Pistol Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Maybe not OT, as we've offered a couple kids from the class of 2016 at CCP. The release: "Chaminade College Preparatory School and Athletic Director Tom Fernandez announced today that the Chaminade basketball program will be under new leadership for the 2013-2014 basketball season. Coach Kelvin Lee will be exploring other coaching opportunities. Chaminade is grateful for the contributions made by Coach Kelvin Lee during his 16 years as Varsity Head Coach. Lee led Chaminade to the Class 5 State Championship in 2009 and two of his former Chaminade players, David Lee '01 and Bradley Beal '11, are currently playing in the NBA. Chaminade is pleased to announce Frank Bennett as the new Varsity Basketball Coach. Bennett graduated from Chaminade in 2001 and went on to play basketball for four years at Drury University. Bennett recently finished his fifth year as Chaminade's assistant basketball coach. He will also serve as a high school math teacher begining in the 2013-2014 school year. Bennett was the recipient of the 2001 Esto Vir Award which is the most prestigious award given annually to the graduating senior who distinguished himself most outstandingly in qualities of integrity, faith, scholarship, leadership, loyalty and generosity." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 -WOW, big shakeup in the coaching ranks of the MCC since the close of the season -I wonder what this does for young Mr Tatum................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeSmetBilliken Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 -WOW, big shakeup in the coaching ranks of the MCC since the close of the season -I wonder what this does for young Mr Tatum................ I'd figure Jayson Tatum was going to transfer to CBC to play for his dad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 fan Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Wonder which university he's going to end up at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken75 Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Seems like Florida owes him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 The way things have been going in the MCC lately, I'm surprised Chaminade didn't hire H Waldman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan Alum Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Does anyone else think that Coach Lee is headed for SLU? He was an assistant here prior to his Chaminade gig and is well known and respected in the local basketball community. Could he be the key piece to finally getting some of the local kids to stay in town? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiseAndGrind Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Does anyone else think that Coach Lee is headed for SLU? He was an assistant here prior to his Chaminade gig and is well known and respected in the local basketball community. Could he be the key piece to finally getting some of the local kids to stay in town? Ha. That'd be so awesome if Lee resigned to become the additional video guy Crews referenced. But, no, I don't think Lee is coming to SLU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.B. Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 I'd figure Jayson Tatum was going to transfer to CBC to play for his dad. This article says that Jayson Tatum is staying at Chaminade http://crevecoeur.patch.com/articles/new-cbc-hoops-coach-justin-tatum-school-is-built-for-winning-215d5b00 "A week after being announced as the school's new varsity boys basketball coach, 1997 graduate Justin Tatum sat down with Patch for a one-on-one interview Thursday afternoon. Tatum was hired to replace Bob McCormack, another CBC graduate who was on the bench for 17 years, including Tatum's team as a senior which won a state title. McCormack's coaching contract was not renewed after the Cadets, with a team featuring three future Division I caliber players, fell in the district championship game to rival De Smet Jesuit after losing to the Spartans a week earlier. Tatum comes to the school from a successful stint at Soldan High School in the PSL, where he was also Athletic Director. It’s tough," Tatum said of replacing McCormack, who was just announced this week as the new varsity coach at St. Louis Priory in Creve Coeur. McCormack will stay on the CBC faculty. Tatum called McCormack a father figure and mentor. "He’s a legend to me, and to the school and just to the community of St. Louis and it’s going to be tough to replace him but I’m going to do my best." His challenge will be to work with a roster that includes plenty of returning talent, highlighted by Jordan Barnett, Patrick McCaw and Ray Doby, a trio of highly-recruited talents who have major college coaches like Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Mizzou's Frank Haith and others paying special attention. One student-athlete with Division I potential that has everyone talking is Tatum's own son, Jayson, who just finished his freshman season at Chaminade. Jayson was co-Metro Catholic Conference Player of the Year and led the Red Devils to a district championship. As soon as the CBC job was open, speculation ran wide that if Justin Tatum got the position, Jayson would come with him. Chaminade Head Coach Kelvin Lee as late as Tuesday wasn't sure what would happen but said he couldn't stand in the way if that's what they wanted. But Thursday, Dad told Patch that son was staying put. "Jayon's attending Chaminade. He's going to stay there," Tatum said, acknowledging that the speculation will still be out there until classes start in the fall. "It’s tough for a 15 year old kid to be asked 'are you transferring, don’t leave us type things. He’s just handled it really well to me. We haven’t really talked about him being on the sideline we’re playing against eachother. It’ll be fun when it happens." Jayson Tatum will spend part of this summer as part of a USA Basketball developmental squad and could end up competing overseas." