Siena’s Patsos rips ‘message board’ fans
‘I’m not going to value (their opinion)’
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. » Jimmy Patsos is entering his fifth season as the Siena head coach without a championship, but he’s worked to defend what he’s accomplished in Albany.
The Saints’ summer workouts are in full swing as basically the whole roster is now on campus. Patsos owns a 69-68 career record with Siena, having spent the previous nine years as the Loyola (MD) head coach. The Saints lost in the MAAC title game to Iona in March.
Still, last season was a disappointment given the expectations of a team with four 1,000-point scoring seniors. Patsos said he’d give that season a B on the grade scale.
He’s happy with where the program is and where it’s going. And he enjoys the majority of the Saints fans that he interacts with. But he knows not all the fans are supportive, and he was vocal in speaking about a small group he calls “message board” fans that continue to criticize him. “That group is going to be upset no matter what,” Patsos told The Record on Tuesday. “If Jesus Christ came back, and I go to church. If Jesus Christ came back, that message board group would criticize him. What does everybody want me to do with that? They would say, ‘Your
hair is too long,’ or ‘Why are you wearing sandals?’ or ‘Why did it take you so long to get back here?’ If Jesus Christ himself came back, that group would find something wrong.”
Patsos is quick to point out that the team he inherited wasn’t good. And he’s right; the Saints were 8-24 in 2013 the year before he took over.
He keeps in touch with former Siena coach Fran McCaffery, who lead the Saints to three straight MAAC titles from 20082010. He even said McCaffrey was against the Saints playing UAlbany at SEFCU Arena - something that Patsos predicts will be a “disaster” to schedule following the 2017 season.
“I didn’t exactly inherit Disneyland over here,” Patsos said. “It was a mess when I got here. Nobody wants to write about that.”
Last summer, Patsos signed a two-year contract extension that lengthened his current deal through the 2020-21 season.
The way Patsos looks at it, Iona is the only program in the conference that’s better right now. But he’s quick to point out that they don’t all have a level playing field. The Saints don’t recruit junior college transfers, and they can’t accept fifth-year graduate transfers since Siena is just a four-year college.
Patsos knows no bigtime programs from major conferences are coming to the Times Union Center, despite being big enough to host one. “That is not happening,” Patsos said.
He sees the challenges coaching at Siena presents, but says he doesn’t mind it, and applauds the stringent boundaries that coaching a small Franciscan school forces him to work within. It’s forced him to be realistic about both expectations and results.
“This isn’t a fairytale,” Patsos said. “I’m not going
to pontificate on Twitter and say we’re the best program ever and everything is great.”
To be clear, Patsos knows that many fans aren’t a part of this “message board” group.
“There’s a great fanbase here and a great alumni base,” Patsos said. “And I sit down and listen to them. And anyone that wants to come to practice or come sit down in my office and chat, I’m willing to. I listen to parents. But if someone’s going to write stuff anonymously and they think it’s going to A, affect our program or B, I’m going to value that opinion, then I’m sorry, that’s not going to happen.”
Patsos isn’t afraid to be sharply critical of those who are critical of him. That may, in part, be due to the fact that he doesn’t believe there are many.
“I just don’t want 10 people having the voice,” Patsos said “Is 10 people the voice of our fanbase? I don’t know. I hope
not. I just don’t think that they’re truly representative of our fanbase.”
It’s unclear if the pressure is on for Patsos to win a championship this season. The Saints have had marked progression as a program since he took over, but it hasn’t translated to an NIT or NCAA appearance.
The expectation for Patsos is to get there. He’s not shy about that. That’s how success is defined. That’s what he’s hoping for in year number five.
“I’ve got a national title under my belt, by the way and went to the NCAA with Loyola,” Patsos said. “I won national titles, went to two Final Fours. I have a national championship ring. I’m good. When I get to heaven, when I go to the basketball gods, there’s my ring. That’s pretty good. National championship ring. So I’m good. I want to do it for the fans, the student body and the alums. I think we’re heading in the right direction this year.”