Transition is an essential element in successful basketball. Teams that master the moments when offense changes to defense and vice-versa create advantages in the early stages of the shot clock.
Mike Schwartz coaches transition. He also has been effective in transition on a personal level. After 23 years as an assistant, East Carolina athletic director Jon Gilbert put Schwartz in charge of the Pirates.
Coming from Tennessee, where he was a right-hand man to Rick Barnes, Schwartz inherited a roster that was in a high degree of transition.
In the first season under Schwartz, the Pirates were 16-17 overall and 6-12 in the American Athletic Conference, which isn’t overwhelming, but a foundation is in place going forward and ECU has been rubbing elbows with some Power Fives in the transfer portal as well as landing some promising high school talent.
Schwartz was ready to call the shots.
“I feel very fortunate to have worked for and worked with coaches like Rick Barnes and Frank Haith and Rodney Terry and Tim Carter along my way towards becoming the head coach,” Schwartz said Tuesday morning. “And one of the things that those guys did that I’m so appreciative for and appreciative of is they allowed me to try and think like a head coach.
“They gave me responsibilities to try and prepare myself to become a head coach. I think all of them were very intentional with all of their staff, not only me, but their entire coaching staffs. And I think we all learned it from Coach Barnes and I’m very hopeful that I’m going to be able to do the same and I am working to do the same with our current staff, but just to allow your coaches to think like head coaches in terms of what it takes to prepare to become a head coach.
“Those guys helped me in the transition, not only because of how they allowed me to coach and responsibilities that they gave me as an assistant coach, but also obviously talking particularly to Coach Barnes quite a bit throughout the first year and early on last year from a year ago to right now. Just always being there and being there as a great sounding board. So, the transition to me honestly did not feel like this chaos or anything like that at all.
“I felt very prepared. I had been an assistant coach, I had been in Division I basketball coaching for 23 years and just completed my 24th season. So the preparation, I felt I was prepared for the moment.”
The first season
The Pirates came from 16 points down to win their first game in the Schwartz era, 77-75, over Mercer. That set a tone as ECU was seldom out of games.
“Anytime you go into something you try and prepare,” Schwartz said. “You try and be ready. You have a blueprint and it’s never going to be exactly as planned. It’s never going to fall into place like that.
“Regarding transition, just being ready to adapt, understanding that things are going to happen that you’re not ready for, that you may have not even thought about and you just have to be able to handle those situations. And that started when I arrived, when we arrived as a coaching staff.
“I’ve never ever looked at players or student athletes at this program, like players from another coaching staff that are not our players. I have never looked at it like that. These are all ECU players. I said the same thing (last year) and I still believe it. Anybody that was there at that first team meeting was our guys. They were our players. It was never about someone else’s players.
“We tried to and wanted to retain everybody. Anybody that gave us the opportunity. Some did. Those six guys that stayed, I’ve always said how grateful and indebted I am to them and how much admiration I have for them. They were committing to be a part of a new vision and a new coaching staff and doing something that was an unknown for them.
“So those six guys were always our players and they are the foundation of this program, particularly the ones that will be back this season. But when I think about these four guys in particular, R.J. Felton, Brandon Johnson, Dave Kasanganay and Ludgy Debaut, those four guys that played the whole season, completed the season and obviously also Wynston Tabbs and Javon Small, both have decided to move on after this season. Javon Small, obviously got injured on January 11th, so he played just a little bit more than half of the season but was not available and was not playing for the majority of conference play.
“But I think about those four guys, again, RJ, Brandon, Dave, and Ludgy, they were always our guys, all that whole group of six guys. And then a lot of our team were new players, incoming players. And so those are all ECU and our guys. So from that standpoint was I looked at it like this. To sum it up, I looked at it like we really had 16 freshmen on this team, 16 new guys. Because it didn’t matter what your age was or your experience, it was a new team, a new roster, new players, new coaches. So everybody was learning something for the first time. There was no review in anything we did early on.
“So that’s how we approached this season, putting together a team, a program, and a culture that consisted of 16 new players. And that’s where really the emphasis was this season.”
Portal adds to youthful roster
Last year, Tristen Newton exited the program and was an integral part of Connecticut’s national championship team.
This year, the Pirates are bringing in guards Bobby Pettiford from Kansas and Cam Hayes, who began his college career at N.C. State before playing at LSU.
“Excited about them,” Schwartz said. “Excited about those two transfers. Excited about the three freshmen that are coming in and very excited about the returning guys because they’re still young.
“If you can be young and experienced, that’s a great formula. It’s something that we were hopeful we could accomplish. Everybody knew we were a young team last year and a very inexperienced team. This team coming in this year, one of the things that we’re very excited about is experience that we will have, whether it be the returning players that got great experience through our first season, whether it is the incoming transfers, Bobby and Cam. Both guys have great experience playing basketball at a very high level.
“We will not have one senior on the roster eligibility wise. Everybody will have two or more years left of eligibility. So that was the game plan last year. We knew we would be young. We knew we would take some lumps with that and there would be some challenges and there definitely was. There will continue to be, but to be a team and have a roster of guys that have multiple years of eligibility, sophomores, juniors, obviously the incoming freshmen, but also have quite a bit of experience on this team, which we did not have last season. That’s exciting for the coaching staff and our program.”
