Hofstra Men’s Basketball Joe Mihalich spoke with Axcess Sports in a Q&A session on Thursday, July 9th. Some highlights include coaching Hofstra to the 2019-20 CAA title, reflecting on his time at Niagara, and incoming players. Mihalich also revealed the opening date and three locations the team will travel to this season.
Axcess Sports (AS): How has it been adjusting to life under a pandemic.
Joe Mihalich (JM): Everything is good. There is not a new normal yet and I think we keep waiting for one, and we are still waiting for what normal is going to be. Until then we are going to stay on our phones, do our Zoom interviews and keep washing our hands. It’s all we can do at this point.
AS: How do you adjust to not having a gameplan in this scenario, as a coach?
JM: During the course of the game, as you are coaching or playing, you sometimes have to be ready for something you didn’t prepare for. This is a good example because no one could have ever prepared for not going out to the office, not going out to recruit and not being with your players. We just have to play the hand we are dealt and do the best we can in the parameters we are living with.
AS: How has your staff and team adjusted to accomplishing in-person assignments over the internet?
JM: I have an incredible staff. They are self-motivators, they hold themselves to a high standard, they work extremely hard, [and] they are dedicated. [Associate Head Coach] Mike Farrelly, [assistant coaches] Speedy Claxton and Collin Curtain– they are terrific. We’ve done recruiting on Zoom for the [incoming] Class of 2021. We have done team meetings on Zoom, we speak all the time and I’ve got to give credit to the kids for doing a great job.
AS: Could you describe the talent entering the program for the 2020-21 incoming class?
JM: We’ve got four new guys coming in. Shawndarius Cowart– he goes by ‘Elmo’– is a point guard who played for Pensacola State College, in one of the best junior-college leagues in the country. He’s battle-tested and got some good miles on his tires. It helps us solve the problem of our great point guard, Desure Buie, graduating. David Green was First Team All-State in Florida. I don’t ever like to put too much pressure on our incoming guys so I try to curb my enthusiasm, but we are excited for Green and hoping he can go right away. Zion Bethea– wing man, strong, physical and a good all-around player. And we got Vukasin Masic from Serbia, he’s also a very well-rounded player.
AS: How would you reflect on what the team accomplished last season?
JM: We are really proud of what we did last year. It’s something that is hard to do, go to the NCAA Tournament, and we did it. We are really proud of it and had some great wins along the way. We actually started the season with some tough losses. We got our act together and that [UCLA game] was the springboard win, and a win for the ages– it was epic. To beat UCLA at UCLA is just so– we are so proud of it. The best part is we used it to show how good we can be, how good we are on the road and that we could win the championship and we did it.
AS: What was the team mentality preparing to battle the UCLA Bruins?
JM: Our guys are tough kids and we are prideful people. We are from New York, the greatest city in the world, and toughness is a quality we have. Nobody is intimidated from New York so for our guys– it wasn’t like Hoosiers were we walked in awe and nervous. Our guys walked in the other way around like ‘so this is it, huh. Alright, lets do this.’
AS: You’re no stranger to collecting big wins, just look at your success at Niagara. How did you feel being recognized as a member of the MAAC 40th-Anniversary Team?
JM: My time there was special. I spent 15 years there and loved every minute of it. I felt lucky to be the coach at Niagara just like I’m lucky to be the coach here at Hofstra. We did some great things there and I never thought I would be recognized at the 40-year Anniversary, but you can’t help but be humbled by it. It’s a reminder if you are at a great university with great players, great things happen.
AS: Did you have a favorite player —
JM: — They were all my favorite players.
AS: Did anybody stand out as an example you would use for future teams?
JM: At Niagara there was Juan Mendez, Tyrone Lewis, Tremmell Darden, Alvin Young, Charron Fisher– there is so many, and I shouldn’t have mentioned those names because I’m forgetting other people. There’s at least five other guys I should mention too. But I do point to some of those people, and one guy I use is James Mathis. He is never going to be on the anniversary team, but he is a guy I talk about every year. He was the best sixth man I ever coached and he loved his role. I used him every year as someone who understood his role, how important it was and did it better than anybody else.
AS: Hofstra Women’s Basketball head coach Danielle Santos-Atkinson indicated many of their games would be against ‘local opponents.’ Will your team’s schedule look similar?
JM: That’s not been determined yet. I’ve heard [Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby] use this expression, “We are just putting one foot in front of the other and until somebody tells us to do something different, we’ll do something different.” As we speak, the season is going to happen as planned, beginning on November 11th. We have games scheduled in Florida, California and Puerto Rico. As of now it is going to happen but that could change, we all know that.
AS: Could you talk more about potentially playing in Puerto Rico this season?
JM: We are in a tournament in Puerto Rico and, obviously, hope it still happens. I just spoke to the guy [in charge] last week and he says ‘as of now, all systems go.’ We just have to keep hope that people can figure this out. We will have the safety of all our players, our student-athletes are first and foremost what we are worried about.
AS: It is unlikely the Mack Sports Complex will host many, if any, games with fans in attendance. How difficult will adjusting to that be?
JM: It will be an adjustment, but it is early here. But I think we are all going to try and learn from hat the NFL and college football does. There is talk of allowing [a quarter and half stadium capacity attendance] and what can be done or if it can be done. We’re all trying to learn what is going to happen.
AS: What do you think is the key for repeating success this upcoming season?
JM: To be successful comes back to your culture. It’s what you are all about. We are successful because we get really great people. Great people, not just good players but good people. We will continue to be successful because people on our team are good people first and foremost and that is one of the things that motivates us.
