FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team opens its 11^th season under head coach Gary Tuell this weekend with a 4:30 p.m. Homecoming tipoff against Johnson University on Friday, followed by a 2 p.m. Saturday road trip to Atlantic Sun Conference favorite Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers, Fla.
 
We sat down with NSU's venerable coach to talk about the opening weekend as well as the rocky start he and his Sharks have endured in preparing for the season opener.
 
Q—You've been working in college athletics in one form or another for most of the last 45 years, including 27 as a head coach. Have you ever experienced a start to a season quite like this one?
 
A—Thankfully, not one that I can remember. We've had some bad luck in my previous 10 years here, mostly with injuries to key players in seasons when I thought we had a legitimate chance to compete for the Sunshine State Conference championship. But nothing has compared to this year.
 
Q—Can you summarize the setbacks?
 
A—We suspended Chris Page, our team MVP last year, for the first six games of the season (including three exhibitions) for violating a team rule. We expect certain things from our student-athletes, hold them at a higher standard than the average student, and when they fail to meet expectations there is a price to pay. He's been terrific. His attitude has been great, his work ethic great, and he's done everything expected of him in the class room, in study hall, on the court and off the court. But our greater concern for Chris has been his emotional state as he deals with his father's terminal illness back in Indiana. Chris and his dad, Bob, are very close. As Chris was driving back to school for the start of the semester Bob called to let us know of his doctor's diagnosis and we had to break the news to Chris shortly after he arrived on campus. It's been an emotional roller coaster for him but he is handling everything as well as you could ever hope. I'm so proud of him.
 
On the third day of fall semester classes one of our freshmen, Nick Rosa from Coral Springs, lost his father, Manny, to a massive heart attack. Our first team meeting this year was attending Manny's funeral. That's been another difficult situation. Very emotional. It's tough enough for a freshman to get himself acclimated to his first semester in college, but when you lose your hero, your dad, and then pile on basketball and weights and classes and study halls and all the things expected of student-athletes, it was and continues to be a tough deal for Nick. He's moving forward, day by day, but as a coach you're aware that he's struggling more at times than the ordinary freshman and that's to be expected. He also suffered an injury that kept him out of the entire preseason workouts so he's trying to catch up on the court.

Nick's family tragedies were further complicated when his grandfather in Puerto Rico (Manny's father) passed away unexpectedly today (Thursday, Nov. 13).  Nick's status for the opening weekend games is doubtful and as a team, we continue to think about and pray for the Rosa family.  
 
Whenever you hire talented young assistant coaches you know they won't be with you forever, and we lost my right hand on Oct. 12 when Brandon Crone, who has been with us for three years, returned to his alma mater, Butler University, to accept an assistant coaching position. In a lot of ways that was like a death in our family. No one was prepared for Brandon's departure, especially not three days before the official start of practice. I'm lucky to have Marquise Kiffin as a volunteer assistant coach for my entire 11 years here, and he does a tremendous job with our guys and assisting me with as much as he can. But basically I'm flying solo this year and probably won't replace Brandon until the end of the season. It's just too hard to bring someone in who doesn't know our players, doesn't know what we're doing on either end of the court, and who would need time to figure everything out, including the administrative responsibilities that come with the job. The timing for a new hire in this position is terrible, and it wouldn't be fair to a new hire to come in now and try to acclimate himself to our program, our players, our university. Marquise will take on an expanded role, and we'll compensate him for that. He's a jewel. We want to make sure we hire the right person in that position. I think the prospects for doing that are much better when the season is over, so we're going to take our time and be judicious about the process.
 
Casey Carroll, our 6-7 junior forward, is – in my estimation – the most talented and versatile player I've had the pleasure to coach in my years at NSU. He plays four positions, has a basketball IQ that is off the charts and he has incredible athletic talent. Only a coach can understand how valuable it is to have a guy 6-7 who is the best player on your team at four different positions. I don't think our players understood or appreciated Casey's value until they lost him. But he has a ruptured disc in his back and will have surgery later this month to repair that. We hope to have him back on the court and working out sometime in February, maybe March, but he's lost to us for the season. I've always said at this level that if any team loses a starter, and especially its most versatile and talented player – its key guy – then that team is going to struggle. You can't find many talents like Casey at our level. Last year he was coming off two years of inactivity and trying to figure out his role. As coaches, we were trying to figure out where to play him, how to best use him to take advantage of what he can do. He was so much better in preseason that at any time last year. His game was coming back, he was comfortable with us and we were comfortable with him. It's a huge blow to our team losing Casey and impacts us at every position on the floor except point guard.
 
