Fordham SportsNet

(Last Thursday, I sat down with Frank McLaughlin, Fordham’s Executive Director of Athletics, to discuss the state of the Fordham men’s basketball team. Over the next five days, Fordham SportsNet will run articles detailing our conversation. Today, we begin with McLaughlin’s thoughts on the past season.)

BY CHARLES COSTELLO

Sitting in his office last Thursday, with spring appearing to be right around the corner, Frank McLaughlin talked confidently and boldly about the current state of the men’s basketball team at Fordham. At the helm of Fordham Athletics since 1985, McLaughlin has witnessed his share of ups and downs. Add to his resume his years as a player and coach, and the Fordham AD certainly knows and understands what college sports are all about.

That being said, after this past season, with the Rams finishing 3-25, winning just one Atlantic 10 game, and battling an assortment of injuries and what seemed like an endless amount of drama, McLaughlin finds himself having to defend Fordham’s marquee program. Still, last Thursday, he sat on a pullout chair with the Fordham Ram logo and answered question after question with the same confidence and pride that have defined his tenure at Fordham.

“It was tough,” McLaughlin said when asked about this past season. “It was a carryover from last year. Two years ago we were 18-12. There was great excitement and a lot of guys coming back. And so I think the expectation level was high. Then we were 12-17. I think there was a great disappointment there. And then, even though we all said this was a rebuilding year, I think the frustration from the previous year really carried over. I’ve dealt with this day in and day out. I’ve coached and I’ve played. I’m probably more patient and more understanding than the average fan would be. Although I’m very upset. I want Fordham basketball to be very successful and I think we have the potential to be successful.”

So much has been made of the disappointing 2007-08 season. After winning 18 games (the most for the Rams since they joined the Atlantic 10 in 1995) and advancing to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament in ’06-07, many thought Fordham had arrived. With highly-touted seniors Bryant Dunston and Marcus Stout back for one more run at Rose Hill, expectations may have been a bit too high, McLaughlin now says.

“What people didn’t see was that when Bryant and Marcus were juniors the schedule was easier,” McLaughlin said. “We had a tougher schedule their senior year. A lot of times a team that’s totally senior oriented struggles because the kids are distracted. ‘What am I going to do next year? I want to play in the NBA. I want to play in Europe.’ They’re not as relaxed as when they’re juniors.”

The makeup of the ’08-09 team was far different from that senior-laden team of ’07-08. With a freshman point guard in Jio Fontan, and a team consisting of fellow freshmen Alberto Estwick, Trey Blue, and Lamar Thomas, sophomore Mike Moore and sophomore transfer Jacob Green, the Rams were left with just Herb Tanner (junior), Brenton Butler (junior), Chris Bethel (senior), and Luke Devine (senior), as upperclassmen projected to see significant minutes. When Butler and Bethel went down with season-ending injuries, the Rams relied on young, untested players and even walk-ons to compete in one of the nation’s most competitive conferences.

“To me the kids played hard,” McLaughlin said about this year’s group of players. “I was proud of the way they represented the university. I think it’s our job, all of us, to go out and try to get better talented players to help the ones we have right now to be successful.”

McLaughlin seemed determined on this April afternoon in the Bronx. Determined and committed to getting the program turned around. It’s been a long struggle for Fordham in the Atlantic 10. But McLaughlin, like head coach Dereck Whittenburg, has won as both a player and coach, and he knows that while the road’s been rough, and may get rougher, this is what being involved in sports is all about.

“I’m a competitor,” McLaughlin said. “I have a great love for Fordham. I’m very upset, as is Dereck, with the present state of basketball. Being competitors, we’re going to work hard to get this thing turned around.”

McLaughlin never wavers in his description of a winner, and a winning program for that matter.

“This is going to sound crazy. I’m never concerned about winning and losing. I’m concerned about playing well,” McLaughlin said. ”I honestly believe that if you play well on a consistent basis the wins will take care of themselves.”

This year that wasn’t the case, but McLaughlin isn’t about to give up on the program.

“I can always remember this being a great home-court advantage and it wasn’t this year,” McLaughlin said about the Rose Hill Gym. “I remember that gym was always packed. It was hard to come into Fordham and win a game. Hopefully we get that feeling back soon.”

(Coming Tomorrow: McLaughlin discusses Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg.)

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