MBB: NESCAC

[lumbercat]

Was very surprised to hear of the rumored imminent departure of Strahorn at Colby.
Checked with couple of friends who are pretty closely connected with Colby Athletics (though not involved with the Basketball program)
The rumor is well circulated on Mayflower Hill and acknowledged beyond but I'm hearing it's not a decision based totally on team performance- I infer that it's something away from day to day coaching and maybe off the court.
There may indeed be a press release soon but Strahorn is a fiery guy who could complicate things.
I for one think he's done a decent job though I never liked his game day demeanor always whining and riding the refs though he has toned it down of late.
Very interested to see how this unfolds.

[nescac1]

Final (so far as I can dig up) recruit list:

Amherst:
 
Sherron Woodberry, 6'3 G, Olathe West (KS)
Brandon Margolin, 6'5 W, Xaverian
Ryan Hempfling, 6'10 C, Blair Academy
KJ Neville, 6'3 PG, Bartlett (TN)

 
Bates:

Charlie Williams, 6'7 Kimball Union (NH #26)
Chris Camozzi, 6'4 F, Dexter School (MA #49)
Jamari Robinson 6'1 G, Belmont Hill (MA #47)
Theo Falkenhein, 5'10 PG, Columbia Academy (OH)
Christopher Bianco, 6'0 PG, St. Andrews RI


Bowdoin:
 
Benedek Maly, 6'6 G, Trinity-Pawling
Jules Varin, 6'4 G, Hotchkiss
Maximillion Cook, 6'3 PG, Oratory Prep (NJ)


Colby:

Ian Schnable, 6'7 F, Blake School (MN)
Theo Pow, 6'3 G, Kennebunk (ME #10)
Nick Mautone, 6'5 W, Hotchkiss


Conn College:
 
Will Phillips, 6'10 C, St. Joseph's Metuchen (NJ)
Cole Craffey, 6'2 G, Oliver Ames (MA)
Mike Dankert, 6'5 F/C, Bourne H.S. (MA)
Josiah Wright, 6'5 G, Mercersburg Academy (PA)


Hamilton:

David Melson, 6'5 G, Cushing Academy (MA #46)
Olufemi Ogundiju, 6'9 C, Albany Academy
Evan O'Reilly, 6'3 G, Ridgewood (NJ)
 

Middlebury:

Devin Merker, 6'3 G, Pascack Valley (NJ)
Justin Fuerbacher, 6'5 F, Christian Brothers (NJ)
Donovan Lee, 6'1 G, The Newman School
Alex Gklaros-Stavropoulos, 6'11 C, St. Francis (CA)

 
Tufts:

Deacon Barratta, 6'6 W, Phoenixville (PA)
Ian Randall, 7'0 F, Hotchkiss (CT #43)
Ricardo Nieves, 6'4 G, Williston Northampton (MA #37)
Griffin Linstra, 6'5 G, Manasquan (NJ)


Trinity:

Patrick Mahoney, 6'2 G, Delbarton (NJ)
Jadon Holmes, 6'6 F, Brewster Academy (NH #24)
Kobe Closeil, 6'2 G, Gil St. Bernards (NJ)

 
Wesleyan:

Jalaan Watson, 5'9 G, Olathe North (KS) (first team all-state Kansas 6A)
Elijah Proctor-Moore, 6'7 W, St. Andrew's (Delaware)
Ian Plankey, 6'9 C, Holderness (NE #77, NH #17)


Williams:

Solomon Marshall, 5'10 PG, Phillips Andover
Khalil Carlson, 6'4 W, Darrow School
Ty Kuehl, 6'6 W, Parkway West (Missouri)
E.J. Sommers, 6'9 F/C, Roosevelt H.S. (Washington)
Wes Gudeman, 6'5 W, Morton (IL) (first team all state Illinois Class 3A)

[Maine Hoops]

"The rumor is well circulated on Mayflower Hill and acknowledged beyond but I'm hearing it's not a decision based totally on team performance- I infer that it's something away from day to day coaching and maybe off the court.

There may indeed be a press release soon but Strahorn is a fiery guy who could complicate things."

