When the Big Green men's basketball team takes the court in November for the beginning of the 2002-2003 season, former co-captains Flinder Boyd '02 and Vedad Osmanovic '02 will not be the only familiar faces missing from the Leede Arena floor.
Associate head coach Mike Maker and assistant coach Jay Tilton are leaving Dartmouth this month to take jobs at Samford University and Phillips Exeter Academy, respectively. Their replacements were announced this past Monday, as Mike Olson and Matt Allen will join the Dartmouth men's basketball staff for the upcoming season.
Maker, who will join Samford's coaching staff as an assistant, has spent the last eleven seasons with the Big Green. During that time, he played an integral part in almost every area of the men's basketball program, from recruiting -- where he helped bring former Academic All-American Sea Lonergan '97 and former All-Ivy second teamers Kenny Mitchell '97 and Brian Gilpin '97 to Dartmouth -- to scheduling, recruiting and scouting. Maker was also responsible for the Big Green's defensive schemes, and he helped the 1996-97 team record the best field goal percentage defense (39.6 points per game) since comprehensive record keeping began in 1964.
Head coach Dave Faucher said of Maker, "Mike is a terrific basketball strategist, but more importantly, he's [been] a motivator, an organizer, a friend and a teacher to all of us in the Dartmouth men's basketball program. Mike should take great pride in the accomplishments of the past few years. He has played an integral, critical role that cannot be measured in terms of wins and losses alone."
Tilton leaves Dartmouth after four years as assistant coach. During his time at Dartmouth, Tilton organized and coordinated the John M. Manley '40 Video Center, which the team uses for film breakdown and exchange. In addition, Tilton was involved in the Big Green's recruiting, game preparation, practices, finance and budget.
When asked what he'll miss about Dartmouth, Coach Tilton said, "Above all I will miss the people associated with the basketball program and the Dartmouth community. I owe a great deal to Coach Faucher for the opportunity to be associated with such a special place and group of people. It's difficult to describe how much I will truly miss it."
Tilton will take positions both with the basketball team and the admissions department at Phillips Exeter. According to Tilton, "Phillips Exeter will provide an entirely new set of challenges for me in both the Admissions office and coaching. I'm hoping that I can have a positive impact on the experience that [the students there] have before moving on to college."
Coaches Maker and Tilton will be missed as much as they will miss Dartmouth, according to incoming Big Green co-captain Greg Friel '03. Friel said, "I think Coach Maker and coach Tilton will surely be missed in the Dartmouth community. They were good coaches, but more importantly, they were good people. Both coaches will be missed, and I wish them luck with their future endeavors."
Dartmouth's new assistants bring a combined 25 years of coaching experience to Hanover. Olson was most recently head coach at Minnesota State University in Moorehead, where he was also director of corporate fundraising and an assistant professor in the physical education department. He has also been head coach at Black Hills State University (Spearfish, SD), Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, MN), Mount Seranio College (Ladysmith, WI), Bay Port High school (Green Bay, WI), and Northwestern Military Academy (Lake Geneva, WI). Olson compiled a 343-213 record as a head coach, highlighted by five South Dakota-Iowa conference championships and four NAIA Division II tournament bids with Black Hills State.
Allen was an assistant coach at Campbell University last season, and before that, was an assistant for four years at Wingate University. A 1994 graduate of Wofford College, Allen led the Terriers to their first ever NCAA Division II national ranking, as well as their first appearance in the Division II national tournament.
Both coaches will join the staff of a young Dartmouth team that will feature four freshmen and five sophomores this coming season. The team went 9-18 in 2001-02, with a 2-12 Ivy record.
