28 minute read
The ninth annual Martin Luther King Jr. lecture
Breaking down Critical Race Theory
In the ninth annual Martin Luther King Jr. lecture featured Andrea M. Kane and Jonathan Friedman and focused on the connection of racial issues in education.
Advertisement
__ By AmAndA Coelho __ Contributor
Springfield College hosted its ninth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture on March 1 over Zoom, a night of acknowledging racial issues in education and the broader world.
June 14, 1964 was an extraordinary day in the history of the College. On that day, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the commencement address on Alden Street during the peak of his fame.
The connections between racial issues and education are prevalent today. The main focus was Critical Race Theory: The close examination of race as a social construct, and the push from scholars and activists to defy common stereotypes and beliefs about race.
Andrea M. Kane, a Professor of Practice in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania’s graduate school of Education, was a panelist for the event and gave her perspective on racial issues in educational settings and beyond.
“Discouraged efforts and motivations and dreams of marginzalized groups are terrorism for these groups of people,” Kane explained. “One of the biggest issues we seem to face – especially in the academic world – is minorities being discouraged from speaking their voice and fighting for equality.”
Another issue that was addressed during the seminar was the talk by white people of needing to protect their rights. “It’s so disturbing,” Kane said. “There are many people who don’t need protection and there are many people who do need protection. Protection from the truth should not be the issue [regarding education in K-12 schools about sensitive racial topics in history]. Who was concerned when we talked about slavery with black students in the classroom? Who worried about the Black
The ninth Martin Luther King Jr. lecture was held over Zoom on March 1 and featured Andrea M. Kane and Jonathan Friedman. (Photo by Amanda Coelho)
students who were feeling uncomfortable or shamed in school?
“We need to talk about the truth with students in the classroom,” Kane continued. “By having these conversations about the truth, whatever it may be, we learn the language to talk about our history.”
Florida’s recent passage of a “Don’t Say Gay” bill that prohibits classroom discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation shows that this issue is getting worse, said Kane, who stressed the importance of speaking the truth in all situations, educational or not.
“More than ever before we are growing more diverse in many places,” Kane said. “There are less white people.”
Jonathan Friedman, the lecture’s other panelist, is the Director of Free Expression and Education at PEN America. Friedman uses powerful speech and learning to drive efforts toward a more inclusive and informative society. He spoke mainly about the power of public education and the conservative groups of people who attempt to overpower and reverse advancements in diversity, inclusion and equity.
“It cannot be illegal to teach history to students that makes them uncomfortable. History is very uncomfortable; it’s meant to make you uncomfortable. It’s not to make us feel good, it’s to make us learn from our mistakes and prevent repetitions of historical parallels and mistakes we have made,” Friedman said. “For example, The 1619 Project is a banned book in Texas, but none of the books written by Adolf Hitler or white supremacy are banned across
MLK
continued from Page 7 the country.”
At Springfield College, where 21% of undergraduate students identify as a student of color, 3% of undergraduate students are international students, and 23 countries are represented in the student population, there is growing diversity on campus.
Clubs like GSA (Gender & Sexuality Alliance), Black Student Union, International Student Organization, Latinx Student Organization, and many more represent the efforts to make Springfield College a diverse, inclusive and equal place.
Springfield College also awards a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion award to members of the community who stand out as people who advocate for positive change and put efforts toward improving diversity and inclusion here at Springfield. The award is given to one student, a staff member, and a general member of the community.
At the end of the seminar, this year’s winners were announced: Paris Lizana, David McMahon, and Ronn Johnson.
Lizana is a current student and President of the Black Student Union. She also serves as the Vice President of the Women of Power club and participated in the SEAT at the Table events, where she presented and informed students on four separate occasions on different social justice topics.
McMahon is a current staff member and serves as the Director of Spiritual Life. He prioritizes his presence on campus by attending as many events as he can and is an advisor of diversity, working with students to explore their identity.
Johnson, who died unexpectedly on Jan. 15, left his mark on the Springfield College community. He worked to fund a citywide violence prevention task force, funded efforts toward mobility and access for children with disabilities in Western Massachusetts, and in 1998, founded the Brianna Fund for children with physical disabilities -- named after his daughter.