Seems reckless to post such things.

[lumbercat]

How so?-
I heard first hand from 2 people close to the Athletic community, both confirmed the rumor but conveyed that any perceived rift between the parties involved is not likely directly related to team performance.
Could be anything from philosophical differences, contractual issues etc.

But still no announcement, so maybe it is indeed a rumor.

[Bucket]

Message from AD to "Friends of Colby Athletics" is reported here (need to scroll to last item):

https://hoopdirt.com/daily-dirt-5-13-25/

[lumbercat]

Thanks to Bucket for putting an end to the speculation.
Possibly leaves some other Colby coaches looking over their shoulders.

[D3BBALL]

Players until recently were told nothing from the AD. Coach told team AD wanted more conference wins and more players on all conference teams.
Someone earlier said this as well.
My guess no smoking gun going to come out, most likely AD wanted changed and got admin to agree to it.
Wouldn't want to be next coach and like said above other Colby coaches need to be on look out.

[Maine Hoops]

Very un-Colby like.

Colby had 2 head b-ball coaches from the 1970-71 through 2024-25 seasons.

This is a disturbing development

[nescac1]

We have yet to see who Colby will hire, of course, but this is now two NESCAC schools who have likely alienated generations of former players and fan bases by passing on / parting ways with solid coaches with longstanding ties to the program, each of which had decades of stability at the top.  Of course, Colby never came close to Amherst's level of success in the NCAA tournament era, so at least they aren't tossing away decades of national contention, but looking at how that decision has worked out for Amherst .... let's just say Colby has a lot of pressure to absolutely nail this hire. 

If you look at the program Strahorn inherited, in the prior 11 years, Colby had five sub-.500 records, zero NCAA tournament appearances, and zero appearances in the NESCAC title game.  And he frankly inherited a very limited roster.  His first few years were rough as a young coach with limited talent on hand, but the trajectory of the program has been steadily improving and he's right now in what should be his coaching prime - as I said in a prior post, in the last five seasons, during a time that NESCAC has been absolutely loaded with talented teams: two NESCAC title games, the first NCAA appearance of this century, and the only two 20-win teams of this century for Colby. 

Will King, Sam Jefferson, Noah Tyson, Max Poulton, Matt Hannah, Jack Lawson, Dan Civiello, Marcos Montiel, Alex Dorion are all guys any NESCAC team would have gladly had during that five-year stretch.  And in 2020 Colby was a badly-timed Sam Jefferson injury away from a likely NESCAC title and maybe a deep NCAA run (as deep as COVID would have allowed at least).  And looking ahead, he had team pretty well set up for the next few years - only one senior and one junior in the top seven guys and a very strong FY class this year. 

Now, as SpringSt7 spoke of, there is likely no coaching staff in place during much of the summer recruiting season, and you have to worry a bit about attrition from current players, plus it's not clear returning players will be as good a fit for a new system, so it's likely that Colby will sacrifice a window to compete with a solid core of talent coming up. 

You would think football might be a cautionary tale for Colby.  By all accounts a ton was put into the program including a splashy, big name hire and a big focus on recruiting, and after a lot of hype, the team while decent hasn't been able to crack .500 under the new coach.  In basketball, is Colby really going to surpass as a program a Trinity team coming off a national title, a Wesleyan team coming off a final four, Tufts and Williams teams each with multiple Sweet 16 appearances in recent seasons, not to mention Middlebury, Amherst and Hamilton, all of whom have strong hoops traditions and the ability to recruit high-level players?  Barring some crazy change in how basketball players are evaluated by admissions (something any coach including Strahorn can benefit from), it's hard to see Colby jumping into consistent NESCAC let alone national contention.  So, what is the point of changing coaches then?   

[quicksilver]

Perhaps unrealistic expectatons on the part of Colby as to the transformative impact of the high-end athletic facilities on athletic performance?

[lumbercat]

Quicksilver- Agree completely. They didn't built that Athletic Facility to maintain a position of mediocrity in the Athletic program.

