As I sit here in front of the computer thinking about how to start the first journal entry to our Coaches Corner I begin to think about all the past players and staff that were here before me that helped build this program to where it is today.  I am very fortunate and thankful to be at Lackawanna College as the Head Basketball Coach and I know this wouldn’t be so sweet without the efforts and hard work of the previous teams.  Former Head Coach Rick Cabrera (who recently accepted an assistant coaching position at Tennessee Chattanooga) provided this campus with countless memories and victories, and he was a true model of what Lackawanna College Basketball represents.  During the last month he has spend numerous hours on the phone with me talking basketball and life in Scranton and I have benefited from his words of wisdom.  He is a great friend and I wish him and his family the best of luck at Tennessee Chattanooga.   I also want to thank President Ray Angeli and Athletic Director Kim Mecca for providing me this opportunity to help our athletes and their support throughout this whole transition process has been appreciated.

I will admit the minute I stepped on campus as the Head Basketball Coach I was welcomed with such great support from the campus.  The city of Scranton is a great place and I am extremely excited to live in the community.  When I left New York City and St. Francis College last month I knew I would be traveling to a new place with new people.  And I was eager to get started with our new staff and players.  We lost a majority of our team to graduation last season so we needed to get comfortable with our new recruits immediately.  I can’t thank Coach Anthony Figueroa enough for his added efforts in making my transition so smooth.  Coach Fig was instrumental to this program as an assistant to Rick Cabrera for the last four years and he helped me immensely as I worked to get comfortable on the job.  The first couple weeks in Scranton we spent hours in the gym, hours watching film and occasionally arguing about the NBA.  And I know we enjoyed every minute.  The NBA playoffs were exciting this year and Fig and I had many laughs as we discussed the Celtics and their unthinkable run to the world championship.

There were several reasons I felt so strongly about the Lackawanna Head Coaching job.  First and foremost the basketball tradition speaks for itself and I knew we would have a chance to keep building on the past success.  But even more importantly I was also impressed with the campus life.  We have such a great faculty and staff here who were so nice to me as I was introduced on campus.  The dorms and academic buildings were really impressive and I enjoyed walking around to see the new renovations with President Angeli.  Recruiting the state of Pennsylvania will be a major market for us and it has been great hearing how many people in the state already know of the Lackawanna tradition.  It was so nice to see the amount of knowledge of Lackawanna Basketball that was circulating among the basketball parties in state.  I know our name is out there and hopefully it will continuing spread. 

I hope you enjoyed our first installment of the Lackawanna Basketball Coaches Corner.  Go Falcons! 

Mike Netti
Head Men's Basketball Coach

The month of July is the busiest month of the recruiting season for both coaches and players. And we were busy here on campus with visits and off campus evaluating players. The month started with several of our guys playing in an exposure camp in Philadelphia. It was great for me too because I was in attendance to see them compete in front of college coaches. For the most part they played well and I think they enjoyed seeing their improvements in a game setting. The summer has moved fast for them also. Most of the guys are all playing summer leagues so I know they’re in the gym but what I was mostly worried about going into the summer was their skill workouts and conditioning workouts. Starting in late June they began their summer weight and conditioning program and I look forward to seeing the results. And now that Aug is almost here the conditioning program that consists of mostly quick on-court sprints and distance running on the track is almost 7 weeks complete. I hope the guys feel good about their improvements because I know they have been working hard on a daily basis.

We also made an addition to our coaching staff in July. Coach Raru Archer accepted an assistant coaching position with us and he will be a big asset to our players. Coach Archer spent last season as the Video Coordinator at Rice University in Houston and he gained valuable experience with film breakdown and scouting. He will be on campus in early Aug and the guys will get to know him immediately. Coach Archer is a passionate individual by nature and our players will benefit from his enthusiasm and discipline. We look forward to his arrival!

Mike Netti
Head Men's Basketball Coach

It is now the fall semester and the team arrived September 2 nd for the first day of class. The early weeks allow the players to get settled into college life and the current school year but most importantly for us it begins the preparation for a long season. It is a great time of year for college athletics and our players have been staying busy. We have really enjoyed following the fall sports teams compete so far, especially football. Our players have been to all three football games thus far and we have been extremely impressed with their talented team.

As for our guys, I was so excited to see them finally on campus together. Our roster is complete with players from PA, NJ, MD, TX and FL and the guys are starting to build chemistry through weight work-outs, conditioning and open gyms. The freshman class is a big class and they are doing a fine job getting adjusted to the demands of a college program. The tough thing is we only have one month for the preseason because our first day of practice is Oct. 1 st. The season is extremely long and the earlier we practice obviously makes the season that much longer. Basketball is a two semester sport so our guys must stay extremely focused from day one on campus. Which means academics and athletics will be the main focus of their daily lives for the next several months. Between study halls, conditioning, and skill work-outs – the guys don’t have much time to relax. We are definitely looking forward to seeing the improvements and the growth leading up to the first game. Hopefully you too will be out there to support the Falcons.

