDermott as "Dermsie" not Chicklets. He served as the AD as well as the coach and oversaw the growth of programs including the inclusion of women for the first time in 1969. Our "club" football won the mythical national championship and actually had its championship televised locally (circa 1969) at a time when no national TV outlet existed.
Most of what was discussed earlier is true: Dr. J and Artis Gilmore playing in a HS gym--imagine!
Jeff was not a great PR guy and spoke from the heart. The President undercut him by firing all of his assistants for whom Jeff had previously negotiated pretty decent salaries. His record of getting to 3 NCAA games is unsurpassed (hopefully until nest year!).
Post by hurtinturkey on Jun 11, 2013 20:05:04 GMT -5
Here are a couple of more Coach McDermott stories. One of his last and best wins came in his last season coaching a team racked with injuries. An NIT bound Fairfield U Stags play the Gaels at the Mount and we won, I believe by 5 in overtime. The season was a terrible let down finishing 6-16 with two of the top ten rebounders in the country, 6'10" 255 pound Bernie Sochia and Ray Hyland both averaged more than 12 rebounds per game. Two big guys but Hyland was a much better player. One more Coach story. Late in life he, JB and Don Kennedy the St Peters coach along with his son George would play nine holes together. I believe the las year they played Coach was 88 or 89, JB was 82 or 83 and Don was 90. For those golfers out there, imagine how long that round was! Three great guys who loved basketball! Go Gaels!
Great thread and posts guys !! keep it going. Really enjoy reading about the Gaels history from you guys that followed (and played for) the program for years. Good Stuff..Thanks !!
There may some dispute as to Valvano's coaching ability, but there can be none about his ''Gift of gab'' The historical ESPY ''Don't ever give up'' he gave in 1993, is probably the greatest sports speech probably ever. I rate it ahead of Lou Gerigh's farewell speech. I had no doubt it would be. During his term at Iona, I was supervisor of Tatical Patrol. We handled the City' trouble spots. The Iona North Ave corridor was one of our busiest..A handful of those times Iona players were involved. I would have a unit pick up and bring Valvano and have all parties to to Headquarters...Valvano took control of the situation immediately.I marveled at his ''Street Smarts'' He would have made a wonderful Hostage negotiator.......My favorite Valvano story.....He once asked a referee if he could get a tecnical for thinking..The ref. answered ''No'' without hesitation Valvano answered '' I think you stink''....That's the kind of a guy I would like to have beer or two with......
On Valvano- He put us on the basketball map to a place we never could imagined ever being. When he left Iona, I had a hard time with this, it took me awhile then I realized why, "it would never be the same". Don't get me wrong, we have had many good seasons since, but pre-season Sports Illustrated No. 9 in the country, I basket away from the sweet 16 with a legitimate chance to go deeper into the tournament. Valvano is my choice for best coach, x's and o's aside.
On Ruland- Not only was he the best big game player we ever had, he was simply the best player we ever had.
Jimmy V gave our program national visibility. His wit and gift of gab made him a media favorite. He would say things like "we weren't even ranked by Popular Mechanics" and " people think there's a mistake on the Garden marquee and Iona is Iowa." He was dead serious competitive, but comedian funny. I believe one of his first recruits was a guard named Cedric Hardy (not sure of the name, but somebody can help me out. He told me a story of going to Cedric's apartment and dancing to Motown records with Cedric's aunt. Successful recruiting takes many paths. V could charm the skin off a snake. I agree Jeff was our most dominant player. Nobody could push him around. Good days and great memories!
Post by hurtinturkey on Jun 14, 2013 14:49:17 GMT -5
The name of the guard was Cedric Cannon, a 6'5" point guard with a huge Afro that made him look like he was 6'8"! Cedric was one of Calvin Murphy's many cousins and hailed from Harding High in Bridgeport Ct. Cedric was headed to Nevada Reno with future Net Edgar Jones until Jimmy got in front of he and his mom. Unfortunately Cedric butted heads with Jimmy and responsibility so after two years and many run ins he left and finished at Sacred Heart but not before dropping in some great stats, nearly 30 against Fordham and many other fan thrilling games. He loved to get into the face of the competition and was never known to backdown from a brawl Great memories. Go Gaels!
I'm a basketball historian and trying to bone up on my Iona history. I'm one of the heads of a project to compile the stats of every D-I school from the 1940s on. Right now I'm working on Iona and I've learned it's hard to find information about a few of the McDermott teams.
Just a brief update. I spent most of last night looking at boxscores from 1963-64. I'm still missing one boxscore, but I think we'll have full stats for that season, such as they (field goals made, free throw made/attempted, points).
Warren Isaac seems to have been a good player. I'm looking at one boxscore in which he scored 32 of Iona's 81 points in a 1-point win over Boston. Isaac was also in the top ten for rebounds in the country, I believe. I hope that he's not forgotten?
Anyway, I'm working on 1965-66 now, but I'm missing a lot of boxscores. I guess the newspaper did not have as much interest in the Gaels that year. Makes sense. One of the boxscores I have was a not-so-great 82-37 loss to DePaul. Hopefully I can find more 1965-66 boxscores. If anybody has leads on the season stats in totality, please speak up of course.