Holy Cross Hoops At A Crossroads

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

With March Madness now down to its “Sweet 16,” the college basketball vibe in Worcester has been anything but sweet for a few years now.

Holy Cross, the pride of Worcester, has been a non-factor on the national scene for a few years now and you have to wonder when of if they will be able to get back to that point again.

A tradition rich program, Holy Cross enjoyed quite a bit of success back in the 40’s, 50’s and early 60’s winning an NCAA title (1947) and an NIT championship (1954).

Milan Brown

But the landscape in college basketball changed in the 70’s and 80’s with the creation of the Big East and the other so-called power conferences grabbing a majority of the spotlight in that sport. It made jobs like Holy Cross much more difficult than they once were.

But Crusaders basketball was able to adapt to the times. Led by a former Holy Cross great – George Blaney – the program became one of the better low to mid majors in the nation during his 22-year tenure from the early 70’s through the mid 90’s.

There were 5 NIT and 3 NCAA appearances during that stretch which also included seven 20-win seasons.

The program took a turn for the worse in the late 90’s under Bill Raynor before Ralph Willard was hired prior to the 1999-2000 season. Willard immediately restored order to the program as he lifted it to the top of the Patriot League during his 10-year run.

In Willard’s first eight years on the job, he led the Crusaders to five 20-win seasons, 4 NCAA Tournaments and 1 NIT. Holy Cross basketball was back!

But, following the 2008-2009 season, Willard left Worcester to join his friend Rick Pitino in Louisville and Holy Cross basketball hasn’t been the same since.

Sean Kearney’s one season (2009-2010) was pretty much a disaster with the Crusaders finishing (9-22) overall and (5-9) in the Patriot League. His ouster was followed by the hiring of former Mount Saint Mary’s coach Milan Brown who currently occupies the head coaching chair.

Brown’s first season was a bit of a struggle with his team finishing (8-21). However, there was a clear progression as the team finished (7-7) in league play.

The 2011-2012 season was another step forward as the Crusaders went (15-14) overall and (9-5) in league play which was good enough for a 4th place finish.

But this season was a step backward as the team dipped to 7th in the 8-team Patriot League standings. Holy Cross went (12-18) and (4-10) leaving many to wonder what’s next for this once proud program?

As some of you may know, Willard left Louisville and is now a consultant for the Holy Cross athletic department. Can he help Brown lead the Crusaders back toward the top of what has now become a competitive Patriot League?

With schools like Bucknell and Lehigh now establishing themselves as the elite programs in the league, it seems like a daunting task. But that doesn’t mean that Holy Cross basketball can’t get back on top.

It’s no secret that the administration would like the program to get back on top. That’s the reason they fired Kearney after only 8 months on the job back in 2010. Does that mean that Brown could be on thin ice after this year’s disappointing season? That's doubtful. However, in today's crazy world of college basektball where Ben Howland gets fired at UCLA and Tubby Smith gets dismissed at Minnesota after both coaches led their programs into the NCAA Tournament this year, you never know.

Next year will be a big year for Milan Brown and Holy Cross basketball. He will be entering the 4th year of the 5-year contract he signed with the school so one would think that there would have to be a significant improvement on this season’s 7th-place finish for him to remain on solid ground.

Ralph Willard

The good news is that, while he loses 4 seniors, none were irreplaceable. In fact, he returns his two leading scorers (Dave Dudzinski 15.2 pts, 6.6 reb and Justin Burrell 12.1 pts, 3.7 assists) from this past season which should provide a solid base to build upon.

It also should help that Dave Paulson and the Bucknell Bisons will lose 3 of their top 4 leading scorers from this year’s team which lost to Butler in the NCAA Tournament.

In the event that Holy Cross basketball can’t turn it around sooner rather than later, what would be next?

Would Ralph Willard himself consider heading back to the bench to lead the program? At age 67, that seems unlikely.

Of course, his son Kevin Willard is the head coach at Seton Hall and probably needs to have a strong season next year in the Big East or else he might be looking for work. Would he be an option?

It's far too early for such speculation as Brown should be given a chance to be the one to lead this program back to the top. And let's not forget, it was his fifth year as head coach at Mt. St. Mary's where he led the Mountaineers into the Big Dance.

Hopefully, another coaching change is something Holy Cross will not need to consider. The hope is that Milan Brown can turn things around and put Crusaders basketball back on the map where it belongs.