Mike Netti
Head Men's Basketball Coach

The season began with two good wins against Luzerne and Lehigh Carbon. Those two wins were great momentum for us as we boarded our flight to Florida to play two very tough teams. We went down to Palm Beach CC to play in the “ Battle at the Beach”. Our opening game was a hard fought win against Broward just 12 hours after we landed in Palm Beach. Our flight was delayed the night before and we didn’t arrive at the hotel after 2:00 am. Let me tell you it was a long day of travel. But by game time the guys were rested and ready to compete. After the Broward win we match up with a powerful Miami Dade team who were very talented. The game was back and forth until Miami Dade made a couple huge plays on defense to take the final lead with under 2 minutes to play. The tournament was filled with several competitive games and we were proud of our performance. Next was our opening tournament at Lackawanna College were we earned two more wins over Globe Tech (NY) and TCI (NY). With back to back games for the second straight weekend it was a great accomplishment to finish the tournament with two outstanding wins. Our record now stands at 5-1 and the guys will be back in action this week against Genesse CC. Go Falcons!

Mike Netti
Head Men's Basketball Coach

Last Friday was the last day of classes for the fall term and now our players have to put all their focus on finals. Therefore this week will be a light week of games and practices. Our last game was a very tough road game vs Manor. We began the game slow and were fighting from behind all game. Londell Nimmons made an athletic tip in to send the game into Overtime and then in OT trailing by 1 Kevin Stewart made an incredible length of the court driving lay-up to win it. The win moved us to 3-0 in the region and 8-2 overall. Our next game is tonight vs College of Southern Maryland and then it is a week off of games to complete finals week. It has been a great semester with several individuals really taking care of what was expected of them in classroom. And once finals are over I know it will be a great sense of relief for them. I hope the next week will finish well for all our team members. Once the holidays hit it will be a full month of just basketball and we all know that makes it a fun couple weeks. Go Falcons!

Mike Netti
Head Men's Basketball Coach

This past Tuesday we complete out regular season schedule and it was a fantastic month of February for us. We started the month with several tough Region games vs. Morris, Del Tech and Burlington. Our guys have been really focused as this final stretch of season unfolds. But being a junior college, we must remember that we have all freshman and sophomores. So February can be a dangerous month if those younger guys start to get fatigued and warn down as the practices and games start to take a toll on their bodies and minds. Once February 1st hit we made an adjustment to our practices and shortened them to only 75 min and we feel as a staff this should keep their minds and bodies fresh without burning out their motors as the playoffs near. And as it stands right now I think the younger guys have continued to compete and work hard so we are very please. We had two tough games vs Harcum College this past week and it was a great test for our players to have going into Region Tournament play. Harcum has always been a rivalry game and to have it at the very end of the season was a fun challenge. We were very fortunately to play well both games. Our guards made 12 three pointers in the 2nd game which really set the tone for our scoring. We needed them to play well because our guards are our upperclassmen. And at this point of the season your upperclassmen must lead and have a sense of urgency to win and fortunately for us they have continued to be hungry. We look forward to the same tenacity in the playoffs. Go Falcons!

Mike Netti
Head Men's Basketball Coach

The 2009 summer was a chance to better ourselves and better our team. We had a busy June and July with our coaching staff traveling all over the country recruiting and meeting with coaches. Coach Piece and I were able to travel to spend the day with Coach D Antoni and the NY Knicks. It was an afternoon filled with film, offensive breakdown, and pre-draft workouts. The Knicks were so generous to let us in for the day and spending lunch with the staff gave me a chance to ask Coach D Antoni about his Olympic experience. He was so open about his trip and it was great to hear him talk about how professional the USA team was. The following week I spent a day with the Washington Wizards and watched how passionate Gilbert Arenas is about his team. Man can that guy compete! I then was off to Hawaii to coach a team for 7 days while Coach Archer was on his way to Texas and Coach Pierce was at the HoopGroup camps. The assistants were able to really get out and meet coaches and available players which was great for them. I spent 3 days in Tulsa working the All-American 120 camp and then finished the month in Orlando at nationals so it was a busy month. I hope all travel was worth it! It usually is and I can’t wait to get these new guys here in Aug. WE will have our work cut out for us this month as the in-coming guys will be here soon. Go Falcons!

Mike Netti
Head Men's Basketball Coach

On Tuesday night we completed our annual basketball staff retreat which allows the coaching staff to bounce ideas off each other and brainstorm for the upcoming season. The night was a long discussion on what we might be able to change or improve going into the preseason for our 2010 team. We discussed topics such as our September/October recruiting schedule, our preseason expectations, player paperwork, travel, and practice plans. The main points I encouraged to our coaches were to grow as leaders. Coach Archer and Coach Pierce are both great for our program and have great qualities that help our program. We lean on them a lot and I know they will be ready for another great year. Our new players have already started to build strong relationships with them and we look forward to getting them here for the semester. Classes begin Aug 31 so it is just around the corner.

Mike Netti
Head Men's Basketball Coach