Kane gave her fi-
Dr. Martin Luther King during his commencement speech on June 14, 1964. (Photo Courtesy of Springfield College Archives)
nal remarks, restating MLK’s role as an influencer on societal and racial issues – and his impact at Springfield College.
“Chaos or community are our options. King’s message was a message of hope,” Kane said. “A hope for a future of racial equality. Are we going to fight our way out of this? Or talk about it. We don’t have to agree with it -- but we have to respect it. And that is how we learn to live in community, not chaos.”
Alumni
continued from Page 4 I probably would have been lost, just stood around outside,” Lagana added.
Lagana said that while the events were unfolding, she saw other fellow Alumni residents filing into Abbey to stay with friends -- even members of the football team, who had their required team lift at 6:00 a.m. that morning.
Alumni Hall residents were finally informed at 1:15 a.m. by an email from Residence Life that if they hadn’t already arranged for a place to stay with a friend, they could come to the base floor of the Union by 1:30 a.m. and would be given keys to an empty room in Lakeside Hall.
With the initial notification of evacuation coming at approximately 11:00 - 11:30 p.m., students had been left in limbo for two hours while Residence Life scrambled to relocate the over-300-person population. The Student reached out to the Administration, Public Safety, and Facilities for comment but had not heard back by the time this article was published.
Robert Yanez, Director of Residence Life, stated that student safety was Public Safety, Residence Life, and Facilities’ primary concern. He said they were evacuated because there was no water access including sinks, toilets, showers, and laundry facilities.
At 6:50 a.m., students were told they could return to their rooms after the three groups worked overnight to make Alumni Hall safe again.
“Facilities staff, Residence Life staff and Public Safety staff all worked through the night to accommodate students, manage a potentially unsafe area and call for clean-up and water removal services,” Yanez stated.
“They should have told us where to go as soon as they evacuated the building, because we were kind of just kicked to the streets,” Fogarty laughed half-heartedly.
“How were we expected to go to classes the next day if we couldn’t get our stuff?” Lagana questioned.
Currently, students are mostly concerned about their laundry. With the basement blocked off and no definite timeline to when those facilities would be open again, Alumni residents have key card access to the laundry rooms in Massasoit, Abbey-Appleton, Reed, and International Halls.
Sam Hourihan in Springfield’s NEWMAC Quarterfinal win against Coast Guard. (Joe Arruda/The Student)
Sam Hourihan
The voters overwhelmingly went with the hero of the weekend in Sam Hourihan, as she received 67.9% of the vote. In two NCAA Tournament games last week, the junior forward combined for 45 points and 25 rebounds. That included a career-high 28 points on Saturday against Ithaca, where the last two were scored on a buzzer-beating game-winner to advance the women’s basketball team to the Sweet 16. Behind her at 12.8% was MacKenzie MacLeod, who made history on Sunday. The senior gymnast set a Springfield College record on the beam with a score of 9.875. She also impressed on the floor routine and the vault with scores of 9.600 in each event. Angela Czermcha was close behind MacLeod with 10.3% of the vote. In the Posse’s two NCAA Tournament games, she combined for 28 points and 20 rebounds. Haley Moody rounded out the vote, where she got 9% of the poll. The sophomore goalkeeper for the women’s lacrosse team tallied nine saves, which included four in the game’s final three minutes with the team’s lead on the line.
Brendan Kirck
In his first opportunity, Brendan Kirck earned Springfield Student Athlete of the Week honors with 52.2% of the vote. The senior pitcher threw four scoreless innings of one-hit ball on Saturday against Western New England, and also added seven strikeouts. Following Kirck was junior men’s volleyball player Liam York with 29.9% of the vote. The outside hitter gathered 31 kills on a .418 hitting percentage in the team’s three games. Sophomore outfielder Andrew McCarty and junior gymnast Jakarie Williams tied for third in this week’s vote. McCarty made a great impression in the baseball team’s first weekend of play, as he went 4-for12 at the plate with two home runs, a triple, and three runs batted in. Williams scored two career-highs in the men’s gymnastics team’s meet against William & Mary and Oklahoma. He scored a 13.900 in the floor routine and a 14.300 on the vault. Be sure to follow The Student on Twitter (@TheSpfldStudent) to vote in the next poll!
