I was planning on posting about the non-conference schedule and then today the Cats announced their new assistant coach so lets get to it!
First and foremost, man is it going to feel good to be back in Patrick Gym this season. I have missed watching live college basketball dearly and will probably shed a tear when I walk back in. I like the non-conference schedule that Vermont put together this season. It has a great mix of teams. Tough northeast teams like Yale and Northeastern I love the opener against Northern Iowa and getting Colgate on the schedule. Maryland and Providence are good buy games and going back to the gulf coast showcase will be fun. All in all a strong schedule that will give the Cats the tests that they sorely missed before conference play last season.
Now on to Part two.
Today Vermont announced former Catamount Chris Santo as their new assistant coach. Die hard Cats fans will remember Santo for his few appearances as a freshman during the 2011-2012 season. After that year he transferred to St. Anselm where he had a very strong career. Santo joined the Catamounts just as I was getting into following the recruiting and researching the new players as much as I could so I very distinctly remember getting excited for him to join the Cats. Pretty cool to see it come full circle for him and as an added bonus Vermont actually plays St. Anselm as their second exhibition game this season. I like this hire for Vermont. Santo has most recently been working with the Knicks coaching staff with game-planning and video analysis. I like the idea of having a guy on the staff with a little NBA experience as the program continues to move forward. Also working with a guy like Tom Thibodeau who is such a strong X's and O's guy will be very helpful as the team continues to add new wrinkles into their gameplan. It will be exciting to watch this new coaching develop their identity along with the team. October 30th can't come soon enough.
I am curious who is going to take the lead on recruiting. With Tibbs gone and Kyle as a likely strong contributor to recruiting, I do wonder how Becker will handle division of labor.
ReplyDeleteSchneider had already been the lead recruiter on many of the players, particularly the ones from Canada. He will continue to build on those connections and Bryson Johnson has recruited at all of his coaching stops as well.
DeleteI wasn't overly surprised that Tibbs took the Albany position. As I understand it, it was a promotion, as well as a pay raise. As best I could tell, that wasn't happening at Vermont for him. And of course, home is home, which means something to a lot of people. Coach Schneider seems very capable. I like the Johnson hire. He has a very nice resume and comes with a stellar recommendation from TJ Sorrentine, which goes a long way with me. Serious times but excited for some basketball.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought Schneider was a very strong assistant and has been strong on the recruiting front. Johnson comes with a great resume and feels like a great fit on the staff.
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