Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Nice Article in Das Kapital about DeVoe
The Capital (Annapolis, MD)
February 3, 2004 Tuesday
Correction Appended
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. B3
LENGTH: 651 words
HEADLINE: Another distressing setback for Mids
BODY:
This was the wrong time for the Navy men's basketball program to take the phrase "Restoring the Glory" as its motto. This season has been anything but glorious.
In addition to the disappointing record, the program knows now it has lost one of the classiest coaches it has ever had.
Don DeVoe will step down when this distressing season is over. If DeVoe made that decision on his own, it had to be more painful than if he has actually been asked to retire. We may never know which of those things happened, but the fact is Navy will be without the man who 10 years ago did, in fact, restore the glory to Navy basketball.
As might be expected, most of the people calling for DeVoe's departure because of the agonizing season he's enduring, weren't around when he arrived on the scene. They might not be in such a rush to get rid of him.
After David Robinson graduated in 1987, Navy teams went through five consecutive losing seasons. In 1991-92, the Mids' first season in the Patriot League, they finished dead last with a 1-13 record. Overall, Navy battled through its fourth straight season with a single digit in the "win" column.
DeVoe replaced Pete Herrmann for the 1992-93 campaign and continued that string when the Mids went 5-9 in the Patriot League and 8-19 overall, which was the most wins in a conference and equaled the most overall wins in five years.
The next eight seasons were all winning seasons. Five times the Mids either won the Patriot League title outright or tied for it. Three times they went to the NCAA Tournament. Four times DeVoe's teams won 20 or more games and there were two other seasons when the Mids won 19 games.
All of that success spoiled the Navy fans, whose short memories have forgotten about years before DeVoe's arrival. They were also spoiled by the Robinson years, and many never understood that Robinson's era at the Naval Academy was an anomaly.
Before Robinson arrived in Annapolis no Navy team ever had a 20-win season. Aside from the 18-11 record the year prior to Robinson being a Midshipman, only one Navy team since the 1961-62 season recorded as many as three more wins than losses.
No Navy coach had any more than eight consecutive winning season since the legendary Ben Carnivale's squads had 11 in a row from 1946-47 until 1956-57. They are the only two streaks of eight or more consecutive winning seasons in Navy basketball history.
No Navy basketball coach has ever dominated Army as DeVoe's teams did prior to this season: 25-2. The Naval Academy won't find any coach who will come close to duplicating that record.
In the 30 years prior to DeVoe becoming the coach, Navy had only 11 winning seasons, which means that there was not really as much of a tradition of winning as some people would have you believe.
Although that's all in the past, Navy supporters must be reminded of all that DeVoe has done for the basketball program.
Naval Academy athletic director Chet Gladchuck is starting his hunt for a replacement. He'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who will live up to DeVoe's standards as a coach, as a family man or as a gentleman.
In his years in Annapolis DeVoe has made a lot of friends and wowed a lot of fans by molding many good, yet less-than-sensational young men, into some good basketball teams. Navy was put at a disadvantage when several Patriot League schools chose to return to the use of scholarship athletes, though the league was formed on the foundation of high academic standards and no scholarships.
The advent of military action is reason for young men coming here largely for an athletic program to think twice about coming to a service academy.
At any rate, this may be a good time for DeVoe to retire, to relax and enjoy life with his wife Ana. He had a great run here in Annapolis, now Don DeVoe can watch someone else try to "restore the glory".
---
jgross@capitalgazette.com @ 2:34 PM
The Capital (Annapolis, MD)
February 3, 2004 Tuesday
Correction Appended
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. B3
LENGTH: 651 words
HEADLINE: Another distressing setback for Mids
BODY:
This was the wrong time for the Navy men's basketball program to take the phrase "Restoring the Glory" as its motto. This season has been anything but glorious.
In addition to the disappointing record, the program knows now it has lost one of the classiest coaches it has ever had.
Don DeVoe will step down when this distressing season is over. If DeVoe made that decision on his own, it had to be more painful than if he has actually been asked to retire. We may never know which of those things happened, but the fact is Navy will be without the man who 10 years ago did, in fact, restore the glory to Navy basketball.
As might be expected, most of the people calling for DeVoe's departure because of the agonizing season he's enduring, weren't around when he arrived on the scene. They might not be in such a rush to get rid of him.
After David Robinson graduated in 1987, Navy teams went through five consecutive losing seasons. In 1991-92, the Mids' first season in the Patriot League, they finished dead last with a 1-13 record. Overall, Navy battled through its fourth straight season with a single digit in the "win" column.
DeVoe replaced Pete Herrmann for the 1992-93 campaign and continued that string when the Mids went 5-9 in the Patriot League and 8-19 overall, which was the most wins in a conference and equaled the most overall wins in five years.
The next eight seasons were all winning seasons. Five times the Mids either won the Patriot League title outright or tied for it. Three times they went to the NCAA Tournament. Four times DeVoe's teams won 20 or more games and there were two other seasons when the Mids won 19 games.
All of that success spoiled the Navy fans, whose short memories have forgotten about years before DeVoe's arrival. They were also spoiled by the Robinson years, and many never understood that Robinson's era at the Naval Academy was an anomaly.
Before Robinson arrived in Annapolis no Navy team ever had a 20-win season. Aside from the 18-11 record the year prior to Robinson being a Midshipman, only one Navy team since the 1961-62 season recorded as many as three more wins than losses.
No Navy coach had any more than eight consecutive winning season since the legendary Ben Carnivale's squads had 11 in a row from 1946-47 until 1956-57. They are the only two streaks of eight or more consecutive winning seasons in Navy basketball history.
No Navy basketball coach has ever dominated Army as DeVoe's teams did prior to this season: 25-2. The Naval Academy won't find any coach who will come close to duplicating that record.
In the 30 years prior to DeVoe becoming the coach, Navy had only 11 winning seasons, which means that there was not really as much of a tradition of winning as some people would have you believe.
Although that's all in the past, Navy supporters must be reminded of all that DeVoe has done for the basketball program.
Naval Academy athletic director Chet Gladchuck is starting his hunt for a replacement. He'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who will live up to DeVoe's standards as a coach, as a family man or as a gentleman.
In his years in Annapolis DeVoe has made a lot of friends and wowed a lot of fans by molding many good, yet less-than-sensational young men, into some good basketball teams. Navy was put at a disadvantage when several Patriot League schools chose to return to the use of scholarship athletes, though the league was formed on the foundation of high academic standards and no scholarships.
The advent of military action is reason for young men coming here largely for an athletic program to think twice about coming to a service academy.
At any rate, this may be a good time for DeVoe to retire, to relax and enjoy life with his wife Ana. He had a great run here in Annapolis, now Don DeVoe can watch someone else try to "restore the glory".
---
jgross@capitalgazette.com @ 2:34 PM