Brendan Kirck looking at a runner at 1st base in a 2021 game against WPI. (Joe Arruda/The Student)
The snowboarders going to Nationals include Hunter Bernard, Josh Newell (pictured), Troy Travaglino, Stephen Pisano, Danté DiGiovanni and Connor Stanwick. (Photo courtesy of Ski and Snowboard Club)
Success on the slopes
The Springfield College Ski and Snowboard Club produced a successful regular season, and has six athletes going to Nationals.
In the Springfield College Ski and Snowboard team’s very first season, six individuals punched their ticket to Nationals in Lake Placid, New York. The Pride’s skiers, including Jack Reetz, Darby Hartman, Jackson Urtz and Bridget Mooney, were able to display their skills on the slopes at regionals. In similar fashion, the snowboarders put on a show as their cumulative scoring in points qualified the team for nationals. The group of six that are heading to nationals includes Hunter Bernard, Josh Newell, Troy Travaglino, Stephen Pisano, Danté DiGiovanni and Connor Stanwick. Although this was the team’s first year competing, it did not stop the group from bringing the energy as they received the Bo Bigelow award. “He [Bigelow] actually called our president and said the Mcbrine Division would not have been what it was this year without Springfield’s team,” Newell said. With no expectations, the team was astonished by how the season turned out not only by how well they all performed – but also by how this club sport was organized. Putting this team together was a group effort on all cylinders as it is all run by the club members. As its season is winding down toward the end, the ski and snowboard team plan on staying active to prepare themselves for next year. “We’re working on getting lift times weekly in the varsity weight room, even if it’s just a time for us all to get together,” Newell said. Additionally, the team intends on getting some new equipment that they can use to continue to train off of the mountains, such as trampoline boards or even balance boards to help strengthen balance. “By using these boards and techniques it not only makes you better at snowboarding, but it also makes your coordination so much better,” Newell continued. As the next season comes around the team looks forward to getting some practice on the mountain before meets begin to get loose and giving recruits a chance to see what it’s like on the slopes. In the upcoming weeks, the ski and snowboard team plans on setting up an event where anyone interested in joining the club can travel up to Mt. Snow in Vermont for a day trip. “We plan for this event to be all-inclusive,” Newell said. “It will give those who are not a part of the team to get out there and see what we’re all about.” To join, no prior skill is necessary as anyone of any level can get involved and learn more about the sport to practice and become better. Looking toward the future of the program the team looks to continue its success from this season into the many years to come. “We’ve really been working with the underclassmen to go through the responsibilities of e-board members and try our best to give them an idea on how to run things and pass it down,” Newell said. A large part of the process, which coincides with the team’s plan, is recruiting more students to get involved. With their recent success, the team hopes that others will give it a shot and become more recognized. “It’s a good start, and hopefully I can come back to Springfield College in 10 to 15 years and see the team become something unbelievable where it is respected as a sport,” Newell said. Having faith in their teammates, the Springfield College Ski and Snowboard team looks to continue their success and grow larger in size for the years to come.
__ By Brady Cote __ @brady.cote
How sweet it is
The Springfield women’s basketball team won each of its two battles in the NCAA Tournament, and is now travelling to Kentucky to play in the Sweet 16.
