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Rod Strickland has a 51-74 record in four years in Brooklyn, and 41 of those wins have come in the past two seasons.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic\u00a0here<\/a>. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n NEW YORK \u2014 Sitting at the end of the fourth row of a small lecture hall in Long Island University\u2019s Health Sciences Center, the Northeast Conference coach of the year waited along with his team to find out whom, when and where the Sharks would be playing in the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t take too long for LIU\u2019s name to appear, at the top of the West Region bracket, paired with No. 1 Arizona. Players\u00a0jumped from their seats to celebrate a trip to San Diego<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 not a bad draw when you\u2019ve spent a long winter in Brooklyn. The cheers were quickly drowned out by brass horns and drums from the band that had been squeezed into the room.<\/p>\n Coach Rod Strickland clapped his hands, a broad smile on his face, as he soaked in his team\u2019s joy.<\/p>\n Yes, that Rod Strickland, the member of New York City\u2019s Point God fraternity who went on to become an All-American at DePaul and a first-round draft pick by the Knicks, playing 17 seasons in the NBA.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just looking for LIU on that board,\u201d the 59-year-old Strickland said after LIU\u2019s brief watch party broke up. \u201cSo no matter where we played at, I was fine with that. This journey and to see that blue, yellow and white LIU up there is rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n Strickland took over at LIU four seasons ago as a first-time head coach. Before the Bronx native arrived in Brooklyn, Strickland had spent most of his post-playing days as an NBA G League executive and a member of John Calipari\u2019s staff at Memphis and Kentucky, roles that had him working with young players who aspired to get to where he had been.<\/p>\n The only previous job he held with \u201ccoach\u201d in the title came during a four-year stint as an assistant with South Florida from 2014 to 2017. Still, it\u2019s not unusual for someone with Strickland\u2019s credentials to jump into head coaching at a bigger job than LIU, where the basketball program has some history of success but with a modest athletics budget of about $17 million. Think Patrick Ewing landing the head job at Georgetown after years as an NBA assistant, former St. John\u2019s star Chris Mullin landing his first coaching gig of any kind with his alma mater and Memphis making a similar move with former Tigers star Penny Hardaway.<\/p>\n Strickland was not the Hall of Fame-level player that those three were \u2014 though he did have his number 10 retired by DePaul this season. LIU is a long, long way from the big stages on which he is accustomed to performing, but he\u2019s embracing a new sense of accomplishment.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s different probably because as a player, that was a comfort level,\u201d Strickland said Thursday. \u201cI\u2019ve been playing basketball all my life. I think being a coach, that coach bug kind of hit me at the end of my career, after my career. So it feels good to be able to lead a group of young men and get to them to a point where they\u2019re somewhere where they\u2019ve never been before. And I can see it every day, like, since we got the bid. You can see the excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n Strickland was a high school star at a time when New York City high schools were regularly pumping future All-America point guards into top college programs. His contemporaries include Kenny Smith (North Carolina), Dwayne \u201cPearl\u201d Washington (Syracuse), Kenny Anderson (Georgia Tech) and Mark Jackson (St. John\u2019s), part of a group featured in the 2022 documentary \u201cNYC Point Gods.\u201d<\/p>\n Strickland and Anderson were inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame together in 2008.<\/p>\n Strickland led DePaul to the NCAA Tournament three times, including consecutive Sweet 16 appearances in 1986 and \u201887, before being drafted in 1988 by the Knicks, where he played behind Jackson.<\/p>\n His players serve as a reminder that nearly a generation has passed since he retired in 2005. Greg Gordon, who arrived at LIU this season after stints with UAB and Iona, wasn\u2019t familiar with Strickland\u2019s background until after he transferred in.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first got here, they were asking me, like, \u2018Do you\u00a0know\u00a0who your coach is?\u2019 And I was like, not really,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n When he found out Strickland played in the NBA, he figured the coach must have been \u201cmediocre.\u201d Gordon said Strickland never bragged or boasted about his playing days but did encourage Gordon to do a little research.<\/p>\n \u201cI found, like, a 30-minute clip of him on YouTube,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cFirst three minutes, I was like, I could do this. Then it started getting a little tricky. And I was, like, \u2018Oh, OK. He\u2019s legit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Jamal Fuller, the Sharks\u2019 leading scorer, said he was up to speed on Strickland\u2019s background when he transferred in from Division II in 2024, but rarely, if ever, does it come up.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I played in the NBA, but that doesn\u2019t matter. We\u2019re here right now. We\u2019re doing the work we need to do,\u201d Fuller said of Strickland\u2019s message.<\/p>\n Better than a journeyman but never an All-Star, Strickland put together a long and productive professional career. Seven times, he ranked in the top 10 in the NBA in assists per game. He also had three DUI arrests late in his playing career, the third resulting in a 10-day stint in jail.