Guards Cedric Jackson and Norris Cole, both of whom would go on to play in the NBA — Jackson’s pro career was brief; he only appeared in 12 games — led the charge early on, and the dominant Vikings’ defense proved too much for Wake Forest, who were led by current NBA star Jeff Teague and NBA rotation guys James Johnson and Al-Farouq Aminu.
Cleveland State had only appeared in the NCAA tournament once before, in 1986. That year, the Vikes upset Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers in the first round.
CSU has yet to return. This year, they lost to Youngstown State in the first round of the Horizon League Conference Tournament, and head coach Gary Waters was quietly shown the door.
The search is now on for a replacement. New CSU Athletic Director Mike Thomas has enlisted the services of Collegiate Sports Associates to oversee the hunt, and several names have been bandied about by local observers, including lately fired Illinois Coach John Groce, former CSU Assistant Jermaine Kimbrough, and Fairmount State Head Coach Jerrod Calhoun, a VASJ grad.
Crain’s noted that the Vikings have gone 18-45 over the past two seasons, and that average attendance at games this year was 1,400, the lowest in the Horizon League. It’s time, once again, to turn the program around.
This article appears in Mar 15-21, 2017.
Head coach Gary Waters, age 65, retired – unless there is more to the story, he was not pushed out the door. In the “what could have been” category, Waters briefly had the inside track on recruiting Anthony Davis…..until he sprouted from 6’3” to 6’8”, received national exposure through a Chicago-based AAU team and coaches from schools like Kentucky, Syracuse and Ohio State started lining up outside the locker room. The only real criticism of coach Waters centers on his staff not being able to parlay the Norris Cole and Cedric Jackson (a transfer from St. John’s) years into a significant national recruiting footprint. Attendance numbers in the Wolstein Center – outside of about a dozen games against traditional national powers – have been disappointing, though the arena may soon be replaced with a smaller facility. The next head coach must have top-tier experience (Tom Crean, Mark Gottfried, John Groce) and a budget comparable with the highly competitive mid-major programs. Without those key ingredients, the Vikings will again be spinning their wheels with the mediocrity that was Mike Boyd, Rollie Massimino and Mike Garland.