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB73 Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Does anyone else think that Coach Lee is headed for SLU? He was an assistant here prior to his Chaminade gig and is well known and respected in the local basketball community. Could he be the key piece to finally getting some of the local kids to stay in town? You have a valid theory IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlebill Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Assuming Tatum really is the real deal, if I was Crews I would be doing whatever it takes to make him a billiken. If that means hiring Lee, then do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 The twitter world seems to believe that Lee was fired. I have not seen any reasons given. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NH Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Kshoe, don't you think that Beal probably would've talked to Lee? And since Beal tweeted about him being fired I feel like that's a pretty strong indication. But I could be wrong. I would be very happy with Lee as an assistant. He would recruit the piss out of St. Louis and probably the rest of the Midwest as well. Couldn't hurt with Tatum either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franchise_89 Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 As a Chaminade grad, I am disappointed by the news of Coach Lee leaving and I am sure he was not fired as he was very admired amongst the Chaminade family. He took a so-so program that recently only produced Billy Coby (Washington State) and then my favorite Billiken of all-time, Carlos Sharlow, and created a top basketball program at a soccer school. Certainly not easy. I am not sure how Coach Lee would do at SLU since he has not recruited for 16 years, wink wink. Knowing that the new coach for the Red Devils has been awarded the prestigious Esto Vir award, it gives me great confidence that Coach Bennett has the mental acumen and the class to lead such a top notch program like Chaminade. It is a sad day for St. Louis basketball but good luck to Coach Lee as long as he doesn't land at UMC or Duke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 You hire the daddy not the coach if you want a recruiting advantage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 You hire the daddy not the coach if you want a recruiting advantage Agree. I seem to recall where Justin may have a bit of a hard on for SLU, since he didn't graduate from here. True or not? Jeez, it would be great to keep a top notch STL player in the Fetz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franchise_89 Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Give Tatum an honorary degree then...SLU gives out like 5 a year at graduation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted April 17, 2013 Author Share Posted April 17, 2013 I've been mulling this one over and here are my general thoughts. Full disclosure: I'm a Chaminade grad, class of 2001. -Kelvin Lee was only coaching basketball the past couple seasons. He was no longer a PE teacher, as he was when he came to the school in 1997. In fact, that was my freshman year and he was my freshman PE teacher. I'm not sure of the exact semester he stopped teaching or the circumstances surrounding that. He did a few other things around the school. -Frank Bennett (class of 2001!) will be a math teacher as well as head basketball coach. He had been an assistant under Coach Lee for the past five seasons in addition to working a full-time job elsewhere. He played varsity basketball for Coach Lee and then played at Drury for four years. Frank's a great guy. He won the Esto Vir Award, which at Chaminade is the highest honor a senior can receive at graduation. It's voted on by the seniors and faculty. -My guess is that Lee's contract was up and the school chose not to renew it. To have someone just coaching and not teaching is just not sustainable. We've discussed the economics of private schools and sports recently on here, and a full salary and benefits is a lot for any school to swallow if they're not getting a teacher with at least a few sections a semester. Again, this is just my guess - I have no direct knowledge on whether he was fired, not renewed, or opted to leave. -I like that they had the replacement coach ready as soon as this announcement was made. Frank clearly is well-respected in the Chaminade community and represents continuity for the basketball program. I would be shocked to see any transfers because of