When Head Coach Ed Cooley took over the men’s basketball program in 2006, he knew he was in for a bumpy ride. Now 54 games into his career at Fairfield, he is getting closer to his destination: being one of the best teams in the MAAC.
“The big picture here is to develop the program,” said Cooley. “When you look at the history of this basketball program, it takes time to build.”
“Patience is a word everyone agonizes over, but the fact of the matter is that if it wasn’t broken, I wouldn’t be here. When you look at all the coaches who are in their second year, take a look at that,” he added.
With a 21-33 overall record and a 16-14 MAAC record, he ranks higher than two of the three MAAC coaches who came into the conference with him. Canisius’ Tom Parrotta stands at 16-37, and Saint Peter’s John Dunne is 10-42.
Manhattan’s Barry Rohrrsen is 21-31, but unlike Cooley, he inherited a program that was among the best in the MAAC at the time, coming off of five straight winning seasons.
Cooley also compares with the other coaches who took over mid-major teams that were not coming off of winning seasons. Only two coaches, Weber State’s Randy Rahe and Wright State’s Brad Brownell have over 30 wins in their two seasons at the helm. Most of the other 28 coaches sit at 20-25 wins.
Over the weekend, the Stags improved to 6-6 in the conference, bouncing back from a disappointing 70-51 loss at Canisius with a win at Niagara, 76-72.
“This weekend was very indicative of the team we have,” Cooley said. “We have a very young, inexperienced, fragile group that can beat – and unfortunately lose to – anybody in the league. But it’s a sign we are growing.”
Junior point guard Jonathan Han led the way for the Stags in both games, scoring 14 against Canisius and 16 against Niagara, while also dishing out nine assists in that game.
“We need Jon to be an offensive threat,” said Cooley. “He is our leading scorer, and he doesn’t even look to score, which is different. But we want him to take the right shots and be a little more aggressive with the ball.”
The Stags finish out the season with six MAAC games and a just-announced Bracket Buster matchup against Drexel in Philadelphia.
This weekend the Stags head into two important games, which could determine their seeding in March. Fairfield travels down to Manhattan on Friday night to play the Jaspers for the first time, before returning back home to play Iona on Sunday. The Gaels defeated the Stags earlier this season 67-52 in New Rochelle.
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