Killings welcomes current players who want to stay.
Since the departure of coach Will Brown 2 1⁄2 weeks ago, seven University at Albany basketball players have entered the transfer portal.
New coach Dwayne Killings, introduced Thursday to the Ualbany community at a news conference in SEFCU Arena, made it clear that they are welcome to join the roster for next season.
“I want to keep everybody that wants to be here,” Killings said. “It’s their program, it’s not mine. I’m the caretaker, I’m the head coach, but it’s their program. I want them to here. I get all these guys that made some decisions. They need to get to know me as a coach, as a leader, get to understand what we’re going to try to do as a program, and then we’ll take the right steps from there.”
Three current players attended the news conference: starting forward Jarvis Doles, sixth man Chuck Champion and walk-on Will Kondrat.
Doles and Kondrat have put their names into the transfer portal, as have Antonio Rizzuto, Cameron Healy, Jamel Horton, Kellon Taylor and Trey Hutcheson.
“I don’t have a timetable,” Doles said of his decision on whether to stay or follow through with a transfer. “Whenever I get the chance to sit down with him one-on-one, meet with him, talk to him, see where his mind is at, see how he feels about me, how he feels about my game in particular.
“Whatever the best fit is for me, as well,” added Doles, a graduate transfer from Drexel who has two years of eligibility remaining. “Hopefully that’s here. I don’t plan to make things harder than what they are. My time at Ualbany was the best, and I’m all for holding on.”
Champion, a senior who averaged 6.1 points and 2.5 rebounds in 17.9 minutes per game, said, “I intend on playing, and I intend on staying here at Albany. I’m in the MBA program, so hopefully, by next year, I’ll be done with the program, can graduate with a master’s and have a good, successful year.”
The players will have their first workout Friday with the new coach. “They can hear how I lead, how I instruct,” Killings said, “and also I want to get to know them.”
Killings said he has “actively been looking” at potential transfers and recruits.
Verbalcommits.com reported Thursday that three recruits have received offers from Ualbany: former Colonie player Brendan Coyle, a 6-6 small forward who spent this season at Cushing Academy, a prep school in Ashburnham, Mass.; Danny Wolf, a 6-10 power forward from Chicago who attended Northfield Mount Hermon prep school in Gill, Mass.; and Saint Thomas, a 6-6 small forward from Millard North in Omaha, Neb.
Killings also has filled most of his coaching staff. His first move was to grab Troy native Hamlet Tibbs, a seven-year Vermont assistant who is
credited with recruiting Anthony Lamb (now with the Houston Rockets) for the Catamounts. Matt Griffin, son of former Siena coach John Griffin who was the athletic director at Roman Catholic High in Philadelphia, also will be on the staff. Both coaches were in attendance.
Numerous reports have Raheem Mapp, who was director of operations at Temple, as Killings’ third assistant, although the new coach did not announce that.
“When I got the job,” Killings said of Tibbs, a former coach at Albany Academy and with the AAU Albany City Rocks, “one of the first things I said to him was we’re going after him because we’re going to try to win this league. I want to find one of the guys that’s inspired winning with one of the better programs inside of our league.”