Sports Talk
Beeten Emphasizes Character
By Bob Weiner
Scott Beeten’s coaching style was forged much like the steel products from factories in his native Allentown, Pa. The first-year University at Albany men’s basketball coach believes in strength of character, honesty, discipline and respect, traits he learned during a coaching career that has spanned well over 30 years.

Although this will be his first Division I head coaching venture, the 53-year-old Beeten is no rookie. He honed his craft as a top assistant, moving up the ladder at several high-profile programs, such as George Washington University, under current St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis, the University of Pennsylvania, under Craig Littlepage, and the University of California-Berkeley, under Ben Braun. Add his experiences as a high school and Division III head coach, and it’s easy to see why Beeten was chosen to succeed former UAlbany coach Scott Hicks, who left the program last summer to become head coach at Loyola.

“I’m an old-school guy. I grew up in an area much like Albany, and I learned very early that you have more problems if you don’t tell the truth,” said Beeten.

“I have found the same kind of people here that I knew when I was growing up in Allentown. People here want to be treated honestly and shown respect. I’m looking forward to a very long, very honest and very straight-forward relationship here.”

At every step along the coaching road, Beeten learned something new about his profession. He is not the same coach now that he was when he was a 23-year-old rookie.

“I learned on the job, so to speak,” he said. “Having been a head coach in high school so young, I thought I knew everything. But I found out quickly, with some trial by fire, that I needed to know more. I was fortunate, because I was able to meet an older coach at East Stroudsburg who guided me down the path. He showed me how to run a program.”

Beeten is his own man with his own views, but his ideas were shaped by other coaches, especially former UConn head coach Dee Rowe, who Beeten played for during his prep school days at Worcester Academy. “When I first started coaching, I tried to emulate Dee Rowe,” said Beeten. “He was a brilliant coach who knew how to treat people, how to motivate them and how to show loyalty. I was very fortunate to play for a guy who was not only a tremendous basketball coach, but who was really a special human being.”

Beeten’s experiences as a high school coach helped prepare him for his college positions later on. “The one thing I learned from coaching in high school was that you have to adjust your style of play based on your talent. You couldn’t influence your talent by recruiting. Even though you might have had a favorite system, you often had to adjust,” he said.

After moving up to become a head coach at Division III Richard Stockton, Beeten got his chance to become a Division I assistant for several well-known head coaches.

“Paying your dues is a very overused expression,” he said. “But I have observed a lot from a lot of very good people. I spent seven years with Mike Jarvis and three and a half years with Ben Braun. If that’s paying your dues, then I’m grateful for that opportunity. I was hired by both of those guys because of what I could bring.”

One of Beeten’s roles as a top assistant coach was to recruit student-athletes. “The most important thing about recruiting is to determine the kind of people you want. If you recruit good people, then your recruiting is not evil,” said Beeten, referring to the problems that many major programs get into when trying to convince an athlete to come to their school. “You find out that as you move up to higher levels, the dirtier and nastier recruiting becomes. I know this well, because when I first came to work for Ben Braun at California, they were under severe sanctions for recruiting violations done by a previous staff. It couldn’t have gotten much worse there before we arrived.”

But the best part of Beeten’s job is actually teaching his players how to play. “My favorite part is coaching on the floor,” he said. “That’s what I enjoy the most. Basically, it’s the most passionate part of the game.”

Beeten admits he has borrowed techniques from Rowe, Jarvis, Littlepage and Braun, but he is not exactly like any other coach. “I don’t like to compare myself to any other coach,” he said. “I think everybody has to coach their own style with their own personality. I try to be myself every day. People can expect me, my coaching staff and my players to work hard every day.”

As far as Xs and Os are concerned, Beeten will be flexible. He prefers to run, and he likes to use, man-to-man defense, but both of those styles will change, depending on his own talent and his opponent’s.

“This is absolutely a teaching situation,” Beeten explained. “You never stop teaching. I try to teach everything at least twice, so there is no room for doubt. We believe in teaching kids how to play basketball, regardless of what level we’re playing.”

Despite the fact that he rarely raises his voice, Beeten is a no-nonsense guy. “I’m a disciplinarian,” he said. “But if you really do a good job of establishing a tenor and attitude, then you shouldn’t have to brow-beat these kids. Over the years, I lose my temper less and less. I try to pick my spots.”

Does Beeten feel he is up to the task of building a young Division I team into a winner? “This is where I want to be,” he said. “I am hungry and grateful for this opportunity, and I hope to have a long relationship here.”

By Brian DePasquale
Football
Junior tailback Brian Manigault rushed for 157 yards and two touchdowns to lead Albany to a 42-19 Northeast Conference victory over Central Connecticut State on Oct. 28 at University Field on Homecoming and Family Weekend.

