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LOCATION: Burlington, VT
CONFERENCE: America East
LAST SEASON: 11-16 (.407)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 7-11 (6th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 2/3
NICKNAME: Catamounts
COLORS: Green & Gold
HOMECOURT: Patrick Gymnasium (3,228)
COACH: Tom Brennan (Georgia '71)
record at school Jesse Agel (Vermont '84)
career record Kelvin Jefferson (So. Connecticut State '95)
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ASSISTANTS: 147-211 (13 years)
CAREER RECORD 199-286 (18 years)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 14-12-14-16-11
RPI (last 5 years) 161-213-197-173-234
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference quarterfinal.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Tom Brennan is the most popular man in Vermont and it has nothing to do with coaching basketball. Most coaches who have never won 20 games or been to a postseason tournament don't last 13 years at the same school. But most coaches don't also have the most popular morning drive-time radio show in their city. In Vermont, Brennan is Dean Smith and Howard Stern, and he is loved for both. "We just killed Stern in the ratings," Brennan said. "It's mind-boggling. That would be like me taking my team and winning at Kentucky." Brennan has been doing his morning show for seven years, and each year he has been voted the state's top radio personality. He is one of the best talkers in his business, either business. Brennan may not be able to out-coach the guy on the other sideline, but he will likely outshine him at the postgame press conference. Not that Brennan can't coach. Considering his double life and Vermont's limited resources, Brennan's job with the Catamounts' program has been outstanding. Vermont was 14-70 in his first three seasons. In the '90s, Brennan has won 119 games and two years ago was a game away from a regular-season conference title. He is still the lowest-paid coach in America East, but the most secure. An opposing league coach once said that "while (the rest of us are) coaching for (our) lives every night, Brennan could coach as long as he wanted." Apparently, he plans to. Although he makes more money as a radio host than he does as a coach, and doing both jobs consumes his life, Brennan isn't ready to leave basketball.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT B BENCH/DEPTH C+
FRONTCOURT B INTANGIBLES B
Tom Brennan is like few other coaches in the college game today. First, his day job as a morning radio show host, not to mention his vibrant personality, make him an anomaly in his profession. But his philosophy also seems a contradiction. "I feel so much happier when we win than I do sad when we lose. I think that's what keeps me going," Brennan said. Brennan said the radio job makes it even easier for him to live that way. Every day he has to answer to his critics and can't hide after a loss. "People want me to be happy. I'm an upbeat guy; I'm a happy guy. When I get on the radio and start feeling sorry for myself, they don't want to hear it," Brennan said. Although last year was a disappointment, the 18-year head coach has plenty of reason to be his normally optimistic self. The return of Craig Peper and the arrival of Matt Sheftic instantly turns Vermont's biggest weakness into a strength. Add third-team all-league guard Tony Orciari and battle-tested senior guards Tobe Carberry and David Roach and the Catamounts may have their best foundation in years. "We think this year we really have the troops," Brennan said. "Of course, I'm a dreamer. If you have talked to me after our 3-24 year, I would have told you that." Always the eternal optimist, Brennan still knows his team has to be better than last year's 2-9 mark on the road. If it is, then Brennan has company in his positive outlook. "If one of the top four (Delaware, Hofstra, Maine, Drexel) have a few problems, then Vermont can slip in. That team can really be a pain in the butt," Maine coach John Giannini said. Much will depend on Peper's health and if Sheftic plays to his reputation. Their presence makes Orciari better and he is talented enough to carry an America East team any night. Breaking into that top four will be difficult, but anything lower than a fifth place finish would be a second straight disappointment. |
"I love the action. I love the idea of you get your guys, and I'll get my guys and we'll go," Brennan said. "Plus we've been here so long that I believe we have a chance in the next couple of years and I'm like Bobby Bowden with that national championship. I just want to go to one dance." His radio presence has helped in other areas as well. His listeners love to watch him coach so much that tiny Patrick Gym is almost always packed. Last year, the league's coaches voted it America East's toughest place to play. "God knows we can't win there," said Delaware coach Mike Brey, who has won the last two league titles. "I've been here four years, and I've never won at that place." Under Brennan, Vermont has also never lost a Vermont high school player via scholarship to another school. This year, he really made that count, nabbing the highly coveted freshman Matt Sheftic from Essex (Vt.) High School. The 6-8, 260-pound Sheftic is probably the most sought-after player Brennan has successfully recruited. Now he will be the cornerstone for the program's future. "Everyone likes him. He's a big body who everybody likes," Maine coach John Giannini said. Sheftic led Essex to a state title as a junior and was voted the state's Mr. Basketball last year. He averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds as a senior. "I love the kid so much because he could have gone to a lot of other places," Brennan said. "And he's so pumped up about the program. I don't want to put the monkey on his back, but he's as good as anyone we've ever had here." The same could be said about Tony Orciari, another big-time Vermont high school player who decided to stay home. Other than Brennan, Orciari remains the biggest name in Vermont basketball after bringing his two Vermont High School Player of the Year trophies to Burlington and then earning America East Rookie-of-the-Year honors as a freshman. The 6-3 junior then made the transition to No. 1 option smoothly last season. His shooting percentage dipped (.451 to .373), but his scoring average went up to 15.6 despite being a marked man. Orciari (4.