January 21, 2005|By Gary Lambrecht | Gary Lambrecht,SUN STAFF
The day after watching his team lose on its home court with a stagnant effort that surprised and angered him, Jimmy Patsos is wrapping up a spirited practice session and running short on sleep.
Since taking over one of the NCAA's worst Division I men's basketball programs last spring, Patsos has held steady in the belief that Loyola College, with his knowledge, passion and energy driving it, will fix this mess and do it quickly. And the new face of the Greyhounds keeps telling himself things are getting better.
The positive signs are there. Patsos, the former 13-year University of Maryland assistant coach, has guided Loyola to an upset victory over Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference power Niagara. He has led the Greyhounds to three victories - tripling the total of last season's 1-27 team, which seriously flirted with the longest losing streak in NCAA history.
He is successfully recruiting the types of players who will transform the roster, starting with Maryland transfers Andre Collins and Hassan Fofana, each of whom will be eligible to play next season. He has installed a hustling, pressing style of play, reflecting his Terrapins background. He has brought hope and noise and fannies back to cozy Reitz Arena, which had been stuck on the snooze button for a decade.
But Patsos also is learning, painfully at times, to balance the clarity of his vision with a sense of realism in the here and now. Loyola (3-12) lacks athleticism, an inside presence and good shooters, hasn't had a winning streak in more than five years, and is still far too accustomed to finding ways to lose.
Like the night before, when visiting Marist wore out the Greyhounds with an effective zone defense and pulled away to win, 63-49. The loss was hard enough to stomach, but Patsos despised the way his players seemed to lose confidence and surrender after missing too many outside shots.
"I didn't get to sleep [the night before] until 5 a.m. There's a high and a low every day," said Patsos, 38. "The high of coaching the team I've got now, the low of losing, the high of watching what we've got coming in [next season].
"I'm getting my hopes up, because I think we're so close. That's what kills me. We have a chance to be a very different team next year, but I really want to win this year. I want to win before they fire me."
That notion draws a laugh from athletic director Joe Boylan, who has lived through the slide that has defined Loyola. Only once in the past 18 years have the Greyhounds experienced a winning season. That happened 11 years ago, when Loyola, under then-coach Skip Prosser, pulled off three upset victories to win the MAAC tournament and make its only NCAA tournament appearance.
Boylan went through three coaches after that. Things got progressively worse, bottoming out under Scott Hicks, who had 16 wins in four seasons and was fired last March.
2nd time is charm
Into the void stepped Patsos, who had been passed over for Hicks in 2000, when Patsos was the third assistant in College Park. With Maryland coach Gary Williams urging him on, Patsos - who had been promoted three years earlier to No. 2 assistant - sought the Loyola job again. Boylan already had marked him as his first choice.
The Greyhounds got a more seasoned coach with a thorough understanding of Maryland's flex offense and insight into how a once down-and-out program is rebuilt. They also got a guy with the proven recruiting ability to, for example, persuade California high school players D.J. Strawberry and Ekene Ibekwe to come 3,000 miles east to College Park.
They also hired a salesman, a promoter eager to connect with the community, starting with Loyola alumni and students.
"Men's basketball has been a depressing situation. This year, people just feel good about what's going on. It's a perceptible change I see just walking around," Boylan said. "We have enthusiasm, from students to faculty. That's a credit to Jimmy and his personality."
Added assistant athletic director Marty Kelly: "Jimmy has jump-started this place."
Patsos started the facelift immediately, first by leading a "Storm the Dorms" party, during which some 1,500 Greyhounds T-shirts were given to students by Loyola's players and coaches. Patsos also set about turning Loyola into somewhat of a Maryland north.
The first assistant he hired was ex-Terps point guard Terrell Stokes. Later, he brought in Matt Kovarik, a former Maryland point guard and assistant whose law school schedule made coaching under Williams unworkable. In between, Collins, the junior point guard who had decided to transfer from Maryland, opted to follow Patsos. Fofana, a 6-foot-10 sophomore center, recently left College Park for Evergreen.
"At Maryland, Jimmy was the guy all of the players would go to talk to, as far as problems they were having," Collins said. "You know he wants what's best for you, and he wants to win. I see him improving the program already. Players are actually trying and working hard. This program is going to be so much different."
