OLEAN, N.Y. – Can Mark Schmidt revive the St. Bonaventure men’s
basketball program?
He certainly thinks so.
“This is a new era and it begins today,” Schmidt said after
being introduced as the school’s new coach Tuesday afternoon at the
Reilly Center. “St. Bonaventure basketball is back.
“I’m sure I can make this team competitive,” Schmidt claimed.
“For our fans, this is going to be the place to be and the thing to
do. It is an ideal situation and it’s going to be a place to get
things accomplished.”
Schmidt takes over for Anthony Solomon, who was fired last month
after going 24-88 in four seasons.
“We are thrilled to have Mark Schmidt as our new men’s
basketball coach,” said St. Bonaventure Director of Athletics Steve
Watson. “He is a proven, successful head coach who impressed us
with his attitude, desire and passion. His teams at Robert Morris
were known for how hard they played as well as how they improved.
Mark also has a firm understanding of what it takes to compete and
win in the Atlantic 10 Conference. We welcome Mark and his family
into the St. Bonaventure family.”
Schmidt’s challenge is to revive a program coming off four
straight 19-loss seasons.
“People say the SBU men’s basketball program is down,” Schmidt
said. “It may be, but it’s not going to stay down. I didn’t take
this job to lose.”
Schmidt, 44, was the head basketball coach at Robert Morris
University for the past six seasons (82-90). He guided the
Colonials to a 17-11 record this past season.
Schmidt believes he has what it takes to recruit and bring in
talent. At RMU, he had six All-Northeastern Conference selections.
Above all, in this past season, RMU freshman Jeremy Chappell was
selected to the CollegeInsider.com All-America Team.
“We’re going to bring in guys that want to achieve academically
and on the basketball court,” Schmidt stated. “My philosophy is to
recruit kids that really want to play. We will go after it hard and
aggressive.
“We will get good recruits because we have good academics and a
strong passion for basketball at SBU.”
Schmidt also plans on building the program in other ways besides
recruiting. He believes the community and fan support play a major
role toward improvement.
“I’m not going to do this alone,” Schmidt said. “I need the
community for support. Then I’m sure we will win games.”
Division I schools throughout the country know the difficulty of
winning at the Reilly Center. It is a tough atmosphere to play
in.
“Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser even told me this was the place
to go,” Schmidt added. “When I coached against St. Bonaventure, my
own players had goose bumps when they left the building. The Reilly
Center creates a tough atmosphere for visiting teams to play
under.”
Schmidt teaches his players to hustle and fast break.
“We are going to play fast ball,” Schmidt noted. “One thing for
sure, when you leave the Reilly Center you will never say that we
didn’t play hard.”
Bringing success to SBU men’s basketball will not be easy. The
Bonnies have not recovered from a player eligibility scandal in
March 2003 that led to the team boycotting its final two games of
the season, the firing of coach Jan van Breda Kolff and eventually
to NCAA sanctions the following year.
“I know I have a big job ahead of me,” Schmidt admitted. “I
don’t coach to make millions. I just love to coach basketball.
“I know I made the right decision in coming up here. It’s such a
great opportunity. I am living my dream.”
Before taking the head coaching position at Robert Morris,
Schmidt was an assistant coach at St. Michael’s College in Vermont,
Penn State, Loyola of Maryland and Xavier.
Schmidt played college basketball at Boston College (1981-85).
He played in the NCAA Tournament three times and the NIT once. He
helped BC advance to the Elite Eight once and Sweet 16 twice.