Albany (4-4, NEC 4-2) scored on its opening two possessions. Split end Chris Phillis reached paydirt on a 25-yard reverse for a 7-0 lead. Manigault, who became the first player in school history to rush for 150-plus yards in back-to-back games, sprinted 72 yards for a touchdown on a third-and-two play with 10:09 remaining in the first quarter.

Central Connecticut State (2-6, NEC 1-5) closed within 21-13 with 46 seconds left in the first half. Sophomore tailback Sha’ron Edwards capped a 14-play drive with a 4-yard run, but the extra-point attempt was blocked. The Great Danes, who rushed for a season-high 345 yards, came right back on the very next series. Quarterback Ryan Roeder, who completed 6 of 8 passes for 90 yards, and rushed for 45 more, fired a 9-yard scoring pass to Phillis with two seconds left before halftime.

In the third quarter, Albany managed the clock with two scoring drives of six minutes or longer. Manigault ended a 13-play march with a one-yard run, and in the process tied the school’s single-season record with his 11th rushing TD. Freshman Dustin Wilson, who carried 10 times for 51 yards and two touchdowns, ended an 11-play drive with a 15-yard scamper.

“We had no turnovers and we were able to limit penalties,” Albany coach Bob Ford said. “When you don’t beat yourself, you have a fightin’ chance every week.”

The Blue Devils, who managed just 212 total yards in losing their fourth straight, scored their lone second-half touchdown on Clinton Dunston’s 3-yard run. Dunston finished with 58 yards on 15 attempts.

“Our offensive line was excellent again today,” said Roeder, who has gained firm control of the starting quarterback position the last two weeks. “I am gaining confidence each week and have been able to contribute more.”

Field Hockey
Amy DiMicco scored the game-win-ner in the first half and add-ed an assist in leading Albany to a 4-2 victory over Cornell on Oct. 28 at Skidmore College’s Outdoor Athletic Complex.

Albany (9-8) opened the scoring four minutes into the contest as Mariah Martin’s eight-yard shot from DiMicco went under the goalkeeper’s pads. Angie Stegel recorded her 16th goal of the season for a 2-0 lead, when she dribbled around her defender and found the lower right corner of the net. Cornell’s Carissa Mirasol cut her team’s deficit in half at the 27:07 mark. DiMicco scored her 11th goal this year five minutes later off a broken penalty corner.

In the second stanza, Rosemary Moore increased Albany’s lead to 4-1 at 61:05 when she put home a shot off a defender’s stick on the right side of the goal. Cornell’s Lindsay Grace chipped in a shot from a penalty corner to complete the scoring. Cathi Burek made 12 saves for Albany, while Kaitlin Tierney stopped three shots for Cornell, who dropped to 8-7 overall.

Women’s Tennis
Lori Barsel won at second singles and third doubles in leading Albany to a 9-0 victory over Buffalo in the season finale on Saturday, Oct. 21, at University Courts. Barsel defeated Karen Maynard, 6-3, 6-0, in the second position and teamed with Kristen Harris to upend Allison Heubusch and Jill Howell, 8-0, in third doubles action. Albany concluded the fall season with a 2-3 dual-match record, while Buffalo dropped to 2-6.

Bob Ford
Head football coach Bob Ford has been named as an assistant coach for the 2001 Hula Bowl All-Star Classic. The annual college football all-star game will be played on Saturday, Jan. 20, at War Memorial Stadium in Maui, Hawaii.

Ford, the current American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) president, will be an assistant on the North squad staff. Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer will serve as head coach, while Purdue’s Joe Tiller is also an assistant coach. Florida State’s Bobby Bowden is the South head coach.

Ford is in his 28th varsity season as Albany’s head football coach, and has led the program from the club level in 1970 to its present NCAA Division I-AA status. He has a 168-106 record at Albany, and is 177-128-1 overall at the collegiate level.

New York Giants running back and ‘99 Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne was among 25 players from last year’s game selected in the 2000 NFL Draft. The Hula Bowl will again be televised by ESPN at 8 p.m. ET.

Basketball Exhibitions
UAlbany Director of Athletics and Recreation Lee McElroy announced on Monday, Oct. 16, that the men’s and women’s basketball programs have scheduled preseason exhibition games.

The UAlbany men will meet the Upstate New York All-Stars on Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Recreation and Convocation Center. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. The women’s team hosts the Quebec Nationals on Sunday, Nov. 12, at 1 p.m. Admission to both exhibition contests is free.

First-year men’s head coach Scott Beeten has seven lettermen returning, including Will Brand, a 6-foot-5 junior. Brand is the top returning scorer (11.2 ppg) and rebounder (5.9 ppg). Albany opens its regular-season schedule on November 17-18 at Central Connecticut State’s Mohegan Sun Classic.

Mari Warner, who prepares for her 19th season as the women’s head coach, will build her club around senior guards Liz Tucker and Dawn DiMicco. The Great Danes travel to Big 12 Conferene opponent Colorado on November 17.

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