It has been just over three weeks since Fordham hired head coach Jeff Neubauer to replace Tom Pecora, but even in the time before his hire one factor has been lingering over the program.
Freshman Eric Paschall, who won Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year honors and today shares the All-Met Rookie of the Year award with Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado, received his release from the Bronx school seven days before Neubauer’s hire.
Most coaches say that when they inherit the job they have to “re-recruit” their roster back, as transfer lists over the last few seasons have grown at a substantial rate. Neubauer disagreed with the idea of “re-recruiting,” but insists his staff has taken the approach to work with the guys he has over his first three weeks in individual and team workouts.
“My number one priority, coming in here to Fordham, is our current group of guys,” Neubauer said. “As a staff we’ve tried to spend as much time with those guys as possible.”
Neubauer said that the 6’6″ Paschall has been working out with the team, even though he received his release and publicly announced a list of schools that included the Rams on his finalists for where he might go.
“I’m not phased by it,” Neubauer said when asked how unusual Paschall’s situation may be. “It probably is atypical, it is atypical, but it’s not a problem. It’s just a situation to work through.”
Paschall led the Rams last season with 15.9 ppg, recording the fifth best scoring season for a freshman in school history.
Ryan Restivo wrote the America East conference preview for the 2014-15 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. He covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the America East conference among others for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.
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Paschall and Fordham were always a very poor fit. A high level talent at a decidedly low level program. For Paschall to reach his potential as a player he needs to transfer. Fordham will never surround him with the talent he needs to play with to improve. The Rams will be better next year due to a coaching upgrade, but they are a weak program stuck in a conference that they simply cannot compete in.
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