A column by CHUCK POLLOCK, Senior Sports Columnist, Wellsville Sun
Whenever he’s made the statement, in my view it was a joke.
Mark Schmidt, heading into his 19th season as St. Bonaventure’s men’s basketball coach, isn’t averse to sharing his sense of humor … though at times it hard to know when he’s kidding.
Over the past three seasons, he’s been heard to say, “I don’t intend to be doing this after I turn 65.”
He always gives a slight turn of the lip so that you’re not quite sure if he’s serious.
But, given the mess that college basketball has become, methinks Mark means it.
He turned 62 in February and should have it made: a salary just short of $2 million a season plus perks, the school record for career victories, seven 20-win seasons, three trips to the NCAAs and four invitations to the NIT. This man is hardly in job jeopardy in this town. His outlook was hardly hurt when he made the phrase “We got Woj” into part of the Bona hoops lexicon after alum Adrian Wojnarowski, the country’s leading NBA insider, was hired away from ESPN to be SBU’s basketball manager.
Unfortunately “Woj” inherited the NCAA mess that is the transfer portal — where virtually every player is a free agent — and the Name Image and Likeness (NIL) statute where the most talented performers go to the highest bidder.
PART OF Schmidt has to be longing for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons when his Bonnies first earned an NCAA berth then, a season later, won games at Colorado, Oklahoma and Virginia to make the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
Those teams started Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi, Jaren Holmes, Dominick Welch and Jalen Adaway and though the portal was open to them and NIL was just getting started, even though they were seniors, and went their separate ways, they owed Schmidt nothing … by his own admission.
The next two years he built new rosters virtually from scratch.
In my naivete I thought this coming season Schmidt would get a break … that loyalty would prevail.
Silly boy.
Ten Bonnies have declared for the portal which was bombarded with over 1,000 requests the day it opened.
Gone for St. Bonaventure are Duane Thompson, he of the on-campus DWI arrest following a single-car crash, Jaxson Edwards, who missed the season with a groin injury, Miles Rose. the victim in Thompson’s crash, Jonah Hinton, Lajae Jones, Noah Bolanga, the freshman from France, Ebrahim Kaba and Michael Folarin.
There are two asterisks as Melvin Council Jr. applied for the portal but insisted he might come back and Chance Moore, bidding for another year of eligibility in the portal though in appears he played in too many games in the season he’s hoping to get back.
So what does that leave Schmidt beside his two walk-ons?
Dasonte Bowen, who missed most of the season with a foot injury, and Xander Wedlow, sidelined by a knee problem, the possible return of Council, and two recruits: Frank Mitchell a 6-foot-8 forward from Minnesota and Canisius and Joe Gerhovac, a 6-10 center from Fullerton County Community College in Califofrnia.
Small wonder Schmidt seemingly can’t wait until he turns 65.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
Read more from Chuck:
• Good news, bad news on high school hoops; thoughts on George Foreman
• Why the Bona NIT loss took place
• An embarrassing week for Beane who was perfect in free agency
• An interesting look at St. Bonaventure’s A-10 matchups
• St. Bonaventure joins $2.8 million settlement to get past and current student-athletes paid
• St. Joe’s is looming as a big test for the Bonnies
• A critical stretch for St. Bonaventure basketball
• Part II: McDermott is building a team to win the Super Bowl, not beat the Chiefs
• It was a different McDermott this season
• A look back at the ‘Super’ Bowl
• Pollock prediction on the Super Bowl and his annual quiz
• Part 2: What does Brandon Beane have to do to make the Buffalo Bills better?
• Part 1: Buffalo Bills’ GM Brandon Beane discusses 2024 season
Don Scholla, the passing of an Icon
• A huge win over Dayton for the Bonnies
• The Chiefs still have the Bills’ number
• Pollock Prediction: Chiefs 28, Bills 25 (actual score 32-29)
• Allen and the Bills heading to the AFC Championship game
• Josh Allen wants to hear Mr. Brightside against the Ravens
• Win over Richmond gets St. Bonaventure Bonnies ready for A-10 matchup with Duquesne
• Offensive line of the Buffalo Bills knocked out the Broncos
• Pollock Prediction: Broncos loom as a threat but the Bills will win
• McDermott knew the Bills would host the Broncos
• The Bills are waiting to see who they play
• Where the St. Bonaventure victory over VCU ranks in program history
• Josh Allen showed why he should be the NFL MVP
• Pollock Prediction: Bills will beat Jets in a must-win game for playoff seeding
• What happened during those six lost days
• Bills didn’t play with a sense of urgency against the Patriots
• Bills passed a big test against the Lions
• The media missed the point with questions of McDermott
• We did not expect the Rams-Bills results as Josh Allen sets major records
• Will the Bills be motivated against the Rams?
• Schmidt doesn’t want the Bonnies to get caught up in 12-1 talk
• A look at the rise under Sean McDermott
• The snow and the Buffalo Bills were too much for the 49ers
• St. Bonaventure Bonnies put unbeaten hoops record on the line in ESPN Tournament
• Pollock Prediction on San Fran at Buffalo Sunday night game
• A look at Terry Pegula’s beginnings in Olean and his competitive drive to win
• A look at McDermott’s smart play-calling and why aren’t we talking more about James Cook?
• Can the Bills do this to the Chiefs in the playoffs? Josh Allen touchdown run seals victory
• Pollock predicts a one-point Kansas City victory
• What happened to this being a rebuilding season for the Buffalo Bills?
• A dominating performance by the Bills
• Pollock predicts a Bills victory over the Colts on the road
• Thoughts on the 61-yard Bass field goal and where the Bills sit
• Solid win to open the season for the Bonnies
• Bass vindicated by 61-yard field goal to beat the Dolphins
• Bills don’t own the Dolphins but have an option to buy; prediction 27-20 (final was 30-27)
• The season is here for St. Bonaventure basketball
• St. Bonaventure speaks out, “We got Woj”
• Mark Schmidt on the NIL deals and the Bona NIT mess
• Pollock on the passing of St. Bonaventure legend Paul Hoffman
• Pollock on listening to the radio and the days of Willie Mays
• Houghton’s Phil Stockin gets Cazzie Russell to the Castle in Olean and then a title for the Knicks?
• The right hire for St. Bonaventure to lead the athletic department
• The inside story on why WPIG left the Bonnies after 74 years and a Gary Nease update
• Bill Walton was must-see basketball when he played in Buffalo for the Braves
