University of Richmond Athletics
Spider InSight: Atkinson, Football And The Mountains
08/17/2016 | Cross Country, Football, General, Women's Track & Field, Men's Basketball
On Oct. 26, Richmond Athletics Hall of Famer Ken Atkinson will make his regular season NBA head coaching debut, leading his Brooklyn Nets onto the iconic parquet floor of the Boston Garden against the Celtics, one of sport's most successful and famed franchises.
Exactly four months prior to what is sure to be an emotional opening night, and a little more than two months into his tenure in Brooklyn, Atkinson welcomed me and Will Bryan, our men's basketball Public Relations Director, into the Nets' sparkling new training facility for a day-long, all-access look at what it's like to be a rookie head coach in the NBA – and the first Spider to coach or manage a major league North American professional sports team.
The full story will appear in the University of Richmond Magazine in September. It will also be posted on RichmondSpiders.com along with a video of our visit. We took a tour of the facility, sat in on meetings, watched a summer practice, attended a press conference and enjoyed dinner with Ken, his family, and assistant coach Chris Fleming, also a former Spider standout.
We conducted a long list of interviews, and you'll be able to read and hear what was said in the story and on the video. But only in today's Spider Insight will you read comments from one of the Nets' players. Ironically, his words didn't make the article, but he is a humble, mild-mannered and well-spoken professional athlete. And he added another Richmond Spider connection to the Ken Atkinson story.
Caris LeVert took a circuitous and detoured route to the Brooklyn Nets. After promising seasons as a freshman and sophomore at Michigan, including a trip to the national championship game in 2013, his junior and senior years were cut short by a rash of injuries. Nonetheless, he was the 20th pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers, a selection they traded to Brooklyn for arguably the Nets' best player, Thaddeus Young.
“The hard work starts now,” LaVert told us. “I'm ready to work. The injury makes me ready to go. A lot of people wrote me off and are still writing me off. I've always had a chip on my shoulder and I think that chip may have gotten a little bit bigger. So I'm ready to go.”
One of the reasons the Nets didn't write him off was because of conversations Atkinson had with LaVert's college coach –John Beilein, who won 100 games in five years as Richmond's head coach, including an NCAA appearance and first round victory over South Carolina in 1998. “He and Coach Beilein are friends,” said LaVert. “I know Coach Beilein spoke to him about me. I know I'm in good hands here. Coach Atkinson and Coach Beilein are like-minded.”
Beilein confirmed his conversation with Atkinson. “He is one terrific young man,” Beilein said of LaVert in a text. “Kenny and I talked at length on the day of the draft about Caris. It will be great to see them both work together.”
That work had just begun when we spoke with LaVert, so he was still getting to know Atkinson. “I knew last year he coached (as an assistant in Atlanta) one of my former teammates at Michigan – Tim Hardaway. Tim's told me great things. Just talking to him, he has a great basketball mind. He's a player's coach. He asks how I'm doing off the court. Every day he asks how I slept last night. It's good to know your coach is worried about you off the court. He and Coach Beilein do some of the same sort of things.”
LaVert let us in on a favorite play of Beilein and the Wolverines. “Coach Beilein actually has a play we use at Michigan called 'Richmond Spiders.' I can't give you a lot of specifics about it, but I will tell you it's something with a back door cut,” he said, laughing as he returned to the practice floor.
Atkinson makes his home debut – he grew up 35 miles from Barclays Center – Friday Oct. 28 against Indiana. Richmonders might circle Friday Dec. 30 on the NBA schedule, when the Nets make their first visit to nearby Washington.
Coach Chris Mooney's Spiders will play two games in Brooklyn during Thanksgiving Weekend in the Barclays Center Classic Fri. Nov. 25 against Maryland and Saturday Nov. 26 against either Kansas State or Boston College. The Nets are home just prior to those games, Wed. Nov. 23 against Boston.
FOOTBALL INSIGHT
I walked through the Robins Center basketball arena Monday afternoon and a football practice had broken out. The Spider defense was walking through formations and play calls under the watchful eye of first-year defensive coordinator Chris Cosh and the defensive coaches. It was an unusual sight, but a productive session. There was no football, assistant coach Manny Rojas acted as the quarterback, and the defensive guys took turns role playing as the offense, which they seemed to enjoy immensely.
The walk through paid dividends Tuesday morning during a scrimmage at the River Road grass practice fields – the Spiders' opener is at UVa's Scott Stadium, also a grass field.
Seemingly nagging but not serious injuries left the defense somewhat depleted, but it still appeared ahead of the offense – which is the case at Richmond and for most other football teams this time of year. Still, quarterback Kyle Lauletta looked sharp. Not every pass was on point, and he did feel pressure on occasion, but it's very obvious he is in command of the offense and confident of his abilities.
Following the scrimmage, Coach Cosh gave his defensive perspective. “All we look at every day is just get better. Find something individually, as groups, as units to get better at. I saw our safeties do some things today that they were better at than before. So I thought we got better today.
“We're going to be smart and sound and we'll play with our pads out and with great excitement. That's what defensive football is all about – enthusiasm and running to the football. We've got good team speed and we're going to take advantage of it.
“The thing I talked about today was consistency. Do it over and over and over and do it right. We're going to master our craft. If everybody masters their craft and does their job, the whole product moves forward.”
ALUMNI IN STRIPES
Two former Spider standouts from the 1980's still find themselves on the field, now as officials. As they have done before, both were tuning up for another season by working Tuesday's scrimmage. Troy Gray played from 1982-84 (always remember his red high top cleats) and Danny Worrell from 1980-83. Look for Gray when he starts his season with a plum assignment – Clemson at Auburn Sept. 3 at 9pm on ESPN. Worrell opens at Louisville where the Cardinals host Charlotte Sept. 3 at 7pm.
BEST PRE SEASON CAMP?
Football certainly gets most of the attention when it comes to pre-season training camps. But if you're looking for something different, and one of the best, take a look at the Spider cross-country team's pre-season getaway. For the fifth consecutive year, coaches Steve Taylor and Lori Taylor's teams have made the pilgrimage to Mountain Lake Lodge in Giles County, Va., where they spend four days bonding as a team and training in the hilly but picturesque terrain. And it must be working. The Spider women are the defending Atlantic 10 Cross Country champions.
More in-depth coverage of the cross-country teams pre-season training trip can be found by following Spider Cross Country/Track & Field on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
