WORCESTER, Mass. – It’s not every day that Holy Cross goes through three head coaches in as many years. The school has as much tradition as any Division I school in New England, and coaching stability has been part of that. With it comes some challenges, although from a personnel standpoint the Crusaders have a lot to like.
Milan Brown came to the school this spring after starting his head coaching career at Mount St. Mary’s. He took over for legendary coach Jim Phelan and spent seven seasons there, leading them to two postseason appearances the past three seasons. His style fits the profile of successful Holy Cross teams as a defense-oriented coach, as his teams made their mark at that end of the floor. In contrast, last season’s head coach, Sean Kearney, tried to play much faster on offense than the team has often played, and the team struggled defensively.
With a third coach in three years comes a little different challenge for veteran players. Brown acknowledges that while also remembering the bottom line for himself and the team.
“It’s definitely tough on the veteran guys because they’ve heard more voices, so it does make it a little tougher,” said Brown, who has liked the way they have bought in. “I have some sympathy for that, but on the other side, we need to develop ourselves into a good basketball team that can win basketball games. As much as we might need some time, anybody that we’re going to play isn’t going to care about that.”
This year’s team will clearly be stronger in the backcourt, which is never a bad place to start. In Monday’s exhibition win over Assumption, point guards Andrew Beinert and Dee Goens combined for 13 assists and three turnovers. Beinert has had some struggles with turnovers during his career, but the senior improved in that category last year and has always been a threat from deep. Goens looks ready to be a better backup this year, and they didn’t miss a beat while he was on the court.
The Crusaders have plenty of talent off the ball. Junior R.J. Evans is a known quantity off the ball, as the former Patriot League Rookie of the Year is a fine scorer and rebounds well for his position. Classmate Devin Brown has always been able to score, especially from long range, and that was on display in the win over Assumption as he scored 25 points on 7-15 shooting from deep. It won’t be a surprise to see both on the floor at the same time on occasion.
The wing is likely to be occupied by junior Mike Cavataio and sophomore Jordan Stevens. Cavataio has a great motor and plays bigger than his size, and if the Crusaders ever want to go small they can play him as an undersized power forward. Stevens hasn’t yet gotten untracked, but he’s athletic and can shoot better than the 3-13 he posted against Assumption indicates.
Andrew Keister will anchor the front line, as the senior has been an All-Patriot League selection the past two seasons. Senior Josh Jones has played sparingly in his career to date but looks to be in line to play more minutes this year. Sophomore Eric Obeysekere had some good moments last season in limited minutes, and two likely regulars were out of action in Monday night’s game. Brown was optimistic that freshman Dave Dudzinski would be able to play in Saturday night’s opener against the College of Charleston, and indicated that sophomore Phil Beans was less certain to be a go although that depended on what information they would get from the doctor in the middle of the week.
As is usually the case, the Crusaders will play a challenging non-league slate. They open with Southern Conference contender College of Charleston, then play Ivy League contender Harvard. Later, they head to Boston College, UMass, Wake Forest and George Washington while hosting America East contender Stony Brook and MAAC contender Fairfield.
As much as the team is going through a change, he is as well with the new job, and you could see it as his two young daughters excitedly ran up to him during our interview. Brown knows about the tradition at the school and said his time on the job has been what he imagined based on it. That was part of his message to the team leading into the season, and certainly any fan might give a similar message after last season’s 9-22 showing.
“I’ve talked to the guys about how we have some responsibility to uphold the tradition,” Brown said. “I think every night that people come out and watch us play, we want them to hopefully walk away and say, that’s Holy Cross basketball.”
