Fordham SportsNet

(This article is Part III of Fordham SportsNet’s series detailing Frank McLaughlin’s thoughts on the current state of the Fordham men’s basketball program. Today, the AD addresses Fordham University’s commitment to basketball.)

BY CHARLES COSTELLO

Frank McLaughlin has been on the front lines of college athletics for over 40 years. As a player, coach, and now athletic director, McLaughlin has experienced the highs and lows of college sports. That’s why the AD has a good understanding of what the Fordham basketball program is going through right now. After all, since joining the Atlantic 10 in 1995, the Rams have finished .500 or better just twice, and have gotten as far as the semifinals of the conference tournament only once. This past season, Fordham won just one conference game, and after finishing with a 3-25 record, the basketball community is upset and demanding answers. The AD gets it.

“I understand their frustrations,” McLaughlin said last Thursday during an interview with Fordham SportsNet. “We’re doing all we possibly can to make sure this thing is successful. Do we have drawbacks? Yes. But being in New York is a plus. We’re doing a lot of things to try to make this thing successful.”

One of the drawbacks, ironically, for a school like Fordham is its high academic standards. These standards aren’t lowered for student-athletes. And, at times, having high academic standards and attracting top basketball talent is a tough mix. But for a school like Fordham, a school that prides itself on academics, lowering standards isn’t an option.

“Are we a great academic institution? Yes we are. Are we proud of that? Yes we are?” McLaughlin said. “If there’s a potential student-athlete our main goal is to make sure that person has the ability or the chance to get a degree. We are not going to become mercenaries and bring somebody in here just to play basketball.

“We’ve had very few, if any, disciplinary problems with our student-athletes,” the AD added. “I think it’s hard for a student-athlete to come here. There are no bogus courses. There’s no place to hide them. They’re mainstreamed. These guys have to work. You have to get a kid who’s conscientious. If you get a kid who’s not conscientious he’ll never survive here.”

So what does Fordham have to do to attract basketball talent and maintain its academic integrity at the same time?

“I think we have to get lucky,” McLaughlin said. “I think Dereck [Whittenburg] and his staff have done a very good job recruiting some people through personal contacts and reputation. I think we have some very good players coming in this fall. With our freshmen I think people will see an improvement and then we just have to keep plugging away. And we need to get lucky. You want to get somebody who maybe the Big East overlooks and two years from now they [ask] ‘why didn’t we get that guy?’”

McLaughlin spoke candidly in response to concerns about Fordham’s commitment to its basketball program.

“I think that’s a fair question and I think that’s something we’re constantly addressing,” he said.

When asked whether or not Fr. Joseph M. McShane sees basketball contributing to his overall vision of Fordham becoming the nation’s premier Catholic University, McLaughlin said the President supports the program.

“I think there’s no question that he would like the basketball program to be successful,” he said.

Still, questions remain. Legitimate questions considering the team has spent too much time at the bottom of the Atlantic 10 over the past 14 seasons. The million dollar question: Is Fordham capable of competing in one of the top college basketball conferences in the nation? McLaughlin thinks so, and according to the AD, Fordham’s success in the A-10 is important to the school and to the conference.

“I think the A-10 has a great respect for Fordham,” McLaughlin said. “They would like us to be successful. It’s very important for the A-10, with the New York media, for Fordham to be successful.”

But Fordham hasn’t been successful, and that concerns the AD for a number of reasons. Perhaps there’s more of a sense of urgency now, with McLaughlin admitting that he never takes Fordham’s membership in one of the country’s most competitive leagues for granted.

“We’ve got to get our basketball program successful in case there are changes made or something happens, that we are a valuable entity, so that if people are thinking of realigning conferences that we’re involved,” he said. “To be honest with you, right now we would not be involved because we’re not as successful, so we’ve got to try to change that as soon as we can.”

McLaughlin did say that no changes were being discussed, and Fordham has not been put on notice by the conference. But at this point he does have legitimate concerns, given Fordham’s struggles, the size of the conference, and the nature of college sports.

“College Athletics is run by the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) schools right now, and they’re very strong,” McLaughlin said. “If you’re a non-BCS school like we are you’ve always got to be prepared that something might happen.”

For now, McLaughlin remains focused on helping the program succeed, and getting back to where they were in March 2007 when the Rams made it to the semifinals of the A-10 tournament.

“We’ve had moments but not enough moments,” McLaughlin said about Fordham’s time in the A-10. “We have to do it on a more consistent basis.

“It’s hard with our facilities to overcome some of the disadvantages. But we were in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 playoffs and all of a sudden you start saying ‘hey we’ve arrived’ and you think you’re there. And then all of a sudden things go wrong and then we have to start rebuilding again. Are we capable of doing it? Yes we are capable of doing it.”

(Up Next: Talk of a new arena.)

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