Justin Jeangerard came back for his senior year with some nagging pain in his back and after sitting out much of the preseason we learned that he has two bulging discs in his back. He's not nearly as athletic as he was. He's lost a step or two and he's lost some of his mobility. I'd say he's playing at about 75 to 80 percent. The hope is that he can get through the year without either of the two discs rupturing. But we have to be careful with him. His health has to take precedence over any selfish need we have as a team. There's a chance we could lose him for the year if he takes one bad step or one awkward hit. It's a roll of the dice. He's a three-year starter and a guy we count on for a lot of things so we're keeping fingers crossed.
 
Q—You already have a fifth-year senior, Brian Cahill, who has undergone two back surgeries. How do you explain three players with similar back problems?
 
A—I can't. It's inconceivable. Brian first hurt his back during his prep school year at Fork Union Military Academy. Justin was playing pickup ball this summer at home in California. We're not sure when Casey first hurt himself, but he played all last year with a disc issue until he collapsed in the first game of the SSC tourney and couldn't go any further. We're very fortunate to have an outstanding medical team here, especially our trainer, Dustin Gatens, who does a terrific job of caring for these guys and working with therapists and doctors to help them through their issues. Dustin has played a major role in keeping Cahill on the court for most of the last two years, but you also have to credit Brian who has a tremendous desire, will and work ethic. Having gone through the surgeries for Brian's back, hopefully we will be in a good position to help Casey with rehab and treatments that will allow him to have two productive seasons when he comes back from his surgery.
 
Q—Your team was voted third in the SSC Coaches' Preseason poll. Are you pleased with that?
 
A—If the coaches knew that we lost our top assistant coach on Oct. 12 and that we would be playing the season without Casey and with Justin and Brian being question marks, I suspect we would have been voted eighth or ninth. That's how much of a difference one or two key players can make in this league. And let's face it, this is Division II. We don't have three assistants, a basketball operations guy, a video coordinator, an assistant video coordinator, a player development assistant, four graduate assistant coaches and a plethora of secretarial help the way a lot of the Division I programs have. We had myself and Brandon, with as much help from our volunteer as we could get. The work load is a little daunting at times without Brandon. When you're trying to recruit, host prospects and families, scout, break down films of your practices and games, prepare a meaningful practice plan, scout and prepare for games, do individual skill work, watch film with different players and with the team, come up with fresh ideas and innovations that help the guys win a game and do the mounds of paper work and administrative duties required for the job, it's overwhelming some days. I'm very fortunate to have Marquise. And Marquise and I are both very fortunate to have supportive, understanding wives. But not having a full-time assistant who knows the players, the system, the philosophies, the needs of his head coach … those things have an impact on everybody. I'm doing the best I can not to let our players and our team suffer, but it's not easy. Fun! But not easy. Right now I'm the head coach and the assistant coach and that's not ideal because I miss that other pair of eyes, that other voice, to bounce things off of, to discuss and debate with and to share ideas with. Brandon and I worked together for three years and we not only had a close friendship, but we had a good understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses and what we needed to do to help each other and to help the team. We were a pretty good team. I'm thrilled for him and for his wife, Morgan, that they have this opportunity at Butler. But it affects our team, no question about that, and it affects our ability to be the best we can be. Other coaches understand that. I don't have an ego. This isn't my show. This is the kids' show. And the more eyes and voices we have to help them perform at their best, the better we can be as a team. Besides having Marquise Kiffin as a valued and loyal friend and coach, I'm very lucky to have four seniors on this team – Stian Berg, Brian Cahill, Maurice Fuller and Justin Jeangerard – who are wonderful leaders and who have done their best to assume more responsibilities and more leadership in an effort to help me and to help us as a group fill the void left by Coach Crone.
 
Q—Who do you like in the conference race?
 
