Men’s Basketball Head Coach Mike Maker will stay on as head coach for next year according to Athletic Director Tim Murray.
“At this point right now, yes, absolutely,” Murray said in an interview with Center Field, regarding whether or not Maker will return next season.
The men’s basketball team is 6-24 this season and 28-96 over Maker’s four years as head coach. Marist currently sits at the bottom of the MAAC in 11th place.
“We both knew the progress would take some time because of what we were doing with personnel,” Murray said.
Maker has had three recruiting classes thus far at Marist College that have seen the likes of Brian Parker and Ryan Funk bring their talents to campus. The coaching staff has also made a concerted effort to recruit from abroad, boasting five players from Europe on the current roster.
While having never been a head coach at the Division I level, Maker previously led Division III Williams College to three Final Fours and was a runner up twice in the national championship game. He also was an assistant coach for Dartmouth, Samford, West Virginia and Creighton, working under coaches like John Beilein and Dana Altman.
“I thought that this year there were times when I was very pleased with our play and then there were times we had a lack of concentration where there was some disappointment in our play,” Murray said. “Cleary we have to be more competitive in the league.”
Marist has a reputation of blowing first half leads this season. The Red Foxes also have played poorly on defense all season, giving up 81.5 points per game, ranking them 18th worst out of the 351 NCAA Division I schools.
Time to ask the tough question; Why has this bad run happened to Marist men’s basketball?
Did you know, out of the current 351 Division 1 men’s basketball teams, Marist is #350 in winning percentage over the last 10 seasons? Mike Maker is 28-96. Chuck Martin was 31-97 after 4 seasons….AND he had a 1 win season in one of those years. How many years do we have to wait for improvement?
Totally agree, Statistics don’t lie. 4 years and there is no progress not slow progress. Coach has one year left on contract, Marist is to cheap to fire anyone. Basketball program is a mess, athletic leadership and judgement is questionable. It’s time for alumni to get involved and find a new way forward.
I’m not wishing bad luck on the current coach. I hope he can turn it around. That said, we should have never fired Dave Maggarity.