An interview with Simon Fraser Clan guard Jordan Nostedt; a look at the opening week of the NBA playoffs; plus an episode of Blindside featuring thoughts on sports riots, Juno, and Rafael Belliard.

 

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Swatter and Larkins are joined by former Brandon Bobcat stars Gilford Cheung and Aaron Mitchell to talk about the NBA playoffs and their favorite memories from the Wheat City. It’s the funniest podcast you’ll hear this year, guaranteed. Plus, Swatter watches the Montreal Canadiens lose to the Boston Bruins (and slowly descends into depression).

 

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An interview with newly appointed Brandon University men’s basketball coach Keith Vassell; an apology for last week’s podcast; thoughts on the Masters, the NHL playoffs, and the opening week of the MLB season; plus, an episode of Blindside featuring another question for the ages: Who’d make a better CIS coach, Swatter or Larkins?

 

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An interview with Eric Fehr of the Washington Capitals; thoughts on the NHL playoff picture; Swatter and Larkins break an exclusive CIS coaching announcement; and the greatest episode of Blindside, ever.

 

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(Update, Friday 1:30-pm: BU has made the hiring official.)

Mike Raimbault’s one-season term as head coach of the Brandon Bobcats men’s basketball team has come to an end and Keith Vassell is your new head man. That’s five coaches in six seasons. Thank God for Barnaby Craddock and his two-year term, otherwise BU would be batting 1.000.

To address a couple of the comments that have been posted on this site in recent days, I hate to be this way but I have to agree with both the logic that this was a gong show and a refreshing change, as well.

In the end, however, I felt dirty about the whole thing.

While I agree that transparency, given BU’s track record of numerous coaches and almost as many faculty grievances, is not a bad thought in theory, I didn’t get the sense that BU’s intentions were totally altruistic. I didn’t feel like they were really showing the public the inner-workings of the hiring process, but rather covering their tracks for whomever they hired. This way they can always say “hey, you all saw it,” and not have to be concerned over any potential fallout with their selection.

That’s not to suggest that there will be, or was going to be, fallout over their decision, but by making it public they’ve cleared themselves of any thoughts or theories from outside the school that the operation wasn’t on the up-and-up.

But it also was a gong show. Having sat through each of the three presentations, I never got a sense that any of the presentations truly mattered. I didn’t think Thom Gillespie had a hope of getting the job — and that’s not a commentary on him at all, just the way the situation felt — and I thought Raimbault had to blow people away with his presentation. And, as it was, his presentation was far and away the best (a feeling backed up by a number of people), but in the end that didn’t matter either.

Add in the fact that one of the hiring committee members was not making their incredibly positive feelings for Vassell any secret, and you got the sense that the presentations were merely formality. You simply can’t have someone on a hiring committee outwardly and overtly talking up one of the candidates. It’s wholly unprofessional and a mind-boggling move from people supposedly in positions of prominence and esteem.

Once again, university administrations continue to blow my mind.

The Brandon Sun broke the story in Thursday’s editions and an announcement has yet to be made officially, nor has any sort of indication come from the university as to when they will announce it or how they plan to do so. BU has made a habit out of not doing press conferences after a media outlet has pulled the rug out from under them, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they just shrug their shoulders and put out a press release.

I would love to say that the presentation process was a success, but I can’t say that whole-heartedly. And I’d love so say we can all feel better about Brandon University’s open and honest approach to hiring, but I can’t say that either.

I can’t say that when only one of those two words is actually accurate.

The final decision very well might have been made as I type this, but that shouldn’t preclude me from bringing you folks up to date on the final public presentation for the Brandon University men’s basketball position.

Mike Raimbault, who was handed the job as an interim coach last summer, provided far and away the top presentation of the three candidates.

That, however, doesn’t mean he’s keeping his job.

Raimbault dealt well with his shortcomings, namely recruiting, and forced those in attendance to take him seriously as a coach who could bring the best talent into Brandon. He presented a slide that had his depth chart of players who are either returning, have verballed or have been approached during the year and they ranged from JUCO/NAIA-level players in Alabama, Oklahoma and California, to high school and mature students around Canada. He also outlined his recruiting contacts in North America, a list of 20-some names that — at the very least — showed that he’s not just out there on his own.

Believe what he put on the projector or not, what that tactic did was brought the attention (if momentarily) away from Vassell’s ability as a recruiter and showed that Raimbault can potentially get it done too. All of this isn’t to say that suddenly Raimbault is the next great recruiter at BU, but you can’t say he didn’t make his case in that category.

Raimbault was nervous and it showed at times, but he eventually settled in and opened with discussion about his view on academics and community involvement, while relaying stories about Bobcats being out and about in Brandon this past season.

Raimbault’s effort was, perhaps expectedly, the most impassioned of the three as well. A Brandonite who knows that CIS jobs don’t come along often, never mind in your hometown with your alma mater, which happens to be a national contender.

Raimbault absolutely had to have a knock-you-off-your feet presentation on Wednesday and if what he came up with didn’t do that, he sure as hell came close.