___ By Hayden CHoate ___ @ChoateHayden
There were just 1.1 seconds left in the overtime period of the NCAA Round of 32, with the score deadlocked at 71. The Springfield College women’s basketball team stood ready to inbound the ball from the baseline and look for one last shot while Ithaca College looked to send the game to double-overtime in their home gym. Graduate student Sidney Wentland tossed the ball to junior Sam Hourihan after she created separation from her defender. Fading away, Hourihan launched a mid-range shot as time expired and watched the ball fall into the net as she fell backwards, sending the Springfield bench behind her into pandemonium. The shot not only won Springfield the game, but advanced them to the NCAA championship tournament Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005. The Posse will play Trine University, out of Angola, Indiana on the campus of Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky on Friday afternoon. “We’re excited. We’re really excited to be traveling to somewhere like Kentucky, that adds a little spin to it,” Springfield head coach Naomi Graves said. “Looking forward to seeing the facility getting on the court. We’ve been talking a lot about this team.” Springfield matched up with Messiah College in the first round last Friday. After a strong defensive game, the Pride advanced to the second round with a 73-68 win. The Posse matched up with Ithaca the next day, which was not only hosting the first two rounds, but was on a 20-game winning streak heading into the game. With the gym crowded with students and parents for the NCAA Tournament game, something that had not happened since before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Springfield played a strong game but Ithaca clawed their way back in the last minutes of the fourth quarter. The score in Springfield’s favor, 64-61 Ithaca had possession of the ball with 9.9 seconds left in regulation. The Bombers were able to get a buzzer-beating three to tie the game, sending it to overtime and setting up Hourihan’s matching buzzer-beater – only this time was for the win. The team is 15-0 when playing teams outside of the NEWMAC conference this season. Graves believes playing teams out of the conference helped her unit relax a bit and just play basketball. Graves said, “I know about Messiah because we’ve played them before and I know Ithaca a little bit but the beauty of the NCAA tournament is hopefully you get to play teams that you don’t normally play so for us there is a beauty to the unknown.” Trine University is 26-3 this season and beat Immaculata and John Caroll to advance to the third round for the third time in their program history and first time since 2020 when the tournament was stopped. “They’re very good but we’re very good,” Graves said. “They’re bigger and deeper than we are in terms of size and depth but I think the way we’re playing right now any team should be afraid of us because we seem to come up with things that people don’t expect so I’m excited.” Heading into the weekend as the team will fly to Lexington two days before the game, Graves is grateful that her team has been able to experience the NCAA tournament. “Every coach always wants to get to the NCAAs and it’s harder and harder I think nowadays to do that for a lot of reasons, conferences are much tougher, players are a lot more competitive,” Graves said. “It’s harder to reach that goal. Whenever you get that opportunity to get to the NCAAs it’s just a gift and so we’re trying really hard to enjoy the ride and take in the experience and just these memories that we’re making I know they’re going to be there forever for our team and for our coaches and for me.” Graves said that when her team practiced on Monday it was Hourihan who reminded the team that of the 423 Division III women’s basketball programs, only 16 are practicing in preparation for a game this week and Springfield is one of them. Enjoying the experience but also bringing confidence is what the Pride will bring into Kentucky for the third round of the NCAA tournament. “I’m just really, really grateful that Springfield got to be back at the national level,” Graves said. “As I said we were ranked nationally up at No. 9 so there’s no stopping us, I know Trine has a ranking fourth or fifth nationally but it’s okay because we were nine we’re right there so it just is what it is and on any given night any team can get beat.” In the final D3hoops.com rankings of the season, Trine was No. 5 in the nation while Messiah was ranked No. 17 and Ithaca was No. 19.
The Posse celebrating their buzzer-beater victory over Ithaca. (Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics)
Head first into Nationals
Springfield’s Luca Brashear has become one of the best divers in Division III, and is going to the NCAA Championships for the second time in his collegiate career.
__ By Garrett Cote __ @garrett_cote
Luca Brashear fell in love with diving the second he watched the sport unfold in front of his very eyes. Growing up as a kid, being in awe as an older athlete performs their craft is inevitable. Brashear fell victim to this as well.
One day while a young Brashear was at Amherst College partaking in swim lessons, he saw a member of the Amherst diving team complete a difficult dive to perfection. Like a kid in a candy store, his eyes lit up with glee. He was hooked.
Brashear knew right away: Diving needed to be a part of his future.
And not only has it been a part of his future, he has excelled and become a master of his craft. He will compete at the NCAA Championships for the second time in his career at IUPUI in Indianapolis, Indiana from March 16-19, representing Springfield College as the NEWMAC Men’s Diver of the Year.
“I’m hyped up for Nationals, it’s going to be really cool,” Brashear said. “I’m just really honored to go for a second time. It’s going to be a blast and I hope I can perform at my best when the time comes.” ***
Luca Brashear won NEWMAC Men’s Diver of the Year. (Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics).
His family made the move to North Carolina shortly after that moment at Amherst when Brashear was in middle school, and he soon hit his stride while a member of the Duke University diving club despite starting significantly later than the majority of other kids.
“They start either diving when they’re four or five or they come from gymnastics and then dive when they’re eight or nine,” Brashear said. “I didn’t have any of that background, so I had to start from scratch. Nunzio (Esposto, head coach at Duke) and Katie Hazelton (club coach) pumped me with the knowledge. They basically told me I’m not yet good enough, so I was just inspired to take it up a notch.”
Only four months passed and Brashear was able to qualify for Nationals through his club team. Because he has the experience of that, along with competing in Nationals during his first year at Springfield, he is no stranger to the big stage, and is fully prepared to step into the spotlight once again in
2022.
