Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Media Day
October 11, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 11, 2002
Bowling Green, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team will begin its sixth year under head coach Dan Dakich. The Falcons return seven lettermen from last year's team which finished 24-9 and advanced to the NIT. BGSU held its annual media day on Friday and will begin practice Saturday at noon.
Dakich Is a Winner
Coach Dan Dakich is ranked sixth all-time in Mid-American Conference history in winning percentage (61.0). He is second all-time at BGSU in winning percentage and his 89 wins rank fifth all-time.
For Starters
The Falcons will be one of the few Division I teams who will have no returning starters from the previous year.
Where Are They Now
All four graduating seniors from last season are playing professionally overseas. Brandon Pardon is in France, Len Matela and Brent Klassen are in Germany and Keith McLeod is in Italy. Pardon (Education), Klassen (Business), and Matela (Recreation and Tourism) completed their degree requirements. Kris Gerken also graduated (Business Administration) and works locally for the Celaris Group. Overall, nine players that Dakich has coached have gone on to play professionally and 11 players have earned their degrees.
New Staff
Andy Markowski joins the Falcon staff from the University of South Dakota. He is a former player at Nebraska. Former Falcon DeMar Moore joins the staff as an administrative assistant.
Coach Dakich announced that Patrick Phiilips, a 6-3 freshman guard from Sandusky St. Mary's has joined the team and will walk-on.
Quoting Dan Dakich
On the 2002-03 season:
"This is a lot like our first year here. We are trying to teach every aspect of what our deal is about. Last year we could skip over some things because kids knew stuff, but this has to be broken down. For me it's really been kind of fun. I don't think I have ever looked forward to coaching a team more than I look forward to this year."
On the type of person he wants to represent Bowling Green:
"The first thing we are going to do here is we are going to be good guys. We are going to act right. We are not going to take knuckleheads here because they are not going to pan out. Guys that don't have good character don't last."
On staying at Bowling Green:
"Hey, I live a pretty simple life. I drive down Wooster [Street] to come to work and I drive down Wooster to go home. I eat cheeseburgers at Al-Mar Lanes. What's wrong with being the coach at Bowling Green?"
"What I did was different, and that doesn't always play well. But I don't care. You gotta do what you think is right. I've never minded being a little different if it's right for me. I talked to a lot of people I respect, in and out of my profession, as this was going on and not one of them ever mentioned money as a factor."
"Everybody, to a degree, cares what people think about them, I guess. But I can't base decisions on what people might think. I worry about my wife and my kids, my parents and my brother and sister. I want them to think well of me."
On playing in the ESPN Bracket Buster:
"I said yes right away to taking part in this, because I think our conference needs to do things like this. We can keep going along as a league and just hope we can get two or more teams in the NCAA, or we can take some chances and try something like this."
"If they promote this thing half as much as they did "Season on the Brink" it should be an unqualified success."
"ESPN promotes its own events about as well as anyone. Overall, this will help our league. The MAC will be out in front on a Saturday late in the college basketball season, and that's the kind of exposure that should help us come selection time."