Rightly or wrongly, I’m still not entirely convinced it was enough to keep him at BU.

• • •

Another message board that has discussion about Canadian basketball, has had a post lingering there about the BU search and it has been polluted by some misguided posts. The most recent of which came on Wednesday. I NEVER respond to such things and am almost ashamed of myself for going forward with this next bit, but for some reason feel it necessary. You can read the post here. (The one that mentions the Brandon Sun).

My columns in this week’s Brandon Sun have been opinion pieces but they have been analysis of what was observed at the presentations. They have not been commentaries on resumes, they have not been commentaries on the interviews afterwards. I have, in my best efforts, attempted to give those who weren’t in attendance a glimpse into what happened in that lecture theatre on each of the three days. As such, here was what was written in Wednesday’s Sun:

“And so Vassell still has to convince the hiring committee that, in addition to his shiny resume of playing and coaching exploits overseas, he can also handle the other aspects of the job, which include teaching.

That’s perhaps where Vassell’s presentation fell short — if, that is, you care about such things. Twenty minutes is not a lot of time to sum up a career plus discuss all your philosophies and positions, but Vassell did not dip deeply into much discourse about the education portion of the job, which is a large chunk of the pie at Brandon University.”

This, it should be noted, also came after a number of paragraphs of praise for Vassell and what he managed to do in his 20-minute time frame. In no way did I take a shot at Vassell’s lack of a Masters and put that on him as if the same issue didn’t exist for the other two candidates. I specifically say that’s where Vassell’s presentation fell short, not he as a candidate. In fact, the column was more pro-Vassell than I had wanted it to be. I felt I could have been more down the middle, but c’est la vie.

Again, I hate that I even addressed this because I don’t get into wars of words nor see any point to doing so. But I’m sure, the basketball community being tight-knit as it is in this country, the person who posted that incorrect and ill-considered message will stop by our page at some point and read what I’ve posted here. I felt compelled to point them in the right direction and do something I rarely do and actually defend myself as a journalist.

Don’t publicly call out my paper — and by virtue me, as well — for facts not discussed in the article itself.

We knew that the three short-listed candidates for the Brandon University men’s basketball head coaching position made up a varied group, but Tuesday afternoon we got a glimpse into just how different they are.

Former Brandon Bobcat Keith Vassell took his hour in the public forum on Tuesday, one day after former UNB coach Thom Gillespie took the floor, and the two-time all-Canadian certainly succeeded in ingratiating himself to the crowd of some 50 interested spectators.

Vassell, who admitted to not being overly comfortable when talking about himself, was outgoing and made jokes that had the room laughing. He spent a chunk of time going over his vast list of experience as a player and as a coach. What struck so abruptly about Vassell’s presentation was how sport-heavy it was, a sharp contrast to Gillespie, who really stressed education and community involvement and even played the “holistic approach” card, a term Brandonites got to hear a lot of when Rick Nickelchok was the athletic director. It’s not that Vassell ignored or dodged the education angle, it’s just that he really spent much of his time on the basketball topics and, in the end, ran out of time before he could get to the final slides on his Power Point presentation.

Vassell also didn’t distance himself from Jerry Hemmings, the man the university dismissed in 2004. If there’s any thoughts that aligning yourself with Hemmings is a bad thing given the fact the school wished to go in another direction, Vassell wasn’t buying it. He said he considered himself a combination of Hemmings and former national team coach Jay Triano, and talked at length about Hemmings’ influence on him as a player, coach and human being.

The eight-person hiring committee is a diverse group with different interests. One prevailing thought is that the outside coaches somehow have to convince the other three BU coaches on the committee (volleyball coaches Lee Carter and Russ Paddock, and women’s basketball coach Jaime Hickson) and swing them their way because the logic goes that they have built up ties with incumbent Mike Raimbault.

So now we have seen two presentations that felt like binary opposites: Gillespie and the strength of his academics, and Vassell and his unquestioned history as a player and coach overseas.

Raimbault presents on Wednesday and might be well-advised to split it right down the middle. After two days of presentations, this job is by no means out of his reach.

On Monday, Brandon University held its first of three public presentations that will aid in the selection of its fifth head men’s basketball coach of the past six years. Former UNB coach Thom Gillespie was first up with Keith Vassell to follow on Tuesday and Mike Raimbault set for Wednesday. Here’s a glimpse into what Gillespie’s presentation held:

After a 20-minute presentation of his views and philosophies — as well as educational and coaching background — Gillespie was well-spoken and deliberate in answering questions from the public, including questions on the downturn that UNB had in the past four seasons and what his recruiting ability would be in a town like Brandon.

The question marks for Gillespie will undoubtedly be more on the court, than off. After all, here’s a guy who is close to obtaining his Masters, has his Level IV coaching certification and has 16 years of CIS coaching under his belt. No one is going to doubt his resume in that regard.

