March 9, 2003

By Gary Rubin
Division II Bulletin

Mercyhurst College is searching for a new head coach following the dismissal of Karl Fogel on Feb. 26. after eight seasons at the school.

The school's Director of Athletics, Pete Russo, said the decision was reached because out of 13 teams in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), Mercyhurst finished last in its division this season and last overall in the conference with just four wins. He also cited that: the 2002-03 team finished with a below .500 record of 12-15, the team was winless on the road in the conference, 0-8; the team lost nine straight games to end the season; the team has had only one winning season in the last five years; the team is only .500 for the last eight years; and the team has had only three winning seasons in the last eight years.

"Mercyhurst has too much pride to accept this type of performance," said Russo. "Our program must be highly competitive on a constant basis. The school's responsibility is to provide the resources to be successful, and it has done that. It then becomes the coach's and players' responsibility to win more than they lose. Our goal is to be one of the top teams in the conference and to make the playoffs on a regular basis.

"The men's basketball program is hurting at the moment and we need new leadership and a new philosophy to turn the program around," he added. "Coaching changes are always difficult, but Mercyhurst expects more from its men's basketball program."

Fogel coached the men's team for eight years, longer than any prior men's coach. He arrived at Mercyhurst in 1995 from Northeastern University, where he served as head coach of the Huskies from 1986 to 1994. His arrival coincided with Mercyhurst's joining the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).

All told, Mercyhurst went a combined 106-106 overall in Fogel's eight seasons and 58-83 in the GLIAC. Russo said the search for a new men's basketball coach will begin immediately.

Spirou Pushes Penman Back to Postseason Play
Stan Spirou has Southern New Hampshire College back in the national mix this season. Standing at 22-6 heading into the Northeast-10 championship game, the Penmen could be a factor in the upcoming Division II national tournament. SNHU, formerly New Hampshire College, was a staple in the Division II tournament in the 1990s but missed out on bids the past three tournaments. This year, the Penmen will be a legitimate factor in the Northeast region, having beaten the region's No. 1 team, UMass Lowell, twice already this year.

More March Madness
With the Division II tournament bracket announced on March 10, here is a look at a few regular season conference champions for this past season:

Cal State San Bernardino captured the California Collegiate Athletic Asosciation regular season crown. Jeff Oliver's Coyotes are riding a 21-game win streak into the final weekend of play after losing their first four games of the season.

Queens (NC) won the regular season title in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference and earned the top seed in the league tournament. However, Bart Lundy's Royals were upended by Erskine in the second round.

St. Mary's head basketball coach Herman A. "Buddy" Meyer Jr., who is celebrating his silver anniversary as the head coach of the Rattlers, led his squad to the regular season championship in the Heartland Conference. Meyer is all but synonymous with Rattler basketball. As either a player, assistant coach or head coach, he has been part of Rattler athletics for all but three years since 1961, contributing to 724 of the Rattlers' 1055 all-time intercollegiate victories, from 1924-25 through 2001-02. In 1988-89, Meyer was at the Rattlers' helm when they won the NAIA National Championship, the first men's national championship at St. Mary¹s.

The St. Cloud State University men's basketball team claimed its first outright North Central Conference title since 1987-88. The NCC championship is the first for SCSU coach Kevin Schlagel, who played at SCSU in the 1970s and also served as an assistant coach during the Huskies' title runs in 1985-86, 1986-87 and 1987-88. This marks the fourth time in team history that the Huskies have won the NCC regular season title.

Northern State won its second straight Northern Sun regular season title and seventh in the past nine years. Head coach Don Meyer, who is in his fourth season at the school, has continued his winning ways in Aberdeen. Prior to Northern, Meyer spent 24 years coaching NAIA I David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn. There he reached the 700-win plateau faster than any other coach in the history of college basketball.

After the South Atlantic Conference regular season ended in a three-way tie for first place, Dale Clayton's Carson-Newman Eagles won a coin flip to earn the top seed in the league tournament. Parker Laketa's Wingate Bulldogs and John Lentz's Lenoir-Rhyne Bears were also tri-champions. Lenoir-Rhyne lost out in a tiebreaker due to a loss to fourth-seed Presbyterian. Wingate and Carson-Newman had identical records against all conference opponents.

Bob Chipman led the Washburn Ichabods to the regular season crown in the Mid. America Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Washburn also has climbed to No. 12 in the NABC/Division II Bulletin Top 25.