Over the past year and a half, Binghamton University’s men’s basketball team has been on a roller coaster of extreme highs and lows — so much so that it’s garnered regular attention from national news agencies.
The latest of the lows came last week with the dismissal of six players, including leading scorers from last year’s America East Conference champions. The aftermath of those dismissals continued this week, as President Lois DeFleur announced Wednesday that Joel Thirer resigned from his position of athletic director after serving for more than 20 years.
During a press conference DeFleur announced that she is taking “additional actions” regarding BU’s athletic program, and outlined four changes. The first was news of Thirer’s resignation, followed by her second announcement: James Norris, senior associate athletic director, was appointed interim athletic director.
The third was her request to Kevin Broadus, men’s basketball coach, for a “recruitment and supervision plan” for the basketball program.
Her last announcement was that the University will bring in an “external consultant” to audit the athletic program as a whole in order to ensure that BU follows America East and NCAA policies and procedures.
DeFleur prefaced the news with compliments to the athletic program at large.
“I am very very proud of our athletics programs, coaches, hundreds of student athletes,” she said. “If you look at our successes they have been remarkable … this year we had the second-highest GPA in America East.”
Still, when it comes to the basketball team, DeFleur acknowledged that she had to take coach Kevin Broadus at his word. University spokeswoman Gail Glover said Thursday that the specifics of the “action plan” laid out by DeFleur are still being finalized.
SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher released a statement that day in which she said she supports DeFleur’s actions.
When asked for comment on Thursday, Broadus said he “can’t speak on it” and didn’t want his emotions to interfere with a statement.
“Right now I just don’t want to talk,” he said. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing. I appreciate you respecting that.”
Although Broadus declined comment, Glover said that the five players dismissed last Friday have been permanently released from the team. The dismissal came two days after star point guard Emanuel “Tiki” Mayben was released from the team, following his arrest. He was charged with the sale and possession of cocaine Sept. 23.
Last night The Press & Sun-Bulletin reported that Mayben wrote in an e-mail that he’s “innocent of drug charges” and that his charges have nothing to do with the dismissal of the five other players.
After the announcement, Broadus said that he and the players need to be on the same page when it comes to commitment, and that their dedication has to hold strong both on the court and off.
“There’s only one captain steering this ship, and that’s me. If any of the young men in our program don’t respect the decisions that have been made or the rules we have in place, then they need to move on with their lives,” Broadus said, according to a report from The Press & Sun-Bulletin.
Glover said the University is not releasing further details at this time as to the specific grounds for the dismissal for the five players. She confirmed that for the time being they will keep their scholarships.
WAITING GAME
At least two of the five players who were dismissed told Pipe Dream that they didn’t think the situation was over.
Malik Alvin, who allegedly stole condoms from the Vestal Wal-Mart last November and knocked over a 66-year-old woman as he tried to escape, said Wednesday that he thought the dismissal was more of a misunderstanding than anything, and that he doesn’t think it’s permanent.
Glover, however, told Pipe Dream Thursday night that the release is permanent.
“Hopefully when the coaches and everybody find out what happened we’ll be back on the team,” Alvin said, adding that he couldn’t comment specifically on the reasons behind the dismissal.
Alvin said that in the meantime he and the other players were attending class and going about their normal lives.
“We’re still doing everything we’re supposed to do, like going to class and all that. We just wanna do what we like to do and play basketball so hopefully everything works out.”
David Fine said that the situation isn’t over yet, but he couldn’t say much more. He did say that he and the other players didn’t see the dismissal coming.
Both said they hadn’t had contact with Broadus, and Fine echoed Alvin’s sentiments when it came to waiting to hear what happens next.
“I went to class today, got work to do … That degree is more important than anything,” Fine said. “College basketball, that’s a privilege, an extra. So right now it’s just school, what happens with basketball, we’ll see.”
Last season’s leading scorer, D.J. Rivera, had less to say.
“There’s not much to talk about, nothing happened,” he said. “Life goes on. Life doesn’t stop at Binghamton.”
THE START OF THE ROLLER COASTER
The team first made headlines around the country in May of 2007. Miladin “Minja” Kovacevic, a then-21-year-old BU student and former men’s basketball player, was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, a felony, after the May 4 beating of then-senior Bryan Steinhauer at the Rathskeller Pub on State Street.
Al Walker, the men’s basketball coach prior to Broadus, recruited Kovacevic. At the time of the assault, Kovacevic was no longer a member of the basketball team.
Kovacevic fled the country for his native Serbia on June 10, four days after he was released on bail. Steinhauer was in a coma for months.
Between May 2007 and now, the team has gotten more negative press, between The New York Times reporting on the team for questionable recruitment policies and Alvin’s arrest.
— Cyril Cheriyan, Daniel Boruchowitz, Ryan Ganzenmuller and Drew Wolin contributed to this report.