Incoming size
The Pirates have signed Cyr Malonga and Callum Richard. Both incoming freshmen are listed at 6-11.
“We knew we needed to add size, losing Ludgy Debaut,” Schwartz said. “It was an area that we definitely felt was one of our Achilles heels last season and I hope we’ve addressed that. I think it’s going to be a work in progress with two freshmen centers. They are both legitimate centers with legitimate size, both coming in at … 230 (pounds) as incoming high school seniors transitioning to college freshmen. So that’s exciting.
“You’ll have Ezra Ausar back obviously into his second season. So he will continue to be a presence on the perimeter and in the post in terms of size. Brandon Johnson did a great job rebounding last season. He had to do so much for this team versatility-wise on both ends of the floor, but he’s got good size.
“And then one thing that, one player that didn’t get quite as much experience last season was Valentino Pinedo, and Valentino at 6 8, 230 as a freshman, he did not get a chance to go through summer last year, his incoming summer. He did not get a chance to partake with us because he was with his national team in Spain. So he will now have a full offseason. He had this spring. He will get this summer and I think the weight room, the physicality piece will really show next season because he will have a true off season with us. And he’s got great size. He’s got good strength and he plays so physical so that’s going to be very important to us.
“We were not able to add a veteran center, an experienced center out of the transfer portal. And it was something that we looked to do, but we’re really excited about the size and the physicality of our frontline with the two incoming freshmen and the big guards that we will have that will contribute to defense and rebounding in terms of size wise and physicality.”
Faison staying close
Ta’Korrie Faison hit 59 percent of his field goal attempts in averaging 24.3 points and 12.7 rebounds for a 28-3 Goldsboro team. He has been selected for the East-West game.
“I was very clear about this with our vision of our program and our coaching staff, what we wanted to do in terms of recruiting Eastern North Carolina,” Schwartz said. “We want to have this program and have this team with players from the state of North Carolina, greatest state for basketball. It’s the hoop state for a reason. The coaching in this state, the student athletes, the talent in this state, and honestly the basketball IQ and acumen in this state we feel is very high and we want our program to consist of players from the state of North Carolina.
“When we think about Brandon Johnson already being here, David Kasanganay being here — both in-state guys, Ezra Ausar graduated from a high school in Charlotte at Liberty Heights. And you think about this incoming class of Ta’Korrie Faison, Callum Richard, both high school prospects from the state, obviously to Ta’Korrie being right from the eastern part of the state, which is so important for us. And then even the transfers, Bobby Pettiford Jr. is from the Durham area and Cam Hayes is from the Greensboro area. So we really want to take great strides in our program in terms of student athletes from the state of North Carolina.”
New American
The American Athletic Conference is going to go through a significant change in membership. Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston depart for the Big 12. New additions include Alabama-Birmingham, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice and Texas-San Antonio.
“It’s pretty simple, when you think about this,” Schwartz said. “Three of the final six teams in the country this season were from our conference for next season, Florida Atlantic being in the Final Four. So, one of the Final Four teams playing in the NCAA tournament. The finals of the NIT was North Texas versus UAB. So, on that final weekend of college basketball that Friday through Monday, you had three teams in the American Conference for the 23-24 season that were still playing.
“Obviously to lose Houston and Cincinnati and UCF, three very strong athletic departments and basketball programs and Houston being at the forefront of that as the No. 1 team in the country for the majority of this past season, we are gaining some incredible basketball programs and athletic departments. We honestly feel, and we have talked about this as a coaching staff, that our basketball conference and in general, basketball in the American Conference will be stronger than it has been in the past.
“That is because when you talk about adding FAU where they are right now, UAB, North Texas, all three have been so strong in basketball recently. And historically, Charlotte a very good basketball program. You talk about Rice, you’ve added the state of Texas with Rice and UTSA. I worked at UTSA for one year. It was actually where I was assistant coach, for my first year as an assistant coach was at UT-San Antonio with Tim Carter. Texas is a great state for basketball. There’s a lot of talent, great coaches and programs there.
“So to add six schools and three of them that have been very strong here recently in terms of playing in tournament championships, tournament events, this conference is going to be as strong as ever.”
Message to Pirate Nation
Schwartz has been sailing with the Pirate Armada and connecting with the fan base at Pirate Club functions,
His message?
“Just how much we appreciate them from season one,” Schwartz said. “Minges Coliseum, the fan base in this state, particularly in Greenville and in Minges, was fantastic this year. I’ve said this publicly many times that our arena, our fan base, our students, the Minges Maniacs, the support prior to games at the Pirate Club every game honestly helped us win three or four home games. We don’t win without the support of the Pirate Club and the fan base and the home atmosphere that we had at Minges.
“I just think about those first three games at home, just those three, our home stand that we started off the season. But I think back to the Cincinnati game and what an incredible atmosphere it was in there, everybody honoring Jeff Charles (late voice of the Pirates who died this past season on a trip to Tulane) and there and the momentum that fan base created for us to be able to win that game to come back to the second half. But there was many, many games. So that is the number one message. It’s just how appreciative our program, our players, our coaching staff we are for them and the support that they gave us.
