Shae Labbe '19

Men's Basketball 3/3/2021 9:47:00 AM Jordan Doroshenko

Langel's Success Goes Beyond Box Scores

Consistency Key in Colgate Men's Basketball Culture

HAMILTON – Three straight years of setting the school record for wins.

First men’s basketball coach in Patriot League history to earn three consecutive Coach of the Year honors.

Program’s first NCAA tournament berth in over two decades.

Back-to-back 20-win seasons.

That’s the short list of accomplishments from Colgate head coach Matt Langel, but the 10th-year head coach has built a championship culture in Hamilton that goes far beyond the box scores.

“To me, life, and certainly a profession, is about being on a journey of growth and development,” Langel said. “If we are not striving to be better at what we do today than we were yesterday, and tomorrow than we are today, then we aren’t doing everything we can to maximize our chances to best achieve our potential.”

We caught up with several current and former players and staff members to reflect on their time with Langel, who took over a program that hadn’t won a championship since the Adonal Foyle era in the mid 1990s. Since his arrival, Langel has guided Colgate to the national spotlight behind the program's first two 20-win campaigns, two regular season championships, and three straight Patriot League title appearances.

“The continuity our staff has been able to have over the course of a decade has been as important to the successes of building a competitive program as much as anything other than the contributions of the players,” Langel said. “On the few occasions that a guy has moved on to another opportunity, the transition of adding a new face has been seamless because of the strong character, shared belief systems, and basketball experiences of the addition.”

Assistant coach Dave Klatsky has been here every step of the way, coming to Hamilton with Langel in 2011. This past year Klatsky was voted by his peers as the top assistant in the Patriot League and was recognized as a top 50 low-major assistant coach by Silver Waves Media. He was also chosen for the prestigious Coaching Consortium put on by NABC and ADU at the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.

“It was evident early on how Matt carried himself,” Klatsky said. "I'll never forget during our first year one of our old assistants, Terrell Ivory, summed it up perfectly by saying, ‘Being around Coach has made me a better person.’ When you are around Coach as much as we are, it's hard not to notice the respect he has for others and how he treats others on a daily basis.”

Dave Klatsky

Assistant coach Pat Moore '15, who grew up in nearby Whitesboro, enjoyed a prolific Colgate career from 2010-15. A two-year captain, Moore graduated eighth all-time in 3-point field goals made (188) and second in career 3-point field goal percentage (40.6%). He was named to the Under Armour 30-under-30 team in 2019, highlighting the nation’s elite coaches under 30.

Langel arrived in Hamilton during Moore’s sophomore season, and Moore saw an immediate impact on the program.

“Coach Langel has helped me a great deal throughout my playing career and now into coaching career,” Moore said. “He came into our program and helped change the culture. When he took over 10 years ago, a lot of people doubted that you could win at Colgate. He has proved everyone wrong and then some.”

Pat Moore

Shawn Trice is the newest addition to the staff, but he and Langel go back a long way. The duo played together at Penn, served as assistants at their alma mater from 2005-06, and then found themselves on the same staff again at Temple from 2006-11.

After being hired in the summer of 2020, Trice said, "I am excited for this chance to work with Coach Langel again. He was very instrumental as I transitioned into the world of college basketball. I have always had great respect for him and his basketball acumen, passion for young people, commitment to family, high character, honesty, and integrity.”

Shawn Trice

Director of basketball operations Pat Stasiak is in his third year with the Raiders. He has been an integral part of Colgate's run of three consecutive championship bids, primarily responsible for on-court training, team logistics, film coordination, practice planning, and game day preparation among other operational duties.

“When I first arrived at Colgate, it was very clear there was much more to this program than just the game of basketball,” Stasiak said. “I am very grateful to be able to join the program Coach Langel and the entire staff have worked so hard to build. Aside from all of the X’s and O’s I have learned the importance of building strong relationships with everyone around the team.”

Pat Stasiak

Leslie Cowen, the men's basketball athletic trainer, is in her 12th season at Colgate. She was promoted to director of sports medicine in 2019. Remaining as the athletic trainer for the field hockey and men's basketball programs, Cowen spent 11 years as an assistant athletic trainer for the Raiders while also handling administrative duties.

“Not only has Matt brought in talented athletes, he has also brought in great people who enhance the program beyond the court,” Cowen said. “It is great to see the players grow and develop during their time here. He ensures that character and hard work is never compromised in the process of winning.”

Leslie Cowen

The list of coaches who have moved on from Langel is pretty short, but it's impressive.

Start with former assistant Mike Jordan, who joined Colgate in 2012 – one year after Langel arrived. He spent eight seasons as an assistant coach and was on staff in 2018-19 when the Raiders rolled to their first Patriot League championship and NCAA tournament in 23 years. Jordan was in Hamilton for each of the last three record-breaking seasons.

Jordan returned to his roots in Philadelphia to be an assistant coach at Drexel. In his first season in 2020-21, Jordan has helped guide the Dragons to a 9-7 record and CAA tournament appearance.

“Coach has helped me grow a lot as a coach,” Jordan said. “He has helped me learn how to look at things from a different perspective and also how to adjust to how I coach. He’s the ying to my yang so to speak. He’s taught me to be more kind and understanding. Matt has always had a calming presence about him.”

Mike Jordan

Mike McGarvey spent seven seasons in Hamilton as an assistant coach before moving on to be the head coach at Division III Lycoming. In his second season at the helm in 2019-20, McGarvey led the Warriors to a conference title behind a 20-9 overall record and earned Honorable Mention City of Basketball Love Coach of the Year.