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, .343 3-PT, .814 FT) is still one of the league's top deep threats and has solid court vision, despite his 1-to-1.16 assist-to-turnover ratio last season. Not having much help inside hurt him, especially early in the season. "He scored 20 a game in high school, and he could have scored 40," Brennan said. "It's been pounded into him to be a team guy. We've told him on several occasions that he has to take over. Hopefully, with more attention on the inside, he'll get some freer looks." Brennan hopes that problem is rectified with the arrival of Sheftic and the return of 6-8 senior Craig Peper (10.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 45.1 FG in 1997-98). When Peper went down with a knee injury before last season and was redshirted, the Catamounts lost their only experienced frontcourt threat. It took Vermont about half the season to learn to play without Peper. By then, it was too late. Peper has lost some of his explosiveness, but the skills remain. He is good in traffic and knows how to get his shot off. He can also step out to about 17 feet and face the basket, freeing up some driving lanes. That directly helps Tobe Carberry's game. Carberry's two favorite words are probably "slash" and "leap" because that's what he does best. A 6-2 senior, Carberry plays more like 6-5 or 6-6. He parlayed those skills into his most productive season with averages of 13.5 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds. His work on the boards was also the best in the conference among guards, but there are drawbacks. Carberry has not completely harnessed his athleticism and will sometimes play out of control. Beating opponents off the dribble is rarely a problem for Carberry. What happens after that remains too much of a mystery. He was just a .377-percent shooter from the field and is not even a threat (seven of 39) from three-point range. Brennan went with a three-guard lineup all of last season with Orciari and Carberry flanking point guard David Roach. The 5-11 Roach enters his senior season having started every game in which he has played (78) at Vermont. Hobbled by various nagging injuries that forced him to miss three games, Roach still managed to boost his scoring average to 6.9 and his three-point shooting percentage to .311 (from 4.7 and .227 as a sophomore). Even those improved numbers hardly strike fear into anyone, but his job isn't to shoot or score. Brennan simply wants Roach to handle the ball and, as the Catamounts top backcourt defender, disrupt his opposition's ability to do the same. Rarely spectacular but always steady, Roach has a career assist-to-turnover ratio of nearly 2-to-1 and has a good chance to exceed 400 career assists by season's end. Brennan will also have the luxury of using 6-9 sophomore Corry McLaughlin and 6-7 sophomore Trevor Gaines more as role players. Both proved to be solid America East players a year ago, but were sometimes forced to do too much. McLaughlin began his college career at Fordham in 1997-98. After sitting out nearly a season-and-a-half under NCAA transfer rules, he finally made his debut in a Vermont uniform last January. Just four games into his Catamounts' career, McLaughlin was in the starting lineup and posted a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) in an upset of league champion Delaware. He made three more starts but scored in double figures just once more. McLaughlin did lead the team in field-goal accuracy at just over 56 percent, while scoring 3.9 points and grabbing 2.8 rebounds. Gaines was with the club all season and made it count. He was America East's top rookie rebounder and made the league's all-rookie team. McLaughlin may have better pure athletic skills, but Gaines (4.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, .444 FG) is a better shooter and all-around player. Gaines also debuted with a double-double (10 points and 12 rebounds against Lehigh) and played in all 27 games with one start. Six-foot-four senior walk-on Brian Nemitz (1.2 ppg, 1.0 rpg) plugged some gaps in 21 games and was a serviceable reserve, but he will probably slide back down the depth chart, making way for someone else in one of Brennan's largest recruiting classes. With five of the six new players 6-5 or taller, the class offers a size transfusion. Sheftic will play immediately and 6-5 junior Ryan Driggers should do the same. With one year of eligibility remaining, Tyler Murphy (6.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg) left the Catamounts to be closer to home at Southern Cal. That leaves reserve minutes on the wing for Driggers, who scored 15 points per game at Collin County (Texas) Community College last season. Driggers, a Mustang, Okla., native, made more than 100 three-point shots last year (.414 percent) and gives Vermont an alternative to Carberry. Brennan and his staff used the entire recruiting budget for the rest of his recruiting class, signing four freshmen from Minnesota, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Six-foot-seven Grant Anderson starred for the Minnesota state champions and was also the quarterback on the football team at Minnetonka High School. He has good size at 210 pounds and is also a solid perimeter shooter. Scott Jones is even bigger at 6-9 and 220 pounds, but his strength lies on the defensive end. Jones was a regional McDonald's All-American nominee at Katy (Texas) High School. Six-foot-six Corey Sullivan averaged 15 points per game for Springboro (Ohio) High School. It will be difficult finding time playing behind Orciari, Carberry, and Driggers. Andre Anderson comes to Burlington from the famed Carlisle High School program in Western Pennsylvania. The 6-1 Anderson left Carlisle as the school's second all-time leading scorer behind Billy Owens and Jeff Lebo. He averaged 22.7 points, seven rebounds, and five assists as a senior. Veterans reserves Chad Rainey (0.2 ppg, 0.0 rpg, 10 games), a 5-10 senior, and Erik Barrett (0.2 ppg, 0.3 rpg, nine games), a 6-7 junior, will remain on mop-up duty.
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