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Niagara Basketball: Chris Casey out after 6 years as head coach

By Joey Loose

DAYTON, OH - MARCH 13: Tyrone Lewis #20 of the Niagara Purple Eagles celebrates with Charron Fisher #24 just before beating the Florida A&M Rattlers during the opening round of the Men's NCAA Tournament on March 13, 2007 at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. Niagara won the game 77-69. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
DAYTON, OH - MARCH 13: Tyrone Lewis #20 of the Niagara Purple Eagles celebrates with Charron Fisher #24 just before beating the Florida A&M Rattlers during the opening round of the Men's NCAA Tournament on March 13, 2007 at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. Niagara won the game 77-69. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Let’s look at Chris Casey’s coaching career and what Niagara will do next to replace him.

After six years at Niagara, Chris Casey has been fired as head coach of the Purple Eagles after six season. He was hired in 2013 after success at the D-2 and D-3 level, but that success didn’t follow him to Lewiston. He was just 309th in our early season head coach rankings and never really found consistency in the MAAC.

Prior to his hire in 2013, Casey spent three years at D-2 LIU Post, taking over a program vacated by Tim Cluess, who also left for a MAAC job at Iona. He also has three years of experience leading D-3 Rutgers-Newark and has many years of experience as an assistant in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. Most recently, he spent four years under Norm Roberts at St. John’s.

Casey inherited a team that was dealing with upheaval following head coach Joe Mihalich departing for Hofstra, but he never quite figured things out. His team notched a 19-14 season, with a 3rd place finish and a CIT bid last year, but this past season was another struggle. His career at Niagara finishes at 64-129, and it looks much worse if you disregard 2018. He won just 22 games in his first three years and was 8th or lower in the MAAC every other season. Niagara finished just 39-77 in MAAC play during Casey’s tenure

This past season the team went 13-19 and really struggled down the stretch, dropping eight of their last ten games. The high point of the season came in early December when the Purple Eagles won at Pittsburgh, and this team also knocked off St. Bonaventure, Iona, and Norfolk State. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t win enough games for Casey to keep his job.

The team’s two leading scorers were a pair of senior forwards, meaning the next coach will have to find offense somewhere else. Marvin Prochet (15.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Dominic Robb (10.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg) finish their careers as Purple Eagles. One bright spot for the future could be freshman guard Raheem Solomon (7.8 ppg), who has emerged as a decent shooter and is the team’s most talented underclassmen. Regardless, there’s a lot of work that the next coach has to do on the recruiting trail.

The Purple Eagles haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2007, and making the Tourney will be the ultimate goal of the next head coach. Watching Casey flounder while Cluess thrives at Iona hasn’t been easy to watch for Purple Eagles’ fans, but that shouldn’t persuade them from going after a young head coach. One name to look out for is Villanova assistant Kyle Neptune, who spent three years under Mihalich as an assistant at Niagara.

Next. Bracketology storylines for Championship Week. dark

While Casey couldn’t elevate this Niagara program, this six-year run shouldn’t be a death knell to his coaching career. He found success at LIU Post and should be able to bounce back, either as an assistant or leading a smaller school again. Niagara has the ability to compete in the MAAC if they can find the right head coach, even if the last few years have been a major struggle. This team was third place in 2018 and can definitely compete with Iona and the rest of the conference very soon.