Bowie native returns to his coaching roost By JAKE LINGER Sports Editor
Who says you can't come home?
Bowie native and University of Vermont basketball coach Michael Lonergan recently returned to the area to coach his Catamounts against the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers at RAC Arena in Baltimore. The trip back to Maryland was not the first for Lonergan since he became the UVM coach in 2005. In fact, the Catamounts make an annual trip to Baltimore each season to take on UMBC - an America East Conference rival.
This season, however, has not been the finest to date. The Catamounts entered the UMBC game with a season record of 6-8 (1-2 conference), only a season after posting a 25-8 record and a trip to the America East championship game. The season, just about at its halfway point, may still prove to be the most rewarding for Lonergan when all is said and done. On paper, the leadership of the Vermont squad looks very much the same as it did last season, but injuries have left Lonergan's squad depleted. And with each player that makes it back to the roster, another seems to go down. Still, despite the road blocks, Lonergan and his staff have guided the team past some tough competition and have positioned the Catamounts to be primed for a late-season run if the team can regain its health.
Lonergan, who once owned a home on London Lane in Bowie with current Loyola men's basketball coach Jimmy Patsos, is not the only local product on the UVM staff. In addition to director of basketball operations John Becker, a classmate of Lonergan's at Catholic University, the Catamounts are coached also by Matt Hahn, who is in his third season in Burlington. Hahn graduated from Atholton High School in Howard County and spent four seasons on the University of Maryland roster under Gary Williams. Hahn's father, Billy, was a member of Williams' Terps coaching staff.
"Sometimes people see guys like (Williams) yelling on TV and they don't realize what a great coach he is," Lonergan said, but "if they saw him at practice they would know that he is one of the great teachers of the game."
While the UVM-UMBC game was fun to watch - the Retrievers won 78-60 by way of 67 percent field goal shooting in the second half - Lonergan has certain coaching mannerisms that sometimes echo Williams', but without taking away from his unique style. But he does draw attention. Lonergan, who guided his alma mater Catholic University to a 251-88 record over 11 seasons, is sometimes demonstrative on the bench. When he is not calling plays to his point guard, Lonergan can be found squatting on one knee in front of his bench. "To be honest, the players usually take my seat ... after we have made substitutions," admitted Lonergan. "I really wish I had a chair because I can barely walk the day after games from squatting so much."
In only his third season as UVM coach, Lonergan already ranks eighth in wins in the school's history. One of the reasons that the Archbishop Carroll High graduate has been so successful is the scrappy type of play that he can summon from his team whenever necessary. Against UMBC, the Catamounts fought back several times when they found themselves to be down 10 or 12 points, but scrappy play can often lead to turnovers, which was a thorn in the side of the UVM squad. Though only 12 turnovers were listed in the box score, UMBC stole the ball nine times and blocked six UVM shots. On the flip side, the Catamounts recorded only two blocks and three steals.
Constantly coaching up his players during the game, Lonergan maintains open dialogue with his coaches and bench players, and that is interesting to watch. Basketball coaches are generally different from many other types of coaches in that regard. Rarely would a Redskins fan find Joe Gibbs coaching up his backup linemen or the kicker during a game. But, with an exponentially smaller roster than that of the 53-man NFL variety, Lonergan coaches up his bench guys because they are almost assured of entering any given game at any given point in order to rest starters. They need to be ready, and Lonergan and his staff are constantly talking the guys up.
Lonergan credits strong coaching role models for part of his success. In addition to Jack Bruen, Lonergan's coach at Carroll and Catholic, he credits famed high school coach Morgan Wootten with giving him his best piece of advice, which was to "surround yourself with great people and you will be successful."
Perhaps the most influential of his coaches was his mother, who served as a soccer and softball coach and athletics director at Elizabeth Seton High School. "(My mom) was my first basketball coach in the Bowie Boys (and Girls) Club," said Lonergan. "That was when women didn't coach boys teams."
Most assuredly, any basketball coach will say that in order to win on the road, sometimes bounces need to go their team's way. Hence, the home-court advantage. When the bounces go the other way, that can mean the difference between a winning effort and an empty box of throat lozenges. "You make your own breaks," Lonergan admitted following the loss to UMBC, "and I think playing hard solves a lot of problems."
Following the UMBC loss, the Catamounts turned around and defeated New Hampshire 64-61 to raise its season record to 7-9 (2-2 conference). UVM sits one win behind UMBC for most wins in the America East Conference.
There really is no rhyme or reason, besides hard work and determination, as to why some people make bigger strides than others. Lonergan takes Bigfoot strides and watching him coach student-athletes on the hardwood conjures up images of the coach one day hoisting a national championship trophy. But for now, he will settle for the America East championship.
Lonergan recalled his early days in Bowie, most notably being cut from the Bowie Boys and Girls Club county basketball team during his eighth-grade season. He said that one of the positives in all of that - something he obviously remembers quite well - is that he never became bitter, but instead worked his "butt off at the Bowie Community Center for the next year and things worked out well."
"I have been very lucky and want that to continue," said Lonergan. "I am just a Bowie boy that loves basketball and I have a blessed life."
