SOMETHING LEFTOVER

For those of you who are regulars to the Bulletin, you’ve gotten used to seeing notes from around the state every Sunday. The final installment of that came two days ago, but here’s something extra that didn’t get in the paper.
My original plan was to catch up with Hartford’s Dan Leibovitz to get some thoughts on his first season as a head coach. We spoke for a little bit and everything was set, but the story unfortunately had to be bumped because of Joe DeSantis’ firing at Quinnipiac and the fact two Connecticut schools just played for the NEC final, which meant we had to catch up with the winner.
But here’s what would have run on Leibovitz, an up-and-comer in the business:

Dan Leibovitz spent the previous decade as a Temple assistant under John Chaney, using the same zone defenses that worked so well in Philadelphia. It was only natural for Hartford’s first-year coach to be influenced by the man he worked with for so long, but Leibovitz also wanted to make sure he didn’t try to change who he was in this new position.
“I’m different than he is, so you wonder, as a head coach, do you need that kind of voice, do you need that kind of presence, would it work for me?” Leibovitz said. “And it was good to be yourself and demand things in your own way.”
He credits honesty with players as the easiest way to foster good relationships. It worked as he restored the program’s severed relationship with Bo Taylor and helped get a team picked to finish last in the America East to buy into a new system that yielded some success.
The Hawks finished 13-18, winning a first-round game in the conference tournament over Stony Brook before falling to regular-season champion Vermont in the quarterfinals.
“To win one game up there was significant,” Leibovitz said.
The Hawks are only losing two seniors and their performance should warrant more consideration from league coaches when next season begins. It’s all part of the process Leibovitz has envisioned in trying to make Hartford a winner.
“If you have higher expectations that means your getting better,” he said. “Some day, I hope to have expectations that we’re going to come in and win the league, but I’m more excited than anything just have guys returning and some depth.”