John Rooke’s Everything College Sports
Thursday, May 05, 2011
• The biggest news on the local collegiate scene comes from Providence College, as the Friars introduced their new men’s hockey coach. Nate Leaman was introduced on Tuesday as the 12th head coach in program history, taking over for Tim Army, who resigned from the position in April. “We wanted someone who is a visionary, an architect, someone who can build a program,” Athletic Director Bob Driscoll told the crowd in attendance at the school’s Concannon Fitness Center conference room.
• Additionally, former Friar hockey coach and Athletic Director Lou Lamoriello reached out to Leaman upon word of his hiring at Providence, offering to assist the new coach and the program in any way he can. Lamoriello largely built the Friar tradition in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, and currently remains as the President and General Manager of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. Providence also expects to add $17 million worth of renovations to the hockey facility (Schneider Arena) on campus over the next few years.
• One of Leaman’s assistants from Union, Ben Barr, will apparently join him on the PC coaching staff, with another slot still to be decided. His team at Union this past season had the top rated power play in the nation at 29%. Alex Velischek, a top recruit who left the team in December and son of former Friar standout Randy Velischek, could be a possibility for a return to the program.
• On the basketball recruiting trail, Ed Cooley’s new staff is involved with several new names, and some of them could be late inclusions for the freshman Class of 2011. After receiving a verbal commitment from Westwood (AZ) Prep point guard Kiwi Gardner last week, the Friars are apparently in the mix with Michigan small forward LaDontae Henton, who received a release from a letter-of-intent to attend Dayton, and one-time Iowa State commitment Anthony Odunsi, a 6-3 guard from Texas. All three players could join the Friar program for the fall of 2011.
• Senior Marshon Brooks, who earned Associated Press Third Team All-America honors as a member of the men's basketball team, was named PC’s Male Athlete of the Year for Team Sports. Junior Lee Carey was named Male Athlete of the Year for Individual Sports for the second-consecutive year. Carey became the eighth Friar all-time to win the BIG EAST Conference Men's Cross Country Championship, and went on to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Championship.
On the women's side, junior ice hockey goaltender Genevieve Lacasse was named Female Athlete of the Year for Team Sports. This season, Lacasse became the all-time leader in career saves (2,582) and set a Friar record for saves in a season (948). Sophomore Shelby Greany earned Female Athlete of the Year honors for the second-straight year for individual sports. Greany earned All-America honors in cross country and indoor track during the current academic year.
• URI’s baseball team is 26-17 on the season, and after a sweep of Temple this past week, the Rams are tied for second place in the Atlantic 10 with Dayton.
• Five University of Rhode Island seniors received the athletic department's major awards while the 2011 graduating class of student-athletes were honored at the 2011 Senior Awards Banquet, held at Quidnessett Country Club on May 3. Delroy James (Men's Basketball) and David Kennedy (men's track & field) were co-winners of the Albert LeBoeuf Award while Lilli Falconer was presented with the Winifred Keaney Award. Michael Tanke and Jenessa Redfern were also recognized as each earned the Elizabeth Holmes Award.
• Standout student-athletes from the Community College of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College were also honored, in celebration of the significant academic and athletic achievements at the three respective state institutions of higher learning.
• The 2011 NCAA Division III women’s softball regionals will be held at RIC’s Dayna A. Bazar softball facility, beginning May 12th through the 16th.
• CCRI’s nationally-ranked baseball team opens play this weekend with the Region XXI Championships at Fell Field on campus in Warwick. The Knights are the top seed, and finished the regular season at 28-9.
• Former Johnson & Wales baseball standout Brad Jackson has signed with the New York Federals of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. Jackson was an All-New England selection as a shortstop in 2008 and twice was named an All-Great Northeast Athletic Conference selection. Jackson currently ranks in the top-10 in every category in the school’s record books as he ranks third in hits (174), fourth in RBI (107), sixth in runs scored (105) and ninth in batting average (.348).
• At Brown, the recent announcement of the elimination of four varsity-level sports has been tabled until the fall. Brown’s Athletics Review Committee has recommended a package of steps including significant investment in athletic facilities, more competitive salaries for coaches and staff, the reduction of admission slots, and a better alignment of schedules to avoid conflicts between academic and athletic programs among student-athletes. The decision about the elimination of four sports was delayed until October 2011.
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