Two minutes prior to his first game as a college basketball head coach, Jeff Bower sat alone on the Marist sideline diagramming plays as his team finished their pre game warmups. Bower was so involved diagramming and going through what his game plan that he received a surprising tap on the shoulder.

That tap was from Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell who angled in to say hello to Bower prior to their season opening game.

“I didn’t see him coming,” Bower said. “I know Steve and if I were to have realized he was on his way down, I would have met him further than where I was at. I was just thinking of my first play and what we were going to run.”

After climbing the college coaching ranks and moving in the NBA as general manager and head coach of the New Orleans Hornets, there are very few challenges Bower hasn’t faced. He helped build the Hornets into a contender for 15 years, starting as an advance scout and working way up in the organization. His work included helping the team draft players such as Chris Paul, David West, Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton among other parts of his capacities in the NBA.

Bower had worked on Marist’s staff in the late 1980’s under Dave Magarity, rising to associate head coach before moving on to the Hornets. He was a head coach in the NBA when he, as general manager, let go of Byron Scott following a 3-6 start. The one job he never had in his career awaited him Friday night: debuting as a college head coach for Marist on Friday night in a sold out Pritchard Gym at Stony Brook.

The memories of this opener are sure to stay in his mind as the first eight days will be a measuring stick of where a program that finished 10-21 in 2013 will go this season. Bower emphasizes their first four opponents present which include three road games, two of which at St. Joseph’s and Providence.

“We want to be challenged and pushed to the standard of these opponents that we’re playing,” Bower said. “If they can elevate us faster then if we were playing a lesser schedule, all the better. We’re going to take some hits I know, but I’ll find out a lot through that as well.”

Bower’s first game planning task as head coach would be figuring out how to stop Stony Brook sophomore Jameel Warney. The Red Foxes, in their shoot around, emphasized double teaming the sophomore after he dribbles. “We’re going to try to smother the passers to make it more difficult to get the ball to him because I think once he catches it, he’s a force,” Bower said before the game.

The first year coach at Marist said he has no superstitions prior to the opener, though his players ran out of time at their shoot around to try half court shots. “Thankfully the schedule saved me from another miss,” Bower joked after their shoot around. “I’m not a real superstitious guy. I don’t go through any particular things. I just focus on my game plan and the pre game process.”

When he joined Magarity’s coaching staff for the 1986-87 season as an assistant, after three seasons as an assistant at Penn State, Bower’s debut game was in Queens at St. John’s Alumni Hall. The Red Foxes faced Youngstown State in the Joe Lapchick Memorial Tournament, named for the Naismith Hall of Famer who played for the original Celtics, losing 56-52 on November 28, 1986.

“I remember the there was a lot going on that night,” Bower said. “Not only getting ready to play, but there were a lot of questions about who was going to be eligible to play, what was going on at that time. I do remember a little bit’s here and there.”

At the start of that season, Marist learned the day of the game they would be without Rudy Bourgarel, Miroslav Pecarski and Rik Smits for NCAA allegations of improper benefits and recruiting violations. Bourgarel and Pecarski were restored from suspensions after seven games, Smits returned shortly after on January 1. That season the Red Foxes won the ECAC championship and played in their second straight NCAA tournament.

Bower said he had not thought much about his debut at Marist, but remembers his head coaching debut for the Hornets on November 13, 2009 when their loss to the Portland Trail Blazers 86-78 was not the worst part of the game. Point guard Chris Paul sprained his ankle with 40.3 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

“I remember our point guard spraining his ankle and being out for the next eight games is what I remember as well from that night,” Bower said. “What an impact that had on things.”

As head coach of the Hornets Bower went 34-39 and after being let go from that job after the season, has worked for the NBA as a consultant for the league and teams before landing the head coaching job at Marist in April.

His debut as Marist head coach went well for the first 16 minutes of the game. The Red Foxes pushed tempo, drew fouls and made 11 of 14 free throws in the first half. Junior Isaiah Morton sank deep three pointers as Marist gained a lead as large as seven on the defending America East regular season champion Seawolves. However, Stony Brook stormed back with a 15-1 run and took control of the game in the second half and won by a 71-55 final.

Much like his most memorable debut as head coach, injuries became a theme in Friday night’s loss. Junior T.J. Curry left the game nursing an ankle injury, senior Adam Kemp had to be tended to on the sideline for what appeared to be a similar injury and junior Chavaughn Lewis received an elbow to the face with 3:44 left in the game. Lewis was bleeding and would exit the game after receiving aid from the team trainer.

“I know injuries are a part of every season,” Bower said. “I expect to deal with that, I’m hopeful I’m not dealing with it after tonight.”

A tough test follows for Marist as they continue to play strong teams throughout the non-conference schedule, a test that Bower is eager to use as a measurement of his team. From the first game, he said he takes away that the team has ability to perform well, but not consistently yet.

“When I look at our first half performance, I was encouraged by that our rebounding overall minus the three buckets they scored off of second chance points,” Bower said. “I’m happy we got to the foul line more than we had, that was a concern of mine in our scrimmages. Bright spots are there, we will find some of our execution was where we want it, we just need to do it more often and for longer periods of time.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.