NCAA Division III Nationals were not held during Brashear’s sophomore campaign, and instead of competing his junior season, he took the entire year off to work for his grandfather’s oil company, Jenkin-Guerin, Inc., to make money and help provide for his family. So in the only two seasons he had the opportunity to qualify for Nationals, he did.
“I didn’t dive at all (junior year), and it was honestly a force trying to get back to it,” Brashear said. “I do think I did a good job just coming back to it, because I learned the basics at a pretty young age so I went back to those. It was pretty tough at some points, but at the end of the day I’m competitive and I can’t stop pushing because that’s my mindset. If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it.”
Every summer Brashear hits the road and goes to a dive camp at Indiana University. Mandy Hixon, the head coach at UMass Amherst, directed him to that camp where he had the pleasure of meeting her son, Michael Hixon, a two-time silver medalist at the Olympic Games.
Brashear’s inspirations can’t be mentioned without bringing up Pride head coach Pete Avdoulos, who won NEWMAC Coach of the Year for the 16th time. Brashear has been with Avdoulos since he was a member of the Springfield Area Diving club, one which Avdoulos coached.
Brashear has been trying to bulk up a bit by the time he hits the board for Nationals. Since the board has a lot of spring in it, the more weight he can put on, the more height he will be able to generate on his dives. The solution to that is his strawberry flavored GNC Pro Performance Bulk 1340 protein powder that he slurps down every day.
“The board is very bendy so if you’re heavier, you can get higher, essentially,” Brashear said. “I do this dive called reverse two-and-a-half (305C), and it can be scary because you’re facing forwards but flipping backwards. It’s a blind entry and you don’t really have time (in the air), especially on the one-meter board. So I need a lot more height to be fast when I’m spinning and to do that I need to put on weight.”
Just as he did at the pool at Amherst College when he first fell in love with diving, Brashear is excited to learn and improve by watching others compete at Nationals, as well as build his network by meeting some of the most accomplished competitors and coaches in the country.
Brashear was celebrated in a sendoff for Springfield’s national competitors in swimming, diving, wrestling, and track. (Joe Arruda/The Student)
Birthplace Boss
Springfield men’s basketball head coach Charlie Brock announced his retirement on March 1. He reflects positively about his time not only coaching the Pride, but being a member of the faculty and several committees.
Brock compiled 356 victories with Springfield and 586 total in the NCAA. (Joe Arruda/The Student)
For 24 years, Blake Arena came to grow familiar with the 6-foot5, intimidating presence that occupied the James Naismith Court sideline. His stare could muddle even the most experienced of referees, and his bellowing voice could stop any one of his players in their place. Now, the Springfield faithful are forced to give a farewell to Charlie Brock.
The longtime head coach of the Springfield men’s basketball team coached in six different decades, and therefore built an abundance of relationships along the way. When he announced his retirement on March 1, people from around the country congratulated him on his storied career.
“I spent time in four parts of the country. I was here, then I left here for New Jersey, then I went to Minnesota, then Texas and back, so I’ve crossed paths with a lot of people in a lot of different places. Some people have literally come out of the woodwork,” Brock said.
“Coaching associates and guys that have worked for me and that I’ve worked with over 45 years — I’ve heard from a lot of them.”
His coaching career began almost immediately after his playing career on Alden Street. He graduated from Springfield College in 1976 and started coaching beside Ed Bilik, who led the Pride men’s basketball team for 21 years. The condition of the school was much different in Brock’s first years at Springfield than they were in his final years.
“When I first started playing, we had to take the old fieldhouse — it was called Memorial Fieldhouse — it was literally an airplane hangar,” Brock said. “And the floor that we used had to be laid out every year for the season. It was put away and stacked away and stored in the offseason in a room, and every year we had to put the floor up.”
After Brock finished graduate school in 1980, he was hired as head coach of the Drew University men’s basketball team in New Jersey.
He coached there for six years, then at Gustavus Adolphus College for three years, before taking the reins at Trinity University for nine years.
In 1998, his alma mater had an opening in the head coaching role. There was appeal to remain at Trinity for Brock as the Tigers were coming off their best season during his tenure, and the sultry San Antonio sun is more comforting during the basketball season than the brisk conditions of the northeast.
