Contributed Photo/Fairfield Athletics
As Sydney Johnson prepared for his first season as head coach for the Stags, he recently announced his assistant staff for the 2011-12 campaign. Brian Nash and Tyson Wheeler will be assistant coaches while Martin Bahar will work as director of basketball operations.
Tony Newsom will be the associate head coach and comes with Johnson from Princeton University, where they led the Tigers for the past four seasons.
Johnson is excited by the potential his staff has been displaying this off-season so far.
“I’m thrilled to continue working with Tony and Martin here at Fairfield,” Johnson said. “We had major challenges at Princeton in a competitive league with hard recruiting. It was great to find the right batch of guys who work well with the players and as well as their families.”
Nash has previously led the Saint Francis program as a head coach, while Wheeler was former Stags Coach Ed Cooley’s director of basketball operations. Johnson acknowledges that it will be valuable to have some fresh faces around to help him lead the Stags this season.
“Tyson is great have because of the familiarity with the Fairfield players and surrounding community. He was a fantastic player himself, so it is great to have him staying with us.”
“Brian is very well connected in the Northeastern part of the country basketball-wise,” Johnson noted. “Even though I do not have a long past relationship with him, I can tell that he is loyal, experienced, professional, and eager to start his work at Fairfield. Time will only tell, but I am pretty excited about our staff.”
This year’s team is considered to be a favorite to win the MAAC (Metro-Atlantic-Athletic-Conference) tournament and Fox Sports writer Thayer Evans has even predicted the Stags to be a possible mid-major program with Final Four potential. Coach Johnson is not fazed by his team having high expectations.
“We want to be as good as people have written and suggested. The best way to do this will be by getting better every single day,” Johnson said. “We cannot get caught up in the hype of where we hope to be at the end of the season, but our focus is improving on a daily basis.”
Guard Derek Needham, center Ryan Olander, and guard Colin Nickerson are all returning for this upcoming season and they welcome Adam Jones, Vince Van Ness, and Kevin Thomas as incoming freshmen.
Highly touted transfers Rakim Sanders (from Boston College) and Desmond Wade (from Houston) also join the squad and they will be key pieces to the Stags line-up. Johnson is pleased with the way his players have positively responded to the feedback of the coaches.
“I have personally felt very welcomed by the community as well as the players,” he said. “Being exceptional on and off the court while representing Fairfield University is the message our staff reiterates to them. Everything counts.”
Team chemistry is built not only in games but also during off-seasons, and it is important to solidify a strong foundation as Johnson begins his tenure at Fairfield University. The Stags of last year were able to win the MAAC regular season, but lost in the MAAC Championship game to Saint Peters.
The team who will represent Fairfield University this year has the talent to make an NCAA Tournament appearance and Johnson knows the hard work it will take to reach that goal starts now.
“You can measure success in a number of ways. But it definitely comes in those small moments where no one is looking or watching,” he said. “This summer is about improvement and we have a great a challenge ahead.
“We have to be passionate now so we will be ready to win the big games in the season ahead. We put our work in now, and we will have our shot to compete,” concluded Coach.
For the fourth time in the last six seasons, a mid-major program made it to the Final Four of the NCAA’s March Madness Tournament. The 2011-2012 Stags will look to build off the program’s success in recent years and achieve what no Fairfield University basketball team has done since 1997: represent the MAAC in the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Biographies
Syndey Johnson
•Spent the last four seasons as the Princeton Tigers
head coach. His 2009-2010 squad led the nation in
scoring defense and Johnson was named the Ivy
League Coach of the Year multiple times. He led
last year’s team to an NCAA Tournament
appearance, losing by only four against Kentucky.
Tony Newsom
•Was Princeton’s assistant coach the last seven
seasons, including four under Johnson. Has also
been a coach at the College of Holy Cross, Rider
University and Siena College.
Brian Nash
•Oversaw the Saint Francis basketball program
from 2005-06 and 2009-10. Nash has over 15 years
of coaching experience.
Tyson Wheeler
•This will be Wheeler’s first season as an assistant
coach after serving as director of basketball
operations under former Coach Cooley. He has
played professionally overseas and led URI to the
Elite Eight in 2008.
Martin Bahar
•Before joining Johnson’s staff at Princeton, Bahar
was an assistant at Georgetown University during
the 2008-09 season.
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