Former PU assistant coach leads American hoops to NCAA tournament
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
When the American University men’s basketball team started the season 3-7, Mike Brennan encouraged his players to stay with their efforts.
Brennan had learned patience and perseverance well as he waited for the chance to coach a team of his own.
The first-year American head coach hadn’t had to wait as a player at Princeton University as he started as a freshman, but becoming a head coach had taken him 15 years. He’d been passed over by his alma mater for hotter names, and been turned away at other openings.
”You’re always dying for the opportunity,” Brennan said. “The great part about this is it has to be the right fit. I wasn’t going after one job after another. The only jobs I went after were jobs I wanted to be in.
”Having been in the system here, I knew what type of place it was — it’s a dynamic university in the city. I went after this one hard. I’m glad it worked out. I think we can be good for long time.”
Last Wednesday, Brennan patrolled the sidelines and watched as his players never trailed while knocking off top-seeded Boston University, 55-36, in the Patriot League Championship game. American was picked to finish ninth out of 10 Patriot teams in the preseason, but finished the regular season second in the league and won the tournament championship.
”I give the guys a ton of credit,” Brennan said. “With a first-year coach, everyone talks about buying in. We didn’t have to convince them of anything. They were the most coachable group. We’d say do X, Y, Z, and they’d do it on their own. Everyone, from 1 to 17, they followed suit and just worked. I’m happy with the way things turned out.”
The Eagles (20-12) are a No. 15 seed in the West Region for the NCAA tournament and play second-seeded Wisconsin at 12:40 p.m. Thursday in Milwaukee.
”There are no bad teams in the tournament,” Brennan said. “Obviously we’re going to be a low seed. We’re well aware, it’ll take a near-perfect effort to be in the game. Our guys know it, and they’re prepared for that challenge.”
Brennan’s staff includes another Princeton University alumnus, Scott Greenman, who got his start in coaching at Princeton like Brennan had. Brennan had coached for John Thompson III at Princeton, then Joe Scott at Princeton before coming to American to assist Jeff Jones. He spent the last four years with Thompson at Georgetown before American brought him back for his first chance at running a team last April.
”I have a great staff,” Brennan said. “Scott Greenman, Matt Wolff, Nate Philippe and Greg Collucci. I learned from John, Joe and Jeff you have to surround yourself with good people. Everyone has been on the same page from Day One.”
The school’s president is a regular at American games, and Brennan and the American women’s basketball coach were the new athletic director’s first hires.
”We’ve had great support from the athletic department and the university,” Brennan said. “Our president, he goes to all the athletic events. He’s a huge, huge fan. He’s everywhere. It makes American an attractive place to work as a basketball coach.”
Wherever Brennan has gone, an NCAA tournament trip has not been far behind. At Princeton, American and Georgetown, each of his teams made the NCAA tournament in his first year as an assistant after not making it the year before he arrived, yet that wasn’t enough to land a head coaching job until this season.
”I’m lucky to have worked for John for four years, worked for Jeff for two, worked for Joe,” Brennan said. “I know I wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t be successful if I didn’t have those experiences and learn from those guys.
”You never know when your shot is going to come,” he added. “Those experiences prepared me about as much as could be.”
Brennan still stays close to the Princeton coaching tree. He follows fellow Princeton alumni coaching around the country. Their mentor helped him in his first head coaching job.
”Coach (Pete) Carril was down in the fall,” Brennan said. “He worked with our guys. I brought him down to see what we were doing, see our guys. We’ve been emphasizing all the things we learned from Coach Carril — sharing the ball, competing, individual development.”
The lessons paid off with the Patriot title. He gave his team off a day after their win, their first title since 2009 when he left for Georgetown. While Brennan has been to the NCAA tournament before, there isn’t anyone on his roster that has.
”I want them to enjoy it,” Brennan said. “You don’t get many opportunities to win a championship and play in the NCAA tournament.
”Everything is new for these guys,” he added. “It’s new for me as a head coach. We’ve kept it simple from Day One. We went on this winning streak — that was new, being in the tournament, going to the final game, it’s all new.”
Brennan can appreciate his latest opportunity, but he wasn’t surprised that American turned it around after a 10-20 season a year ago.
”I knew it was a good group as soon as we got here,” Brennan said. “Tony Wroblicky and John Schoof and Pee Wee Gardner are good players. They did everything we asked them to do. They embraced us.”
He was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year for bringing around the Eagles. It was a challenge from the day that Brennan took over, but American certainly has finished the way it wanted to with an NCAA tournament berth.
”We struggled early on,” Brennan said. “We lost games. They sort of expected to lose games. I told them early on, I’m not going to judge our progress on wins and losses as long as we’re getting better.”
There was the slow start in non-conference play, but Brennan was seeing the Princeton motion offense start to shape up and the team playing more together.
”It takes time anywhere you go, regardless of the skill level,” Brennan said. “Mostly it’s being unselfish. I was aware of the pieces of the team. I was an assistant to Jeff Jones. I knew who they had. We were picked last in the league. I didn’t think that. I liked the guys. We spent a lot of time on it. Our focus was on offense leading up to the first game, and then we started to work on defense.”
Both have been incredible at times. They made 29 of their final 36 shots in a regular-season win over Boston University. Their defense is ranked seventh in the country while allowing just 58.6 points per game. On Wednesday, they held Boston to 1-for-17 shooting from 3-point range. They picked things up quickly enough to start the season 10-0 in the Patriot League.
”I wasn’t thinking we’re going to go undefeated,” Brennan said. “The thing I took was we can compete in the league, and that’s all I took from it. The league is good. It’s all competitive. Every game was competitive. All the other teams too, they were 1-point games and overtime. For our guys to do this, it was a great accomplishment.”
American features a balanced attack on offense. Their scoring is well distributed, and Darius (Pee Wee) Gardner has been a spark in his first year of eligibility since transferring from Stephen F. Austin.
”He’s an awesome kid,” Brennan said. “He’s an awesome leader. He has a great mind for the game. He doesn’t over-dribble. He’s a once-in-a-10-year kind of guy.”
Wroblicky is the lone senior on the team, and Brennan already has a couple of transfers waiting for their chance to play next year. Like Brennan, that’s all they want — a chance.
For Mike Brennan, his first one has been unforgettable.