<\/p>\n Calipari gave Strickland his first job post-playing career as director of basketball operations at Memphis.<\/p>\n As Calipari explains it, he was just reciprocating Strickland\u2019s generosity.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a player of mine moving to D.C. to work for FedEx who needed a place to stay,\u201d Calipari recounted Wednesday from Portland, Ore., where his Arkansas team was the No. 4 seed in the West Region. \u201cI called Rod and said, \u2018Do you have any ideas?\u2019 He said, \u2018He can stay at my place, I still have my place there,\u2019 And I said, \u2018Rod, I\u2019m always gonna be here for you.\u2019 If you take care of one of mine, I will help you in any way I can.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, he calls me a year or two later and says, \u2018I want to get into coaching.\u2019 I said, \u2018You\u2019re with me. Let\u2019s go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n At Memphis, Strickland helped develop star guards Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans. Calipari described Strickland\u2019s feel for the game and for players as \u201coff the charts.\u201d<\/p>\n Strickland followed Calipari to Kentucky in a similar role and then spent four seasons as an assistant coach at South Florida under Orlando Antigua, another Calipari disciple with Bronx roots.<\/p>\n \u201cUs being the places that we\u2019ve been, we know everybody\u2019s journey is a little different,\u201d\u00a0 said Antigua, who is now an assistant with Illinois. \u201cThere\u2019s highs and lows, but he\u2019s making the most of it, and I\u2019m happy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Eventually, Strickland landed in the G League, where he was part of a group that launched Ignite, a team designed to provide high school players a professional path to the NBA as an alternative to college basketball. Among the Ignite players who went on to become lottery picks were Jalen Green of Houston, Scoot Henderson of Portland and Jonathan Kuminga, now with Atlanta.<\/p>\n \u201cHis ability to have an impact on young people who are tied to a high level of basketball talent, it was evident,\u201d said America East commissioner Brad Walker, who worked in the G League with Strickland. \u201cThey listen to him. It resonates with them.\u201d<\/p>\n The advent of name, image and likeness compensation for college athletes undercut the purpose of Ignite, and it was discontinued after the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n Strickland started looking for other opportunities earlier than that. LIU\u2019s head coaching job came open after the 2021-22 season at a time when the school and the athletic department were going through a rebrand. LIU\u2019s Brooklyn and suburban Brookville campuses merged in 2019. Most of the athletic department is still located and competes in Brooklyn, though the FCS football team is stationed on Long Island. The Blackbirds are now the Sharks, and\u00a0the \u201cFins Up!\u201d cheer is now all the rage at the Steinberg Wellness Center, where Strickland\u2019s team plays just off of famed Flatbush Avenue, a few blocks away from the Brooklyn Nets\u2019 home arena.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s New York City, and it\u2019s opportunity,\u201d Strickland said.<\/p>\n LIU men\u2019s basketball has a well-known past, though not all of it positive. Hall of Fame coach Claire Bee won 81.8 percent of his games from 1931 to \u201851, winning two NIT titles at a time when that was more prestigious than the NCAA Tournament. But a point-shaving scandal in the 1950s brought on the program\u2019s fall from grace.<\/p>\n LIU men\u2019s basketball\u2019s modern-day high point was three straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2010 to \u201813, with an up-tempo squad coached by Jim Ferry.<\/p>\n With the exception of a pop-up NCAA appearance in 2018, the program has been mostly mediocre for more than a decade.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I move humbly, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s about humbling yourself. It\u2019s a job, and it\u2019s opportunity,\u201d Strickland said. \u201cI would never walk into something thinking it\u2019s beneath me. LIU was a great opportunity, and it was an opportunity to show that I can change the environment. I can help young people get better.\u201d<\/p>\n Strickland went 3-26 upon arrival, then 7-22. Last year, things started to turn behind Fuller, fellow Canadian Malachi Davis, Shadrak Lasu and Strickland\u2019s son, Terrell. The Sharks went 17-16 and lost in the NEC tournament semifinals.<\/p>\n After Terrell Strickland graduated, Gordon and Jomo Goings, another Division II transfer, were the key additions to a team that took off. The Sharks beat Patriot League champion Lehigh, Big South contender Winthrop and James Madison from the Sun Belt in the nonconference and lost a four-point game at Mississippi State of the SEC. They won the NEC by three games, going 15-3, and capped it with a conference tournament title.<\/p>\n Next up, mighty Arizona, as the LIU tries to pull the rarest of upsets as a No. 16 seed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we won the conference championship, I went over to my mother, and I kissed my mother. And the first thing she said was, \u2018I\u2019m so glad you had this job, so glad you\u2019re here,\u2019\u201d Strickland said. \u201cThis has been amazing for me. Personally, professionally. And then, you know, now to come out of it and turn this thing around in four years and get where we\u2019re at. So I\u2019m blessed, honored to be in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Ralph Russo<\/a> is a Senior Writer for The Athletic, covering college football. Before joining The Athletic, he spent 20 years as the lead national college football writer for The Associated Press. He also previously worked as the AP\u2019s Mississippi-based sports writer and did a stint with The Denver Post. Ralph is a native New Yorker and a graduate of Fordham University. Follow Ralph on Twitter @ralphDrussoATH<\/a><\/p>\n