A—I like everybody! I've never seen a league anywhere as deep in talent from top to bottom as this one. That's why the SSC is the number-one rated DII men's basketball league in America. I was reading a publication the other day that picked our league as the best among all DII leagues. The article suggested that the strength of our league was the bottom half. No conference has teams as talented and as strong at the bottom as we have. And the teams that end up on or near the top this year will be legitimate contenders for a national championship. Tom Brown, the new head coach at West Texas A&M, called me in June looking to schedule a couple of games in Florida. He posed the question, "Is there ANYBODY in your league that isn't good?" The simple answer is, "No." I think Barry and Lynn will be right at the top of the league all year. I really like Barry's team, and I think Lynn has such great depth and added so many good players, they're going to surprise a lot of people. But you can make arguments for seven or eight teams to be league champs. Our conference is just that good.
 
Q--Your team got off to a slow start but improved dramatically last year. What can we expect this season?
 
A—Maybe the same. We have to figure out a way to play without our best player, our most versatile player, in Casey Carroll.  He impacts so much of what we do.  You're taking a legitimate star off the floor and now who replaces him?  The obvious answer has to be Troy Spears or Nick Rosa or a combination of the two. But those guys are freshmen who deserve to be freshmen. They deserve a year to grow and learn and absorb the system. They don't deserve to be thrown to the wolves and counted on to provide what Casey provided, which was basically a 50 percent 3-point shooter and potential double-double guy every night who could run our offense with his eyes closed. Both Troy and Nick have talent and they will have some good moments for us. But there is a learning curve and they need time to learn. They're not running our offense at the Coral Springs Recreation Center. It's a complicated, intricate and – for young players – very challenging thing to learn. Defensively we have finally settled on the way we want to play, and what we're doing is new to everyone, including the returnees. It will take us a dozen games or more before our guys are comfortable with the rules and the techniques we're teaching.
 
We return last year's starting lineup: Stian Berg (point guard), Maurice Fuller (guard), Chris Page (guard), Justin Jeangerard (guard) and Brian Cahill (guard). Chris won't play until Thanksgiving weekend and that creates opportunities for Troy and Nick, but it doesn't help us function smoothly as a team. Harrison Goodrick (6-8 transfer from NCAA DII power Metro State) will give us a natural center or power forward. We envisioned a lineup with both Casey and Harrison playing together and that lineup might have been terrific. We'll have to wait till next year for that. But Harrison is going to play somewhere, so one of last year's starters will have to fill that valuable sixth man role that Casey took on. My guess is it will be Brian Cahill because he has the versatility and the IQ to play all five positions. Bringing him off the bench would also help us lessen his playing time and protect his back. When Chris comes back Thanksgiving weekend we will probably slot Brian in that role as our sixth starter. Remi Farrell and Brandon Patchan have both shown improvement and will help us inside. Mike Chalas is learning our system and doing well, and he can certainly score in bunches, but he needs more time. As Troy, Nick and Mike improve through the season, and if Remi and Brandon continue to progress, then we can develop our bench and be much deeper than a year ago. But we can't begin to sort it all out until Chris returns from his suspension. And no matter what, I see this team developing slowly because of our reliance on two freshmen (Rosa and Spears) and two transfers (Goodrick and Chalas) and two sophomores who are still not quite ready for prime time (Farrell and Patchan).
 
Q—How difficult is the opening weekend, with a home game at 4:30 p.m. on Friday against Johnson and a road game at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Florida Gulf Coast?
 
A—It's not ideal, playing two games in less than 22 hours, especially when you have to travel for the second game. But we're looking forward to both games and we plan to enjoy the atmosphere and the moments. Friday's game with Johnson is Homecoming and we should have a nice crowd. Our women's team is dynamite (Elite Eight and Final Four the last two years), so they're the feature game for Homecoming. It's a little unusual for the men's team to play the "prelim" game, but as I told our players, "When you get to the Elite Eight and the Final Four the way the women have, you deserve the opportunity to play the second game of the doubleheader."
 
We don't know anything about Johnson and very little about Dunk City, which is the nickname for Florida Gulf Coast. But Johnson University (located in Kissimmee, FL.) was nice enough to allow us to use their gym during our conference tournament in Kissimmee last March, so we invited them to play this game as a way of repaying them for their kindness. I know they are well-coached and have five games under their belts (2-3 overall), and I know they have some good players and high expectations for their team this year. I'm sure they will be very competitive. 
 