“And then also my family, just how much we have enjoyed Greenville, East Carolina University, the community, everything around the university and a lot of it is because of the fan base and the Pirate Club and how welcoming they have been to us in this first year. And just so excited to begin the offseason and then year two.”
Schedule
The schedule for the 2023-24 season is a work in progress with some bolts remaining to be fastened.
“I can’t say much definitively unfortunately, because it’s all contract based and until you have that stuff signed, it’s kind of like in recruiting, you can’t talk about it until there are signatures down and everything is official,” Schwartz said. “But what I do know is that we have South Carolina coming into Minges Coliseum this season. We have UNC-Wilmington coming into Minges Coliseum this season.
“Then 24-25, we will be playing at South Carolina. In 24-25, we will have UNC-Wilmington again coming into Minges Coliseum. And of the 13 nonconference games that we will have this season, … we have probably another eight of them just penciled in and very, very close to getting those. And then there’s still two to three games left that we are still open and continuing to finalize the schedule.
“A majority of the nonconference schedule is very close to being completed, including our preseason tournament. … And then with conference play, we don’t find that out even until the later part of the summer.”
All hands on deck
Workouts during summer school start in early June. The entire roster is expected to be involved.
“On June 4, everybody will be returning and we will start our summer training camp,” Schwartz said. “You don’t create an atmosphere where on June 4th, it feels the same as it does the first day of fall workouts in September. Then you have your first official workout at the end of September, then you have nonconference. So, you do structure it different. I mean, there is a very detailed plan for that.
“To summarize, the summer for us is about No. 1, skill development, which is always very important for our program. It is really at the core of our program is individual skill and player development so that will be at a very high level this summer. Strength and conditioning, sports performance, speed, strength and agility, flexibility, that is at a real premium in the summer as we prepare for the long season that will start in the fall.
“And then we will do a lot of team practice where we get our system in. It’s a review for a lot of the guys. There will be implementation of new things obviously, that we will do differently and add to what we did last season.
“You have a large group of new players. You will have potentially seven to eight new players, five scholarship players, and two to three walk-ons that will be new players that they will be learning for the first time. So regardless of the experience or lack of experience of that group of seven to eight players, they have a whole new system to learn. So, there will be a lot of that as well. The summer workouts for us consist of a lot of individual work, team practice, and a lot of work in the weight room in terms of speed, strength, and flexibility.”
NBA
Schwartz has been watching the NBA playoffs with more than casual interest.
“Every single game,” he said. “Just been so impressed watching. This has been a really great playoff season, even back to the first round. But being from Los Angeles, I grew up as someone that watched and followed the Lakers very closely. And so, watching them and watching them (Monday) night, and obviously their season is over, but Denver, … I mean so impressed with their team and way they play on offense. … Obviously Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, two incredible players that the team kind of plays around, but they’re both such unselfish players and that’s something that we really enjoy. We show our guys a lot.
“But the team, I think that has been the most impressive team in the playoffs and it started back in the first round with their series versus the Milwaukee Bucks, has been the Miami Heat. I think they are the epitome of the word team, the epitome of toughness and they are the epitome of a great culture, of a team culture and program culture because this is not just a one-year deal with them.
“This has been every year, this is Pat Riley (president), Erik Spoelstra (coach), their teams, their players, year after year, the way they play. And with the unselfish team first, defense first mentality that they play with, it’s something that we have, it’s not just this season that we have used as a great example for our program or to try and share with our guys and our coaching staff. But this season has been, it’s just been very impressive to watch them.”
Down time?
With recruiting, the offseason sessions coming up and the demands of the season itself, when does Schwartz get a chance to catch his breath?
“You get time, really,” he said. “The time kind of was the last week or so is really the slowest because our guys finished up academically and they went home. So this is really a time that you get a chance to just, and honestly, it’s like I’ve talked with our guys just about, you talk with all the guys throughout the week and our staff does and you miss them.
“We said it’s kind of lonely here without the guys, but they need it. They need to go home and see their families and get a chance to recharge their batteries. And I think the coaching staff does the same with these couple of weeks here in the latter part of May. Personally, I haven’t left Greenville and will not leave Greenville outside of American Athletic Conference coaches meetings, which are in Colorado next week, but I’ll be here.
“You just get an opportunity to get yourself very organized. Take a breath to get ready for the summer and usually the time that people can get away and maybe you do get away because at least for me personally, my family, my kids are still in school, so this isn’t the time to get away. But in August sometimes when they’re wrapping up their summer vacation, getting ready for the fall to start for them, same as with us, because the guys will go home at the end of summer training camp for a couple weeks in August. That’s a time usually basketball coaches can maybe get a few days.
“There’s not much of that in any athletics, but particularly in college athletics and the way that college basketball season runs over two academic semesters and summer being eight weeks of training camp, there really isn’t much time at all when you incorporate recruiting and everything that comes with it to actually get away. So you pick and choose your spots, but honestly, more than anything, we’re just excited about the guys coming back here and getting with this team this summer.”
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