Jan. 29, 2007

Stony Brook, N.Y. - CSTV.com's Hoops Odyssey, an internet series written by two road trippers traveling the nation during the men's college basketball season, visted the campus of Stony Brook University on Sunday and had a chance to sit down with head coach Steve Pikiell.

Jacob Osterhout sat down with head coach Steve Pikiell before the Seawolves took on America East foe Vermont on Sunday.

THE BEST COACH YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF
by Jake Osterhout, CSTV.com

To view video clips and pictures from their conversation click here.

Traditionally speaking, Stony Brook University hasn't exactly been a basketball powerhouse. In fact, the Seawolves have only been playing D-I ball for eight seasons. They've never made the NCAA tournament and have an America East conference record of 23-44. Chapel Hill it ain't. But this small-time program on Long Island has a big time coach. Steve Pikiell is in his second season as the head coach at Stony Brook and already his impact can be seen in his team's play. The Seawolves have already won three more games this season they did all of last year. And today, playing at the Stony Brook University Arena against America East powerhouse Vermont, who leads the all-time series 11-1, Stony Brook is hanging tough and giving the Catamount guards fits.

Pikiell's young, but you wouldn't know it by looking at his resume or the wisps of gray hair sprouting from his head. He was the only player to ever be named two-time captain at Connecticut. After playing for Jim Calhoun in Storrs, Pikiell joined the hall of fame coach's staff as an assistant. From there he went on to be an assistant coach at Yale, Central Connecticut and George Washington, where he helped Karl Hobbs rebuild the Colonials' program by bringing in two top 25 recruiting classes.

Simply put, Pikiell's been everywhere and learned from the game's best minds. Calhoun has called him "one of the brightest young coaches in the nation" and Hobbs referred to his old assistant as "a tireless recruiter with an outstanding basketball mind."

Just watching Pikiell patrol the sidelines, I can already tell that he's going to be one of the best. He's the kind of coach that players just want to please. He's energetic - sometimes he looks like he's doing defensive slides in front of the bench - and always positive. When a Stony Brook player makes a mistake, and it happens quite a bit, Pikiell slaps him on the butt and encourages him to play better. In fact, coach claps so much during games that his hands are cut and bloody by the time forty minutes are up. The man makes the game of basketball look fun, even if his team is losing by double digits, which they are for a fair amount of the game.

But Pikiell doesn't give up on his players, and his faith in them is rewarded. The Seawolves make a run. The shots start falling. The defense grows tighter. With two minutes left, the deficit has been cut to seven points. The players on the Stony Brook bench emulate their coach, clapping and jumping out of their seats when their teammates score, though it's too little too late as Vermont escapes with a 71-61 victory.

So why is this coaching prodigy patrolling the sidelines at a university better known for synthesizing viruses than defensive strategies?

The man likes to coach and it doesn't matter where. Stony Brook was the lucky school to offer Pikiell his first head coaching job and he's going to be successful, no matter what the circumstance. In just one year at the helm of this ship, Pikiell brought in the 27th best recruiting class in the country according to HoopsScoopOnline.com.

Looking back, it appears that Stony Brook isn't such a bad place to start a head coaching career. Back in 1969, the school gave a little known guy named Rollie Massimino his first head-coaching job. And in his debut season, Massimino led Stony Brook to a conference championship and the NCAA small college tournament.

Pikiell and the Seawolves hope to replicate Massimino's success, but on a much higher level.

------------- Two Times the Fun

-Coach Pikiell is so active on the sidelines that he can barely stand to wear his suit jacket. In the press packet is a graph charting the game time when Pikiell takes his coat off. His record came against Hartford. Coach shed his jacket after just 12 seconds.

-I learned that researchers at Stony Brook invented the bar code. So apparently these were the guys who decided you shouldn't wear sweatpants to the pub.