The Manhattan transfer
Masiello happy with return to Jaspers
THERE IS a file on Steve Masiello’s laptop that he hasn’t looked at in months and might not look at again for several years. It contains text messages he received from current and former players, as well as assistant coaches, while he served a self-imposed 78-day sentence in a prison of his own making after his jump last March from Manhattan College to South Florida came apart because he did not have the degree his resume claimed.
Masiello knows he will open that file again but he doesn’t imagine he’ll do it when he needs consolation or inspiration, but rather he envisions it happening during a moment of celebration.
Masiello’s ascent to college basketball celebrity took 14 years and his plunge into infamy came the day after its apex. He was a hot commodity after guiding Manhattan to the Metro Atlantic championship and nearly stunning Louisville in the NCAA Tournament. He got the USF job — and a $1 million annual salary — on March 25. The school announced it was pulling its offer the next day, and with the nation’s eyes on college basketball because of the tournament, Masiello went from success story to a liar and a cheat in 24 hours.
Manhattan took him back but put him on leave until he finished his degree. Now he is back in front of the Jaspers’ bench. He doesn’t look like a man who spent nearly three months not wanting to leave his house because of regret, or one who almost quit coaching altogether.
Fifteen years ago, Masiello took part in the University of Kentucky graduation while still needing a summer class for his final credits. He took the class but never checked his grade or confirmed that he’d received the credits. He hadn’t, but in his mind he had finished.
Others have fallen from great heights into a spiral, but Masiello found a way out of his situation without reinventing himself.
“I am not a different person because this wasn’t a master plan of deception and I got caught. It was a mistake I made that I wasn’t aware of and I had to own,” he says. “I use it as a teaching point for my players and anyone around me. Learn from me — please.”
Kit Masiello, Steve’s mother, says her son “went to a very low place” after his mistake had been revealed.
“It’s the first time I’d ever heard him say ‘I don’t know if I want to fight this fight,’” she says. “His father and I always taught him about taking the high road and after some time I eventually heard him say those words: ‘We have to take the high road with this.’
“He handled things in a way that makes me proud of having raised him.”
nnn How does a person move on from his darkest day? Masiello, 37, did it with all the messages of support and wise words of his mother and friends.
“For 78 days at home, every day, that’s all I thought about.” he says. “I didn’t leave my house. I didn’t want to go out. I didn’t want to be seen. I didn’t want to talk to people at the store. I didn’t want to read the paper. I didn’t want to watch ‘SportsCenter.’ It consumes you. ... My mother is the one who pointed out that I’d forgotten about everything that was good — a great season, a MAAC championship — and that I needed to snap out of it.”
“As he thought about other professions, I asked him if he could be as happy as when he was coaching,” his mother says. “Maybe that helped.”
As Masiello looked back at the championship, and restoring a program that had won six games before he took over for 2011-12, past recruiting battles he waged as an assistant to Rick Pitino and Bobby Gonzalez, past long hours of film and workouts, he rediscovered why he became a coach.
“I got into this to have an impact on young people, the way people in basketball had an impact on me,” says Masiello, who begged Manhattan administrators to take him back.
nnn No one denies Masiello has an ego, least of all him. South Florida was a chance at money, to play in a multi-bid conference, to compete in front of home crowds of 10,000 instead of 2,500.
“Do you lose yourself in moments? We all do. I did,” Masiello says. “But you get reprogrammed quickly. This hit the reset.”
The Manhattan administration’s decision t o bring Masiello back came after six days. But the school did it with more conditions than just having Masiello take a leave to finish his degree.
He says he would still one day like to coach at the highest level, win a national title. But asked if he could accept another major college job offer after this season, Masiello reveals he can’t answer the question under the terms of his new contract.
nnn Early-season injuries and a 77-foot, last-second heave by George Mason have the Jaspers off to a 2-5 start entering this weekend’s Holiday Festival matchup with Rutgers. Still, there is a feeling of hope in the Manhattan locker room.
The Jaspers’ optimism is rooted in coping with the departure of their coach, the uncertainty that followed and the questions about his return.
“It was easy to want him back for us,” senior Emmy Andujar says. “He asked a lot of us about whether he should take the job. Only someone close does that.”
Being accepted by his players, assistant coaches and administration has made coming back easy for Masiello, whose best day since he lost the South Florida job was the day Manhattan opened against Miami. He was standing in front of the Jaspers’ bench, three referees and 10 players on the court in front of him.
“I believe there will be better days than that real soon, but that was good one,” he says. “Everything finally looked normal again.”