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April 25, 2006

Brown coach Miller heading to Penn

PROVIDENCE -- Brown men's basketball coach Glen Miller is leaving his post after seven years to lead the Ivy League's reigning power program.

Miller has accepted an offer to succeed Fran Dunphy at the University of Pennsylvania, according to sources. He will likely be introduced in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Miller leaves Brown with a career record of 93-99 and 54-44 in Ivy League play. Miller's success in his time at Brown has made him an interesting target for other schools in previous years. Only last month, Miller was offered, but turned down, a vacancy at the University of Hartford. But Penn proved to be a different story.

Under Dunphy, the Quakers were a dominant Ivy power that rolled to a 20-9 record, 12-2 in the Ivies, this past year. The Quakers return several key players for next season, including Ivy Player of the Year Ibrahim Jaaber.

The other finalists for the Penn job were Cornell coach Steve Donahue and Lehigh's Billy Taylor.

A former player at Connecticut, Miller coached at UConn under Jim Calhoun for seven seasons and then led Division III Connecticut College from nowhere to a 28-1 mark and the NCAA semifinals in 1999.

At Brown, Miller won more games in his seven-year stretch than any coach in school history. From 2001-2004, the Bears posted four consecutive winning seasons for the first time in the program's history. In both 2003 and '04, Brown finished second in the Ivies (behind Penn) with 12 and 10-win league seasons.

While Miller's gains at Brown were substantial, Penn and Princeton have long dominated Ivy League basketball. Penn's aggressive recruiting and willingness to offer more extensive financial aid opportunities to basketball players has played a key role in the program's success.

First-year Brown athletic director Mike Goldberger will begin a new search for a replacement this week.

-- KEVIN McNAMARA

Posted by amartone7340 at 10:15 AM | Comments 3

April 20, 2006

Former St. Raphael's star Jeff Xavier to join Friars

Jeff Xavier, the former St. Raphael's All-Stater who's gone on to shine at Manhattan College, will transfer to Providence College this fall. Xavier, a 6-foot shooting guard, must sit out the 2006-07 season but will have two years of eligibility with the Friars. He will be the first Rhode Island native to play at PC in coach Tim Welsh's tenure.

Xavier told The Journal that he spoke with Welsh on Wednesday night after receiving a release from his scholarship at Manhattan. Welsh instantly offered him a spot in the Friar program, and Xavier quickly accepted.

``I always wanted to play at Providence,'' Xavier said.

Xavier was seen by college scouts as a bit small for major conference play coming out of Rhode Island's high school league. However, his deep shooting range and deceiving strength helped him trump his size limitations. As a sophomore, Xavier was the Jaspers' second leading scorer (16.6) and made a team-high 77 threes. He was named second-team All-Metro Atlantic Conference and was a third-team All-New York City selection.

Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez left to take the Seton Hall job two weeks ago. The move opened up an opportunity for Xavier to look at other options, and PC was his first, and only, choice. He said he did not want to follow Gonzalez to Seton Hall.

More on Jeff Xavier's decision in Friday's Journal.

- KEVIN McNAMARA

Posted by Kevin at 10:42 AM | Comments 4

April 3, 2006

Gavitt's honor is well earned

For nearly 45 years, Dave Gavitt helped the game of basketball grow and prosper for others. Today is his turn to step into the spotlight.

Gavitt, an ultimate insider in virtually all levels of the game, has been introduced in Indianapolis as a member of the newest class of inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The induction ceremonies will be held Sept. 7-9 in Springfield, Mass.

Gavitt joins a class that includes former NBA stars Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins and Joe Dumars; Connecticut women’s coach Geno Auriemma; and longtime Italian National Team coach Sandro Gamba.

``Other than family, this is the most important thing to me,'' Gavitt said from Indianapolis. ``The game has been my life and to be honored by your peers is very special.''

Gavitt is believed to be the first native Rhode Islander to be chosen for hoops' Hall. He was born in Westerly and grew up in New Hampshire, but has lived in Rumford for more than 35 years. The other Hall of Famers with Rhode Island links are former URI coach Frank Keaney and ex-Providence players Lenny Wilkens and John Thompson, none of whom were born in the Ocean State.

Gavitt's basketball career began as a player at Dartmouth, where his teams won two Ivy League titles. He began his coaching career at Worcester Academy, where he was introduced to Providence coach Joe Mullaney, who offered a job as an assistant coach. Gavitt accepted, and sat alongside Mullaney from 1962-66, helping shape the careers of John Thompson, Ray Flynn and Jimmy Walker, among others. Gavitt became the head coach at Dartmouth in 1967-68 but returned to PC when Mullaney left for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1969.

Gavitt quickly carved out his own legacy at Providence, where his teams won 20 or more games eight times from 1971-78, highlighted by the 1972-73 team's trip to the Final Four. While at Providence, Gavitt's career took off both nationally and internationally. His work on that front led him to being named head coach of the 1980 Olympic team, a group that ultimately didn't play in Moscow due to the boycott supported by President Jimmy Carter.

Gavitt resigned as PC's coach in 1979 to become the first commissioner of the Big East Conference, his most enduring contribution to basketball. Gavitt drew several of the East's premier schools together, and the group quickly grew into a national power. In 1985, St. John's, Georgetown and Villanova all made the Final Four -- the only time three schools from the same league have advanced as far. At the same time, Gavitt was the chair of the NCAA Basketball Committee and led major developments in the men's national tournament.

Gavitt left the Big East in 1990 to serve as the CEO of the Boston Celtics, and also ran USA Basketball, leading the charge for professionals to play in the Olympics.

After leaving the Celts in 1994, Gavitt raised money for the NCAA's Foundation and became chairman of the board for the Hall of Fame. He left that post in 2003, after watching over construction of a new Hall on the banks of the Connecticut River in downtown Springfield.

Gavitt was elected in his first year of eligibility.

-- KEVIN McNAMARA

Posted by Kevin at 12:38 PM | Comments 4