ORONO, Maine — Much has been made of the players who have left the University of Maine men’s basketball program in recent years.
More than 700 players — more than two per team on average — transferred out of their NCAA Division I schools after the 2016-2017 season and a similar trend is underway this year.
According to verbalcommits.com, more than 300 Division I players already have reported plans to change schools before next season.
It’s a transitory phase of the game that challenges all but the most elite programs nationwide and certainly tests less successful programs such as the University of Maine, which went 6-26 last season and averaged six victories per winter over the last four years.
The Black Bears, themselves victims of frequent transfers, seek higher ground under new head coach Richard Barron and a staff of assistants that began work this week.
Barron’s strategy includes hiring a coaching staff appreciative of the culture of Maine and its flagship university in hopes of overcoming any geographic and meteorological realities that may make central Maine a less-than-desirable destination for college basketball prospects.
New assistant coaches Edniesha Curry, Kevin Reed and Igor Vrzina and director of basketball operations Jason Coleman all have lived and either played or coached basketball in Maine. They now are ready to help Barron redevelop the Pine Tree State’s lone Division I men’s basketball team.
“When I was being recruited to play at the University of Maine I came here because I wanted to be here,” said Reed, a 2007 UMaine graduate who ranks fourth among the Black Bears’ career scoring leaders with 1,601 points, eighth in rebounds (732) and third with 225 steals while playing in a program-record 119 games.
Reed spent the last eight years as a coach and athletic administrator at Bangor Christian School.
“I think it helps when you get kids who want to be here and know what Maine’s all about and still want to come,” he said. “I made the decision that this was where I wanted to play my college basketball. I loved the atmosphere, and the camaraderie of the players was what really got to me.”
For Reed, who was a sophomore on the last UMaine team to win an America East tournament game in 2005, the opportunity to rejoin the program in a coaching capacity marked a second chance of sorts.
“When I was at Bangor Christian, one year (former UMaine) coach (Ted) Woodward lost an assistant and he came to the office and said, ‘Hey Kev, whenever I lose an assistant this is the first place I’m going to be stopping.’
“At the time I didn’t feel like it was the right time, and when coach Woodward got done I asked myself if I was ever going to get this opportunity again. I wasn’t kicking myself because obviously you’ve got to make those decisions and live with them, but to have this opportunity presented to me again was just something I couldn’t pass up.”
It was a similar emotion that drew Vrzina and Coleman to their new jobs. Vrzina, a native of Serbia, was the postgraduate men’s basketball coach at Lee Academy for four years before spending last winter in Texas.
“I moved here and I loved Maine, and I know there are more people like that who are going to come here and they’re going to love Maine,” he said. “They’re going to love the coaching staff and they’re going to love the culture we’re trying to build. I know there are kids who are going to be extremely happy here.”
Coleman, a Bangor restaurateur and for the last seven years the boys varsity basketball coach at Orono High School, long has aspired to a Division I career.
“It’s an opportunity to be involved with a program at this level and not have to move my family because I love it here,” said Coleman. “I’ll do a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff, and personally it gives me the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of Division I athletics so I’ll just be a sponge and absorb it all.”
That shared passion for Maine, the university and its men’s basketball program — albeit from slightly different perspectives — is what the assistants will attempt to translate to prospective recruits.
“I think I bring instant credibility as far as being someone who’s worn the jersey. I put in the time here and had success as a player,” said Reed. “I’m also big on relationships and I’m really excited to get to know these guys as individuals. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to help this program be successful.”
Vrzina, who played college basketball at Abilene Christian University in Texas, did a considerable amount of international recruiting in Europe while at Lee Academy. He brought in current UMaine players Ilija Stojiljkovic, Dusan Majstorovic and Miks Antoms. Vrzina sees the relationships he’s developed both overseas and while coaching teams on the U.S. prep school circuit as a good fit for the UMaine staff.
“I think I can definitely help both ways, recruiting here on the East Coast and definitely recruiting internationally,” he said.
Coleman envisions his experience at the high school level and as an AAU coach in Maine, Indiana and South Carolina providing an additional avenue of recruiting potential.
“The key is to find the right kids who fit what we’re looking for academically and systematically and develop those players so by the time they’re ready they’re deep into our culture and our program so that transferring isn’t that appealing of an option,” he said.
UMaine already has verbal commitments from two incoming recruits for next season since Barron’s March 5 hiring. They include 2018 Mr. Maine Basketball Terion Moss, a point guard from Portland High School.
Also Orono-bound is 6-foot-8 Jonathan Komagum of London, England, via TaylorMade Academy in Pensacola, Florida.
That recruiting effort continues with the spring National Letter of Intent signing period set to begin April 11.
“I think it’s definitely something that could be turned around quick,” said Vrzina. “We just need to find the right kids to go with the guys we already have, the right fits for the system that coach Barron is going to play.
“We want this to be a place where we can help kids become better as people and better as basketball players.”
Follow BDN Maine Sports on Facebook for the latest in Maine high school and college sports.
