Spring Break
Four years later, a coach's vision becomes a reality
by Charlie Gandelman
NCAA | 3/6/07
Posted online at 3:11 AM EST on 3/6/07
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"When I took the [Brandeis] job, different coaches I know said it would be difficult to win here, but that was just extra motivation," Meehan said. "I wanted to go to a place where I felt I could make a difference, a place that could re-energize me."
After the Judges made their first NCAA tournament for the first time in 29-year run that ended in a 70-67 second-round loss to Rhode Island College Saturday [See Story] it's hard to believe that just four years ago, Meehan took over a squad that went 6-19 with only two conference wins the year before.
His predecessor, former NBA coach Chris Ford, had an uninspiring two-year run at Brandeis despite his impressive resume. Unfamiliar with Division III basketball, Ford agreed at the last minute to coach the Judges for an interim basis before the 2001-2002 season as a favor to former athletic director Jeff Cohen.
Ford's interim status was never removed, and fittingly, the team lost his final nine games as head coach in 2002-2003.
When forward Steve Hill '08 visited Brandeis as a high school senior during Meehan's first year at the helm, he could tell the team was in disarray.
"When I walked into a game here as a senior, I remember thinking, 'Wow, this is terrible,'" Hill said bluntly.
But Meehan ultimately convinced Hill and nine other talented high school seniors to
join his first team of new recruits, a group of elite players in the region that would transform the Judges into one of the finest teams in the conference.
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