“Outside of the obvious basketball lessons that have carried over, more importantly the foundation of what I learned came from witnessing how much Coach cares about his family, players, staff, alumni, people in the Colgate and Hamilton communities, and all that goes into leading a successful program,” McGarvey said. “His work ethic and problem solving with process and patience is a great example for any coach or player.”

Mike McGarvey

Mark Linebaugh ’04 graduated from Colgate ranked among the top 10 at the school in several statistical categories, including free throw percentage (3rd - .816), 3-pointers made (6th - 173), assists (7th - 258), steals (7th - 142), and points (10th - 1,389). He served as the director of operations for the Raiders from 2011 to 2014 and eventually worked his way to an assistant coaching post at Rice from 2017-20.

“Coach Langel taught me how to teach the game,” Linebaugh said. “Coach is a master at communication and has a unique way of simplifying even the most complex things to help everyone understand and apply. One of Coach Langel's best qualities as a coach is his ability to teach and develop players (and coaches).

“Coach has built Colgate Basketball into not just an elite program in the Patriot League, but also one of the most respected low-mid major programs in the country. As an alum of the program, I know I speak for many when I say how proud I am of what he's done for the Colgate basketball program, the university and the Hamilton community.”

Mark Linebaugh

Terrell Ivory spent one season as an assistant coach for Langel and the Raiders. He is now the associate director of admission and varsity boys basketball head coach at Phillips Academy Andover. Ivory has had multiple students advance to play in college, plus he coached Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year Dallion Johnson.

“I still rely on some of things that Coach Langel taught me to help me be a better coach,” Ivory said. “The way Matt instilled confidence in his players is one of the most important things he taught me. My hope is that my players look up to me the way his players look up to him."

Terrell Ivory

Pete Durr spent three seasons as the Raiders’ director of operations from 2014-17. Durr has taken a different career path and is currently the Trauma Sales Representative for Smith & Nephew in Syracuse, where he was named the First Year Sales Representative of the Year for the United States in 2019.

“Coach Langel – what can I say? He’s just different and I mean that in a very positive way,” Durr said. “He thinks of things differently, much more holistically, much more about the development of players, not just about athletics and their performance. Coach Langel is the most consistent person I have ever met. You are seeing that trait rub off on the Colgate men’s basketball program as a whole.”

Pete Durr

Langel's coaching tree has continued to grow with the development of former players who have jumped into the coaching profession.

Sean O’Brien ’18 was a 1,000-point scorer and two-time team MVP at Colgate. He was part of a program that set the school record for wins at the time (19) and reached the first of three straight Patriot League championship games. O’Brien joined the Temple staff as a graduate manager in 2020-21 after playing two seasons internationally.

“I'm forever grateful for what Coach Langel taught me on the court and I'm forever grateful for the connections he provided me with to start my coaching career,” O’Brien said.

“Coach Langel's one rule for Colgate Men's Basketball is to do the right thing. He has done an unbelievable job implementing that and it shows through the record-setting wins, but more importantly through the success his players have had once their Colgate careers end.”

Sean O'Brien

Mitch Rolls ’13 graduated from Colgate second all-time in assists (365) and seventh in 3-pointers made (171). He is now the head women’s basketball coach at Labette Community College in Parsons, Kansas. A national finalist for NJCAA Coach of the Year in 2019-20, Rolls guided Labette to a KJCCC conference title and NJCAA DII Region VI championship. This season, Rolls' team is 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country.

Reflecting on his time at Colgate, Rolls said, “Coach always preached to do the right thing and to always be in pursuit of becoming a better version of ourselves. Not just as a player, but in other areas of our lives as well. We all sort of took on his no-nonsense personality and tried to incorporate that into our daily lives.”

Mitch Rolls

Mike Venezia '12 was a four-year standout at Colgate, closing out his career with 1,027 points and 196 made 3-pointers. Venezia had coaching stints at VCU and Texas before taking the assistant post at UNC Asheville in 2019. In his first season at Asheville, Venezia helped the Bulldogs engineer one of the best turnarounds in Division I basketball, as the team improved from 4-27 to 15-16 in 2019-20. The 11-victory improvement was tied for the third best in the country.

Venezia reflected on the one year he played for Coach Langel in 2011-12.

“I’ll always remember my experience playing for Coach Langel,” Venezia said. "He brought a competitive spirit that you just attracted to as a player. That habit separates good coaches from great coaches. When you watch his teams play, those guys don’t take a play off. They just compete at such a high level. Now as a coach, that’s what I can see on this side – the best players and the best teams don’t do anything but compete on a daily basis.

“I never told him this, but in a large way I got into coaching because that year I played for Coach was really impactful on me. He took the time to really get to know you. We felt like he cared about us and he wanted the best for us. As a coach, you’re just attracted to that and you respect that.”

Mike Venezia

Colgate (11-1) has its sights set on the 2021 Patriot League tournament. The second-seeded Raiders, who have their best record through 12 games in program history, host Boston University on Saturday in the quarterfinal round. Tipoff from Cotterell Court is set for 1 p.m.
For those keeping track at home, Langel is 16 wins away from becoming the winningest coach in program history.

I’m appreciative and humbled by these thoughts. I’m thankful for all that I have been able to learn and accomplish during our time together. They model the behaviors we want our student-athletes to value. I never take that for granted. Colgate and Hamilton have and continue to provide an extremely unique environment for our coaching staff. The work/life balance we have is something I value deeply and has contributed greatly to our staff truly being a family.

Head Coach Matt Langel