However, factors not involving on-the-court elements or general climate convinced Brock to return to Springfield.
“I actually literally came to Springfield because of teaching,” Brock said. “It was clearly a basketball job, but to me, I came from a place where we taught a couple of classes, and they were elective physical education classes. They were fine, they were fun, and they actually had high enrollment. But, I wanted to be in what I thought was a more serious academic endeavor.”
He has embraced the classroom setting as much as the hardwood, and has brought a passion for physical education to a multitude of students.
“Most of my time has been spent in what was called Heritage & Values of Physical Education in Sport, which is history and philosophy and foundations,” Brock said.
He has arguably been
__ By Chris Gionta __ @Chris_Gionta
just as much a part of the educational development at Springfield as the athletic development.
“I enjoyed being a member of the faculty, and I’ve been on a bunch of different things as far as committees here at Springfield,” Brock said. “We’re a little bit of a different entity here. When we’re coaching, we’re teaching and [coaches] have a vital role in the academic side of things.”
A lot of success came after he took on the head coaching role at the Birthplace. He turned in an respectable 356-268 record with the Pride – good for a .571 winning percentage. Along with that, he led seven teams to the NCAA Tournament including six to 20-win seasons.
Yet, what largely surfaces Brock’s mind when reflecting on his coaching career at Springfield comes away from the court.
“People ask me, and have always asked, ‘what do you do for team building?’ We don’t do any team building. What we do is we go out and we dig gardens and we clear beds and we paint porches, and we cut weeds down at the gray house,” Brock said. “We do stuff together that’s in service to somebody that can’t get it done otherwise, and that’s how we build what we do.”
Community service has been a staple of the Springfield men’s basketball team, and it does not stop with helping around houses.
“During January and intercession, we’ve got a reading program, which we haven’t been able to do for the last couple of years because we couldn’t go in the schools,” Brock said. “But, typically, I’ve got these books, and we go into a school and promote reading. We buy a bazillion T-shirts and give them out to the kids if they read books. And I think it’s been a very rewarding thing. It’s a win-win with my guys and the students of the schools that we go into.”
Brock also reflects heavily on the basketball committees he served on. He was one of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Board of Directors. Additionally, he served five years on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee, and he filled prestigious roles such as president of the NABC for the 2018-19 academic year, and chairman of NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Committee in 2010.
“I’ve been so lucky,” Brock said. “I was on the NCAA Rules Committee (...) and that’s an amazing committee because that’s all divisions, all together, all in a room and you’re making decisions based on the betterment of basketball.”
When thoughts about ending his long and accomplished career appeared in his mind, he did not approach the decision process lightly. Ultimately, there were a variety of reasons he chose this time as his to retire.
“It was completely my decision, and it was in no way, shape or form a knee-jerk reaction to anything — COVID, winning/losing — none of the above,” Brock stated. “It was a matter of what I say is time and timing. And I felt as last year progressed, and this year progressed, it was getting time for me. I was having trouble standing for two hours at practice. I’m old — I got a lot of miles and they’re not good miles.”
Along with his physical state being a reason to retire, he identified the state of the young Pride roster as a reason to hand the reins to someone who will develop the team over time.
“In the case of the team, the way it’s constituted now, there are so many first-year guys that are going to get a new coach and have three years to work together to be really great,” Brock said.
He will be enjoying retirement the same way many do by spending time on the links and with their family.
“I’m sure golf is in the future — excessive golf is in the future,” Brock said. “And I’ve got my kids here, and I’ve got my life partner here for a while.”
After 45 years of coaching basketball, he has had a lot of experiences with an abundance of players. Despite his stern demeanor that he regularly sports, especially in the heat of competition, many of those players will remember Brock for the intrapersonal connections behind the scenes.
“He’s caring of you,” said senior guard for the men’s basketball team Daryl Costa. “No matter what he may say, or what he may do, he’s always there for you and always caring for you.”
Blake Arena will not be the same without the menacing presence of the veteran head coach. Yet, Brock has made the difficult decision of subbing himself out in order to hand the privilege of coaching Springfield men’s basketball to another person ready to imprint their legacy on Alden Street in the same manner he did.
Brock talking with former UConn men’s basketball head coach Jim Calhoun during the 2020 NCAA Tournament. (Joe Arruda/The Student)
