Along with all the dramatic wins and disheartening losses throughout the history of Fairfield men’s basketball, there is another theme of this team: suspensions.
In the past four years, Fairfield has had five suspended players.
Jermaine Clark ’01, Dan Galvanoni ’01, Jeremy Logan ’03, Deng Gai ’05 and most recently Terrence Todd ’06 are all players that have been suspended by the university in the past four years.
Athletic Director Eugene Doris said he could not comment on each suspension separately because of legal issues.
“This is not unusual for a sport with such visibility,” said Doris. “We have the same problems in other sports, but it is just not as apparent.”
Head Coach Tim O’Toole refused to comment on his team’s ongoing problems with suspensions despite several requests.
After the comeback win against Niagara on Monday, where the Stags trailed by 19 points at half time, O’Toole said that the team will from now on always need someone to step up.
“Night in and night out we have to kick, scratch and claw to win,” said O’Toole after the victory.
“I think anytime you have a cross section of student athletes, mistakes will be made,” said Doris. “All were different situations and different circumstances. There is not a pattern with what is happening.”
Doris also said he does not feel that the trouble is with recruiting the wrong type of athlete.
“The breed of player is not the problem,” said Doris. “All of them made individual mistakes, but they all corrected them and graduated on time.”
However, the team still manages to regroup and succeed, as proven in the Niagara game as well as last season’s appearance in the MAAC Championship game.
This year the team will have to deal with the suspension of Todd, who has been one of the Stag’s best players and leaders on the court.
“The loss of Terrence was huge because he’s such a great scorer and player,” said captain Rob Thomson ’04. “We just have to rally around each other, stay focused, and positive for the rest of the season.”
Despite being suspended, Thomson said Todd has still been a huge lift for the team.
“He’s always supporting us by coming to the games,” said Thomson. “We are such a close-knit team and he remains to be a huge part of this team.”
Doris said the team has tried to prevent more problems happening with the team, including seminars with a sports psychologist.
“We are trying to become more aware with what happens here,” said Doris. “The problems and how we and they handle it is more important. We prefer if they didn’t make the mistake, but it is all part of the learning process.”
With the team facing allegations that it violated NCAA regulations, suspensions are not something the team needs to deal with.
“Student athletes’ mistakes are much more magnified and basketball is especially visible,” said Doris. “I would be more concerned if the institution wasn’t taking action on these players because they play basketball.”
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