Florida Gulf Coast is favored to win the Atlantic Sun Conference and a lot of people think they are a legitimate Division I top 25 team. They have three starters back from a team that finished second in their league last year and they've added two DI transfers from Auburn and one each from Rice, Tulane, Georgia Tech, Marquette and UNLV. They have a bunch of guys who red-shirted a year ago. They're very big, very athletic, very talented and they have one of the best young coaches in the country in Joe Dooley, who was highly regarded during his tenure as the top assistant at Kansas. Brett Comer is one of the great point guards in America, Bernard Thompson is one of the best players in America, they won 22 games a year ago and they are loaded with everything a team needs to be very, very successful. On top of that it's their home opener, a full house will be there to see this year's version of Dunk City, and ESPN is broadcasting the game on one of their plethora of channels. 
 
I have no idea if we'll be able to compete with those guys, but I do know it will be a great environment for our players and I know the game will be a tremendous learning experience for us. 
 
Q—You turn 65 this year. Do you still enjoy coaching as much as you did when you were younger?
 
A—Age is a mindset, not a number. Look at our university president, Dr. George Hanbury. He's a youthful 70-something and full of energy, enthusiasm, excitement and vision. If he can run a university and find joy in doing that at his age, then I can certainly run a basketball team and find joy in this job at my age. I'm having more fun coaching now than at any time in my life. I'm enjoying – and appreciating -- my guys more than ever. I have a great job with a very supportive and forward-thinking administration. I continue to grow and evolve with both the profession and the game. Everything changes in life, and I've enjoyed the challenges of changing and developing new, innovative ways of doing things as I've grown older.
 
Q—You are still in pursuit of your first SSC regular season or conference tournament championship. Has that been frustrating?

A—You don't have to remind me of that. Nobody in this league plays for second place. It is a very cut-throat, competitive league. We were second, one game out of first, after my second year here. We were third one year and fourth one year. In all three of those seasons we thought we were good enough to win the championship but injuries to our best or key players played a huge role in the outcome of all three of those seasons. We've been within one win of playing in the tournament championship twice. So we've been close. I think the second-place finish during my second year here actually hurt us more than it helped us. We lost three starters during the season to injury, then lost our team MVP (Luis Gurrieres) for the conference tournament. But we were so close. We finished a game behind Rollins in the league race but thumped them pretty good in the final regular season game of the season. And we were starting or playing three or four freshmen. After the success we had that year I think we focused on winning championships with those players instead of building the program the right way. We ignored the culture. We got caught up in winning rings and hanging banners in the arena because we thought we had the talent to accomplish those things. But I did a poor job of developing the program and establishing an identity for our guys. We were trying to go from nowhere to the top without laying a foundation and it hurt us in the long run. For a few years we were like a dog chasing its tail, just going in circles and not making any progress.
 
I'm a competitor and I hate to lose more than I love to win. I wasn't happy with what we were doing. Luckily for me, our athletics director, Mike Mominey, had the vision and foresight to bring in a team from "The Pacific Institute" led by Cat Crosslin. She led workshops for the entire athletic department that opened my eyes and changed the way I thought. Cat was incredible and her ability to communicate vision, values and strategies for growth were refreshing and program-changing, if not life-changing. I came away from those workshops feeling invigorated and young again. The things Cat shared and taught left me wishing I were 25 or 30 and just starting out in the profession, but also made me realize that you're never too old to change and explore better ways to do things. As long as I have a team to coach I'm going to seek fresh, innovative ways to coach and lead that team. And I'm going to take the time to love and appreciate my guys.
 
Q—We hear you're losing weight.  Is that one of the changes Cat Crosslin inspired?
 
A—Haha. No. When Brandon Crone left for Butler I realized I would have to take on a much more active role in practice every day. And I was 252 pounds and too fat to do my guys justice. I promised them I'd lose weight so I could have the energy and the ability to do what was needed to better serve them on the court. Every Friday my captains, Stian Berg and Mo Fuller, weigh me in. The deal is I have to lose at least a pound a week. If I don't lose a pound they get an extra day off.
 
Q—How's it going?
 
A—I lost at least a pound the first four weeks we weighed in. Down 11 overall at the last weigh-in. These guys inspire me. Being with them every day is a joy. I want to keep losing weight for them, for myself, and also because I enjoy being with them so much I don't want to miss a day of practice or the opportunity to spend time with them. This team has suffered a lot of adversity – more than young guys deserve – to start this season. They've been kicked in the gut but nothing has broken their spirit or their resolve to be a special team. The season is a long journey. These guys have persevered through so much adversity already. I'm hopeful they have the opportunity to experience something magical together when we reach the end of the journey. No team I've coached is more deserving or more worthy than this group of guys. They're special.