Siena Basketball: Is the Jimmy Patsos Era over with the program?

Reports are coming out of the Siena basketball program that head coach Jimmy Patsos may have acted inappropriately. Could this be the of him at the program?

The Siena Saints have been one of the better programs of the last 20 years in the MAAC conference.  When Siena hired Jimmy Patsos, it was one of the first times that a coach left a rival conference school to go and coach another school, in the same conference.  Patsos is not one to mix words and tells things exactly like it is.  He once held Steph Curry from Davidson scoreless, a game in which Siena lost by 30, and let the media know he was a coaching guru for holding Steph Curry scoreless.

Late last night the Siena Saints administration announced that it was investigating the Siena basketball program.  The investigation stems from the mistreatment of some of the team managers within the Siena program.  The alleged misconduct stems from two reported incidents.  The first incident was the berating and name calling of a team manager with a disability.  The second involves Patsos becoming so upset at two team managers that he kicked them off the bus and made them walk to the game.

The Saints under Patsos tutelage had a rough year this year on the floor. They won 8 games and most of their games were not close. Patsos and the best player on this team Nico Clareth had numerous issues only to see Clareth leave the program.  Patsos may not of had a leg to stand on this year anyway, however it did appear that the administration was okay with Patsos at least for another year.  The fact of the matter is that no matter how you feel about Patsos what he is being investigated for is absolutely uncalled for.

The current state of the Siena Basketball is in disarray and this is not going to help the situation.  Patsos is likely to lose his job because of all of this.  Many have mentioned that if Siena was winning or had a winning season that none of this would have come out. While that may be true, Patsos getting fired because of this is absolutely what needs to happen and should happen as soon as possible.

Siena fans are suggesting this is just a clever ploy by the administration to dig up some dirt on Patsos, so Siena does not have to pay his buyout and can fire him with cause.  The Siena Athletic Department had cause, that cause is they won 8 games and Patsos has never been one to be warm and cuddly with the media or the administration.  This situation is completely different and involves the ethics and moral code of the athletic department.  So in that instance, Patsos contract should be voided and he should be owed nothing.  The same will be true of any coach who treats other humans this way, including Bill Self, John Calipari and the like.

Delving deeper into the idea that the administration at Siena is going to be better from this may be true.  Siena will now be able to get their own guy.  A guy that the administration can all agree on, and one who shares the same vision as the administration.  Siena should shoot for the stars with this hire. They are a program that can and has been better than they currently are.  Siena should be competing for tournaments every year in the MAAC.  Especially being in New York and having a recruiting hotbed at their fingertips.

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The Saints are going to hire the complete opposite of Patsos, as most programs do when they have a coach as polarizing as Patsos was.  The coach that takes over the Siena program will need to be a players coach, one who is going to treat the players with dignity and respect.  The Saints are also going to need to hire a coach who is a great recruiter and a proven winner.  When you win 8 games in a season the only way to go is up, so any improvement is a step forward for the program.  The Saints were not bereft of talent this season, they were just poorly coached.  The team appeared to play tight afraid to make mistakes or bad plays based on what could have happened.

Enough speculation on if that was actually the reason why Siena was as bad as they were.  There were points this year that the team looked disinterested and poorly coached.  Even though Patsos came with question marks his record at Loyola (MD) spoke for itself and he proved he could be a great coach. Many thought he would eventually succeed at Siena. It appears now no one will get to see what he could do at Siena.  If this year was any indication, it appeared it could have been trending downward.

A couple of names to keep an eye on for the Siena job are Pat Beilein.  That is John Beilein of Michigan’s son. Beilein is the current head coach of the Division II LeMoyne Dolphins. This year Beilein led LeMoyne to the Elite 8 and has had a great 3 years as the coach of the Dolphins.  Beilein should be the front-runner for this job.  His famous father aside, Pat has his own credentials to bring to Siena.  Beilein knows the area, as LeMoyne is in Syracuse, New York.  He was the player development coach in the NBA for the Utah Jazz.  Beilein also interviewed for the Marist opening a few years ago, so he is familiar with the MAAC conference.  Beilein is an unproven coach at the Division 1 level, but Siena should be a great place for him to get his feet wet.

One name who is not being mentioned but should be considered, is the recently unemployed Scott Cross.  Cross is the former coach of the Texas-Arlington Mavericks.  Cross was one of the best Mid Major coaches in the country.  He is responsible for infusing the Maverick program with talent, and responsible for the only NCAA tournament in the programs history.  His firing came as a shock to everyone but Siena now has a chance to make a very smart decision and give Cross a chance to have this job.  Cross was able to get a lot of talent to the Mavericks and those players got better every year, so he has shown he can develop the players.

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Beilein and Cross should be the top choices on the list for the Saints.  Siena is undoubtedly going to be entering a new era.  This new era should see a return to the top of the MAAC conference for Siena.  The new coach should be able to infuse the program with talent and compete once again with the teams like Iona and Manhattan in this conference.  Siena will have a better season next year.