this coaching change. In fact, I have a lot of confidence in Frank to be a great long-term coach. I'd also wager a bet that he's a better in-game coach than Coach Lee. Lee had proven himself as a developer of talent, with 2 NBA players on his watch; Frank's challenge is continuing that. Fortunately, he already has his chance to prove it with Jayson Tatum and the other talented freshmen. If they pan out the way people think they should, STL-area kids are still going to want to go to Chaminade to play. -Frank is smart and level-headed. He's not a guy they'll ever have to worry about shooting his mouth off (like McCormack), being too hard on kids, or getting into trouble. Very high character guy. Alums should be proud to have him representing the program. -I'm curious to see what's next for Lee. If he did actually have another coaching opportunity on the table, we should know soon. If not, I wouldn't be surprised to see him catch on somewhere. Like GManAlum said, he's already got some college coaching experience, he's produced 2 NBA players from his HS program, and has plenty of gas left in the tank. Do I think someone is hiring him to have a pipeline to Tatum? No, not at this point. Those moves are normally made in a kid's senior year, junior at the earliest. No one's going to give up a staff spot for four years or more to have the edge on a single recruit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 The twitter world seems to believe that Lee was fired. I have not seen any reasons given. I heard rumors that his job was in jeopardy a few times over the years. That certain people associated with the school were not happy with the type of teams Lee assembled. Specifically who was getting played, who was making the team, and the players that were sitting on the bench not playing. Basically they didn't like people they viewed as "scholarship kids" getting to play over the kids of their friends and family. Who knows how much truth (if any) there was to those stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Agree. I seem to recall where Justin may have a bit of a hard on for SLU, since he didn't graduate from here. True or not? Jeez, it would be great to keep a top notch STL player in the Fetz. I thought Justin's issues were with Romar and not with the school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted April 17, 2013 Author Share Posted April 17, 2013 I heard rumors that his job was in jeopardy a few times over the years. That certain people associated with the school were not happy with the type of teams Lee assembled. Specifically who was getting played, who was making the team, and the players that were sitting on the bench not playing. Basically they didn't like people they viewed as "scholarship kids" getting to play over the kids of their friends and family. Who knows how much truth (if any) there was to those stories. Way overblown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted April 17, 2013 Author Share Posted April 17, 2013 Agree. I seem to recall where Justin may have a bit of a hard on for SLU, since he didn't graduate from here. True or not? Jeez, it would be great to keep a top notch STL player in the Fetz. I thought Justin's issues were with Romar and not with the school. Early in his senior year, Romar basically asked him to leave. He played his senior season at McKendree. Everyone calling him a "SLU grad" is not remembering correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 As far hiring any assistant coach goes; I believe that you can consider the increased probability of landing a single big name recruit but that should only be a small factor in the decision. We have a lot of work to do on the recruiting trail the next 3 years before young Jayson would even be entering college and all assistants will need to be able to recruit during this time. Additionally, Jayson seems to be such a talent that he'll likely be a one and doner. How much should any school go out of its way to recruit a single player that will only be in your program for one year? Yes, a relationship with a superior talent can break ties when deciding on assistant coaches but it surely shouldn't the only qualification that is brought to the table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Pelican Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Early in his senior year, Romar basically asked him to leave. He played his senior season at McKendree. Everyone calling him a "SLU grad" is not remembering correctly. I remember that he finished at McKendree but I never understood why. I thought it had something to do with his missing a year at SLU and somehow using up his eligibility. I mostly remember his rebounding skills. What was the issue with Romar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Early in his senior year, Romar basically asked him to leave. He played his senior season at McKendree. Everyone calling him a "SLU grad" is not remembering correctly. Yeah I don't recall all of the specifics, but I seem to remember it was pretty personal between Justin and Romar. It wasn't like Justin was a bad guy, wasn't going to class, or anything like that. The two just didn't get along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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