Fast forward one month and quietly Keno Davis has done a solid job of rebuilding his coaching staff by hiring a coach with key connections in New England and beyond, and another who spent a decade playing basketball at the highest level.
Yet, to look at Chris Driscoll as simply a recruiter would be a mistake according to Leo Papile and the same could be said for generically labeling Kevin Gamble as a former NBA player.
In hiring Driscoll Providence has taken strides to fill the recruiting void left by Pat Skerry, and in Gamble Friars can learn under a player who played alongside four Hall of Famers. There is a lot more they can learn from these two coaches than simple X’s and O’s however.
Gamble was a kid who just wanted to make his high school team in the early 80s. When he emerged as his high school’s best player and one of the best in Illinois he hoped to play at the division 1 level, but didn’t get any offers. After proving himself at Lincoln College in Illinois Gamble earned a scholarship to Iowa as part of the school’s famed class of 1985. The class, headlined by BJ Armstrong, featured five players who all played in the NBA after leading Iowa to the Elite 8 in 1987, a magical year in Providence of course.
While many remember him as the starting small forward for the Boston Celtics who averaged 15 points per game finishing third in the league in field goal percentage in the 1990-91 season, Gamble did not follow a traditional course to the league.
He played sparingly in his first season at Iowa. Head coach George Raveling played him inconsistently during that junior season and tried to squeeze the 6’5 Gamble into his power forward rotation. At season’s end Raveling was gone, Dr. Tom Davis was in, and Gamble flourished during his senior season.
After the Elite 8 run he was drafted in the 3rd round by Portland in ’87. Once again, playing time was hard to come by and he was eventually let go by the Blazers. Tryouts for the Bucks and Pistons did not result in contract offers, so Gamble took his game to wherever a game was being played.
He put up huge numbers in leagues ranging from the CBA to the Philippines before getting a chance to join the Boston Celtics after Larry Bird went down in 1989. Again, playing time was difficult to come by in that first season, but he showed enough promise for Boston to bring him back for another season. Playing behind the likes of Larry Bird and Reggie Lewis, playing time was sparse in his second season in Boston, but by year three Bird was physically limited and Gamble had proven enough to find himself in the starting lineup of Boston’s playoff teams in 1990-91 and 91-92.
How much can kids at Providence learn from a man who just wanted to make the team in high school, didn’t get a D1 offer and had to earn it at a lower level, didn’t see the court during his first season at Iowa, and traveled the globe trying to make the NBA before retiring as a 10 year veteran?
After such a trying spring in Providence this program needs a level of perseverance and who better to help them than a man whose basketball journey has forced him to repeatedly prove he belonged?
Driscoll comes to Smith Hill as a recruiter first, and as a defensive mind second, but his ability to develop Friars off the court could be equally significant. For a program looking to not only improve the on-court product, but the off-court image, Driscoll looks like the right fit.
A disciplinarian according to Leo Papile and a mentor according to Ron Giplaye, Driscoll’s off-court resume is as impressive as his on-court results.
According to the press release on Friars.com, “Driscoll also served as director of MARA, a division of Community Teamwork in Lowell, Mass., since 1999. At MARA, he was the director of a goal focused program that provided support and services to at-risk youth through one-on-one mentoring as they worked toward their goal of attending college. Driscoll oversaw fund raising, grant writing, community partnerships and direct mentoring of at-risk youths. He helped raise more than $10 million in grant and scholarship money.”
Yes, the departure of Skerry stung as he did a tremendous job of positioning Providence with some of the best young talent in America, but for every Naadir Tharpe there is a Myles Mack. For every Khem Birch there is a Nerlins Noel. This spring was upsetting to program supporters not because of the on-court problems, but the offseason fallout. Transfers can be replaced, recruits supplanted by other recruits, and losses are always forgotten soon enough, but the reputation of a program is not always as quick to heal. These two hires could go a long ways towards doing so.
With these two hires Keno Davis suddenly has a staff member who can share stories about Larry Bird’s practice habits and one with deep connections across some of the best AAU teams in the nation, but just as importantly he has added two men with experience in developing young men and were praised specifically for their character by some of the most influential names in the game.
I wrote a month ago that there was nothing Keno could do this spring to “win” this offseason after such a disastrous spring, that his next big win would have to come on the court next season, but with these two hires Davis has shown a level of resiliency himself. While the offseason is not yet a win for this program there are still two months and a huge July AAU circuit left for Keno to serve me some crow. Quietly, Keno Davis made these hires and in the process has quieted a lot of the negative talk surrounding this program just a month ago. It’s not a win yet, but it’s a solid step in the right direction for a program that took a few steps backwards earlier in the spring.