Still, the 22-58 record over the past four seasons isn’t going away and fans of the Bobcats aren’t particularly interested in watching teams that could be described with any of the following terms, listed in descending order: Decent, average, middling, adequate, passable, struggling, wretched, abysmal, RMC.

So that’s a hump to get over for the Fredericton-raised coach, who also spoke about his recruiting connections across the country. Yet the UNB teams of this century have all had heavy Maritime influences with most players coming out of New Brunswick. It’s also fair to note that UNB is the only CIS team in that province.

Now while fans of the Bobcats might just want to hear about wins and losses, it’s also not to be forgotten that education and commitment to academics is of chief concern to a number of people on the hiring panel. So Gillespie’s approach just may ring true with a handful of people who will be entrusted with the final decision.

The more people I talk to — and let’s be clear this is observers, other coaches, fans, etc., so don’t think this is coming from someone in a position of power in this decision — the more I get the feeling that Gillespie is third on the totem pole. But his educational background could prove to be a big trump card.

We’ll get to Vassell later on Tuesday. The decision will come down late Wednesday night.

An interview with All-Canadian point guard Brad Rootes of the CIS national champion Brock Badgers; Swatter and Larkins fill out their March Madness brackets; an episode of Blindside featuring thoughts on mastadons, fried chicken, Elliot Spitzer, Girls Gone Wild, and more. Plus, who will be coaching the Brandon Bobcats next season?

 

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The voice on the other end of the phone was slightly strained, a rasp to it that quietly screamed of weariness.

It was a long few days — a long week; a long 10 days really — for Les Berry and, when I picked up my office phone to hear him on the other line, his voice told me that.

It was late on the east coast and Berry had returned to Wolfville, N.S., after a close loss for him and his Acadia Axemen in the national final a day earlier and a classic double-overtime victory over Carleton a day before that. One could understand if Berry, whose never been reserved on the sideline, was a bit rundown from the frenetic events of the weekend.

Acadia survived the wild-card process, survived the multi-hyphenated athletes of Laval and, now famously, survived what will go down as one of the greatest CIS games ever in that semifinal dethroning of the five-time champs. In the end, the turnaround — not so much a letdown — was at least partially to blame for the Axemen’s loss in the final. This is not to take one iota away from the Brock Badgers, who caught a three-game hot streak and then out-rebounded the bigger Axemen and won a game despite going just seven-deep.

Having played the emotionally-draining marathon semifinal, the turnaround to be prepared for Sunday’s final was a pretty small window. Considering the 8 p.m. ET tip off, the transit back to the host hotel in Ottawa, the emotional decompression needed after such a stirring victory and you have a mixture that can lead to a weary team the next day.

And you saw a bit of that Sunday. Brock had more energy in the late stages and just managed to make one or two more plays, namely Dusty Bianchin and his big shots late.

Yet if the Axemen were physically beat afterwards, one Carleton Raven came off as absolutely catatonic.

Aaron Doornekamp, who was 4-for-23 from the field in the final, was harassed defensively by AUS defensive player of the year Ash Lual and, after the game, told the Ottawa Sun this:

“You’re not going to win the game when your best players don’t make a shot. (Lual) didn’t do anything. I got every shot I wanted. I just didn’t make any shots.”

Wait, Aaron. You sure about that? Seriously, this is your chance to backtrack and give at least an ounce of credit to your opponent in a hard-fought battle that both teams easily could have won. Honestly… I mean … you sure?

“I’ve seen every matchup,” he said. “I’ve played four years. I’ve seen every matchup. He didn’t do anything. I just missed shots.”

Oooookay then.

The Sun’s columnist called that “accountability.” That’s certainly a glass-half-full way of looking at it. I call it self-indulgent and misguided.

Does this Doornekamp’s quote read with familiarity? Let me take you back to March, 2007. The Ravens have just won their fifth straight national championship in a game that was as emotionally debilitating to the Brandon Bobcats as Carleton’s semifinal loss was to the Ravens. MVP Osvaldo Jeanty, who went 5-for-19 from the field (one an absolute circus shot in the lane late in the game), in a defensive struggle with Brandon’s Yul Michel (incidentally also a conference defensive player of the year), told the Brandon Sun this:

“They didn’t make my life difficult, I thought I made my own life difficult.”

There’s more of that “accountability” I’ve been hearing so much about.

All that’s necessary here is a “they played us tough and credit to them, but I didn’t live up to my end of the bargain.” Just tip your hat and you can avoid the ego-tripping and not come off as the pouter who doesn’t think the other team is worthy of credit.

After Acadia’s loss, Berry talked about his team not having the same kind of intensity that Brock brought. Even if it was hard to admit, that was the reality.

After Carleton’s 2007 win over Brandon, here was Dave Smart:

“Everybody’s going to talk about how both teams didn’t shoot it well, but both teams defended and made everything tough. Brandon did an unbelievable job defensively. They had one day to prepare and what they did to make everything tough on our guys was unbelievable.”

That’s a lot closer to accountability than whatever it was Doornekamp was doing.