Nonetheless I'm still surprised they let him go. The guy who might be worried here is HCOF Cosgrove. Strahorn has been far more successful with the Colby Basketball program and he's  getting fired.

As a basis of comparison Coach Gilbride lasted 35 years at Bowdoin with a winning percentage of .578 compared with Strahorn at .541 as he enters his prime.

Another guy who must be hearing footsteps is Furbush at Bates who is .454 over his 16 year tenure. The Bates AD situation is quite similar to Colby as new AD Stacey Bunting via Princeton begins her Bobcat AD tenure on July 1.

We are seeing the end of the lifelong trend at many NESCAC schools where coaches often  kept their jobs for many years despite subpar records as long as they were well liked, did not makes waves or tick anybody off. Nice guys typically didn't get fired. I think that's pretty much over.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

You're also going to see increased pressure to justify athletic spending at schools far more concerned with academics.  The NESCAC might be wealthy, but the money's not unlimited.  I think you're going to see more questions about whether robust intercollegiate athletics is as much an asset to the institution as it used to be.  Media coverage of D1 is certainly not helping any.

[lumbercat]

I love the mystery posts.
The guy cantdothat is referring to is David McLaughlin who the HC at Dartmouth though most on this board probably know that.
McLaughlin has a terrible record but as far as I know he's still got an Ivy League job and is coming off an improved year for the Dartmouth program.

[D3BBALL]

We have yet to see who Colby will hire, of course, but this is now two NESCAC schools who have likely alienated generations of former players and fan bases by passing on / parting ways with solid coaches with longstanding ties to the program, each of which had decades of stability at the top.  Of course, Colby never came close to Amherst's level of success in the NCAA tournament era, so at least they aren't tossing away decades of national contention, but looking at how that decision has worked out for Amherst .... let's just say Colby has a lot of pressure to absolutely nail this hire. 

If you look at the program Strahorn inherited, in the prior 11 years, Colby had five sub-.500 records, zero NCAA tournament appearances, and zero appearances in the NESCAC title game.  And he frankly inherited a very limited roster.  His first few years were rough as a young coach with limited talent on hand, but the trajectory of the program has been steadily improving and he's right now in what should be his coaching prime - as I said in a prior post, in the last five seasons, during a time that NESCAC has been absolutely loaded with talented teams: two NESCAC title games, the first NCAA appearance of this century, and the only two 20-win teams of this century for Colby. 

Will King, Sam Jefferson, Noah Tyson, Max Poulton, Matt Hannah, Jack Lawson, Dan Civiello, Marcos Montiel, Alex Dorion are all guys any NESCAC team would have gladly had during that five-year stretch.  And in 2020 Colby was a badly-timed Sam Jefferson injury away from a likely NESCAC title and maybe a deep NCAA run (as deep as COVID would have allowed at least).  And looking ahead, he had team pretty well set up for the next few years - only one senior and one junior in the top seven guys and a very strong FY class this year. 

Now, as SpringSt7 spoke of, there is likely no coaching staff in place during much of the summer recruiting season, and you have to worry a bit about attrition from current players, plus it's not clear returning players will be as good a fit for a new system, so it's likely that Colby will sacrifice a window to compete with a solid core of talent coming up. 

You would think football might be a cautionary tale for Colby.  By all accounts a ton was put into the program including a splashy, big name hire and a big focus on recruiting, and after a lot of hype, the team while decent hasn't been able to crack .500 under the new coach.  In basketball, is Colby really going to surpass as a program a Trinity team coming off a national title, a Wesleyan team coming off a final four, Tufts and Williams teams each with multiple Sweet 16 appearances in recent seasons, not to mention Middlebury, Amherst and Hamilton, all of whom have strong hoops traditions and the ability to recruit high-level players?  Barring some crazy change in how basketball players are evaluated by admissions (something any coach including Strahorn can benefit from), it's hard to see Colby jumping into consistent NESCAC let alone national contention.  So, what is the point of changing coaches then?   

Agree 100%, great points

[D3BBALL]

Strahorn hasn't resigned yet. Keep an eye on a current Ivy League HC who is a Colby alum.

Maybe this is due to reaching a financial settlement. But he is gone.