Everyone needed a break after five losses in six games if the emails I received from fans in recent weeks are any indication.
***
The tone of the emails varied. Some readers have seen enough ...
• “Hello, David, this has been a slow slide for the Flyers, and it is time to head in a new direction.”
• “The difference between last year and this year is an increase in season ticket prices exceeding 10%. That is a lot. So the expectation is different and Coach Grant doesn’t show any empathy toward the thousands of season ticket-holders who paid this premium.”
• “I’ve been a UD fan for 70 of my 80 years of life. This is the worst basketball I’ve ever seen them play.”
• “I don’t think the problem is the players. I believe it’s the coaching. Last night’s humiliating loss to VCU was really difficult to watch.”
Other readers continue to support coach Anthony Grant and emailed me after I wrote about the six students wearing the “FIRE AG” T-shirts at the St. Bonaventure game on Feb. 3:
• “Anthony Grant, his assistants and the entire support team do an excellent job in these difficult days of NIL. No one is classier than Anthony Grant.”
• “Fire Anthony Grant? People are serious? Who would these people suggest replacing a dedicated member of the UD community?”
The most optimistic fan in the Dayton universe is Joe Maimone, who responded to the “FIRE AG” shirts by creating “AG4LIFE” T-shirts that he’s selling for $19.99 through his Fellow Flyers 2.0 Facebook page. All proceeds go to Jay’s Light, the mental health and suicide prevention initiative created to honor Grant’s late daughter.
Grant’s future will be a hot topic the rest of the season.
Trilly Donovan, a college basketball insider who writes under a pseudonym and often breaks news about hirings and firings, weighed in on the situation at Dayton on Saturday in his “Coaching Carousel Breakdown."
“Scoreboard aside, the power dynamic at Dayton is worth monitoring,” he wrote. “Last week, Athletic Director Neil Sullivan announced he would be taking an indefinite leave of absence due to health issues. Then, the university’s President, Eric Spina, announced he will be retiring in the summer of 2027. Does leadership instability help Anthony Grant in the near term? Couple that with the always present retirement rumors and that makes this job too murky to call right now.”
VCU finding success again with another new coach
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
I visited the Virginia Museum of History and Culture on Friday after flying to Richmond, Va. I’m slowly checking off every box for tourists in a city I’ve visited 17 times in 13 seasons. I’ll return March 3 for my 18th visit when Dayton plays the Richmond Spiders. In between those two games are two more flights to Virginia for games at George Mason and George Washington.
The museum featured a collage of photos of famous Virginians. Justin Verlander stood out as the only person in a baseball cap. I didn’t see Mo Alie-Cox or T.J. Cline, former VCU and Richmond stars I watched play so many times in past seasons.
I’ve seen many great games in Richmond over the years. The most recent one was not one of them.
Dayton fell behind by 35 points for the second straight Friday and nearly suffered its second loss by 30 or more points and its second loss while allowing 100 points in an eight-day stretch. VCU took a shot-clock violation in the final seconds rather than try to hit the century mark.
Dayton’s struggles in Year 9 for Grant have coincided with another strong season for VCU, where Grant first became a head coach in 2006. Coach Phil Martelli Jr.’s team has won eight straight games to return to the NCAA tournament bubble after inconsistent play in the non-conference season. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi now lists VCU as one of the “Next Four Out” of the NCAA tournament.
I didn’t get to attend Martelli’s press conference Friday because I was waiting outside the media room to speak to Grant, but I left my phone inside the room to record Martelli’s conference. He praised the former VCU coach Grant.
“I hope every time he walks in this building he gets a hero’s welcome,” Martelli said, “because he deserves that here.”
This was Dayton’s most lopsided loss to VCU in 27 A-10 matchups. This was also Grant’s worst loss at the Siegel Center. To put it into perspective, he lost five home games in three seasons as VCU’s coach from 2006-09 by a total of 20 points.
I talked with Martelli briefly as he made his way back to VCU’s locker room after the press conference. I first met him at A-10 Media Day in October when I told him a story I’ve repeated to past VCU coaches about VCU’s longtime sports information director, Chris Kowalczyk, the main media contact for men’s basketball.
In 1999, Kowalczyk and I were seniors at Ohio University. The student newspaper, The Post, and the student radio station, WOUB, competed against each other in tackle football games our junior and senior years. Then we had a basketball game in the spring of our senior years. Kowalczyk was named MVP of the game. I’m his press agent. Whenever I get a chance, I make sure to mention it to people at VCU, usually the new coach.
Maybe my story will lead to Martelli adding Kowalczyk to the roster, but I don’t think he needs the help.
With a 77-68 victory at La Salle on Wednesday, VCU (19-6, 10-2) sits alone in second place behind Saint Louis (23-1, 11-0).
VCU keeps hitting home runs with its coaches. During its time in the A-10, Shaka Smart, Will Wade, Mike Rhoades and Ryan Odom all maintained its growing tradition of never going more than one season between NCAA tournament bids.
While it’s too early to judge Martelli, he’s fared better than the most recent VCU coaches in their first years. Rhoades finished 17-14 and 9-9 in the A-10 in his first season (2017-18). Odom finished 19-12 and 11-7 in his first season (2023-24).
Will Wade is the only VCU coach since Grant to lead the program to the NCAA tournament in his first season. Smart took VCU to the Final Four in his second season. Rhoades and Odom both guided the Rams to NCAA berths in their second seasons.
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 Former Flyer Toumani Camara scored a career-high 30 points Monday for the Portland Trail Blazers in a 135-118 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers. He made 8 of 10 3-pointers.
Camara has improved his scoring average in each of his three NBA seasons, from 7.5 as a rookie to 11.3 to 13.2 this season.
🏀 Former Dayton assistant coach Darren Hertz has led Wittenberg into contention in the North Coast Athletic Conference in his second season. The Tigers beat first-place Denison on Saturday.
🏀 I wrote about my many second homes in A-10 country in the latest special section we publish twice a month in the Dayton Daily News. I took a deep dive into UD Arena, the Siegel Center, the Ryan Center, etc. in a “A tribute to A-10 arenas.”
🏀 In my latest Associated Press top-25 poll, I moved Saint Louis from No. 13 to No. 12 and the Miami RedHawks from No. 25 to No. 21. I’m going to Millett Hall on Friday night to assist with coverage as Miami puts the nation’s last undefeated record (24-0) on the line against the Ohio Bobcats. I last covered a Miami-Ohio in Oxford in 1999 when Wally Szczerbiak was a senior.
🏀 What do you want to know about the Flyers?
I want to hear from you. Reach out to me directly at david.jablonski@coxinc.com with your questions and feedback on the team or this newsletter.
About the Author
