NEWARK, N.J. – The process of rebuilding a program is involved. Implementing your system and style of play. Changing the culture and ensuring everyone is on board. All considerations are important.
Above all, though, you need players. Recruiting is your life blood. If a program has fallen on hard times the problem is how to attract them? Mike Lane, the women’s coach in his first year at NJIT feels that will not be difficult. He is selling top flight academics as well as an opportunity to be part of the rebuild.
Lane came from Bucknell, where he served as an assistant. He was attracted to NJIT because it had similar qualities to Bucknell. “In both situations you are dealing with kids who work hard in the classroom,” Lane said recently. “My experience at Bucknell has showed me if kids work hard in the classroom they will carry it over to the basketball court.”
Despite recent history, Lane looks at NJIT as a ‘great job’. From his Bucknell days he was familiar with the Fleischner Center that NJIT previously called home. Visiting the Newark campus before taking the job last Spring, he was given a look at the new 3,500 capacity Wellness Center. Lane was sold. You hear of recruits coming to a school because of an attractive arena; now count at least one among the coaching ranks. Beyond the facility Lane added, “I know the kids that are out there. The kids we can recruit and the administration is behind us as we begin a turn around.”
On a sunny January afternoon, a turnaround is not in Lane’s immediate thoughts. NJIT stayed with North Alabama in an Atlantic Sun meeting for about a half. The visitors pulled away with ease in the second half en route to posting a 77-54 victory. Lane was disappointed. “We saw them twice,” Lane said of North Alabama. “They won our tournament here in November. We played them down there. We knew them very well. To play like that is disappointing. We could not sustain and execute for any period of time.”
Rebuilding comes in steps. Year one already has yielded a starting point. “We have five wins,” Lane said after the North Alabama game. “Last year they had three, so that is progress. Something the kids are happy about because it is an achievement. It shows some progress.” Not a day, per Lane, does his group come to practice with a defeatist attitude. Each day they come enthusiastic, ready to work hard. Credit Lane for establishing that foundation long before the season began.
Athletic Director Lenny Kaplan saw from the earliest days the right hire was on board. “Normally a new coach comes in and the kids are a little apprehensive,” Kaplan observed. “After meeting with Mike (Lane) the kids were 100 percent on board. And the parents think he’s great.”
Kelly Guarino, NJIT’s leading scorer at a 13.4 point per game, is a senior. There are a good number returning next season. Among them, junior guard Danielle Tunstall is the Highlanders’ other double figure scorer at 11 per outing. Ellyn Stoll, a sophomore out of Garden State power Saint Rose of Belmar, has done a little of everything, from playing the point to lining up at forward. Recruiting is already on the upswing with some talented newcomers set to join the program next season.
The focus for Lane at this point is now, day-to-day improvement. As the system is implemented, teaching is done with individual skill development addressed on a daily basis. Ultimately, it makes for a better player and one who realizes the coaches truly care about their improvement.
To date the Highlanders are 5-17 with a 2-7 record in Atlantic Sun play. Beyond the record, Lane can see progress. He’s been through rebuilds in the past and realizes there are steps and stages involved in turning a program around. Lane has a plan he believes in.
So do his players.
