Photo credit: trib.com
By: Ana Kieu
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose State Spartans’ football and men’s basketball teams have something in common: They both represent San Jose State in NCAA Division I in FBS college football and college basketball, respectively, as a member of the Mountain West Conference. They’re also far from winners. Well, at least not recently.
I’m well aware that 132 Spartan football players have marched on to play in the NFL, but I haven’t seen the Spartans compete in a bowl game since my senior year at SJSU in 2015 when they faced–and defeated–Georgia State by a score of 27-16 under head coach Ron Caragher. Before that, Kent Baer served as an interim head coach in 2012, Mike McIntyre served as a head coach from 2010 to 2012, and let’s not forget the legendary Dick Tomey, who served as a head coach from 2005 to 2009.
In 2017, the Spartans hired Brent Brennan as the new head coach for the team. Brennan previously worked at SJSU as an assistant coach alongside Tomey from 2005 to 2010. Brennan originally lettered in college football at UCLA as a wide receiver from 1993 to 1994 and also graduated from the university in 1996.
The Spartan football team, however, didn’t fare well under first-year head coach Brennan. Sure, the majority of first-year head coaches experience struggles adjusting to a larger platform, but the Spartans mustered just a record of 2-11, 1-7 Mountain West in 2017-18.
The Spartan football team is having quite the offseason as they made plenty of additions and promotions among their roster as well as coaching staff. They also confirmed their 2018 football schedule. In addition, SJSU alumnus, business leaders and philanthropists, Larry and Deidre Solari, gave a $5 million gift to SJSU Athletics–the largest gift ever to the program–to support SJSU football personnel and facilities. That was an extremely generous gift, and I hope Brennan and his team will put the money to good use.
Let’s switch to Spartans’ men’s basketball, who are on a similar boat–minus the $5 million gift. In 2017, the Spartans hired Jean Prioleau as the new head coach for the team. Like Brennan, Prioleau entered SJSU as a first-year head coach. Prioleau previously worked as an assistant coach at the University of Colorado from 2010 to 2017. Prioleau played college basketball at Fordham University as a point guard from 1988 to 1989 and 1991 to 1992 and also graduated from the university in 1992.
The Spartans have appeared in five postseason tournaments, but have yet to win a playoff game. They’ve appeared in the NCAA Tournament three times in 1951, 1980 and 1996, the NIT one time in 1981 and the CBI one time in 2011. Of course, the only appearance I’ve watched and remembered was the CBI in 2011. I was a high school senior who was getting ready for college at–you guessed it–at SJSU.
Moreover, the Spartans had six basketball stars who went on to play in the NBA. Their names are Coby Dietrick, Darnell Hillman, Wally Rank, Chris McNealy, Ricky Berry and Tariq Abdul-Wahad.
As of right now, the Spartans had a season to forget as they went 4-26, 1-16 MW in 2017-18. Despite their best efforts in this year’s Mountain West Tournament, they were handed their third consecutive first-round exit. This time, they fell to the Wyoming Cowboys 74-61 on March 7 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Ryan Welage and Jaycee Hillsman combined to score 49 of the Spartans’ 61 points in the game.
Speaking of star players, it has been reported by various sources that four Spartan starters–Welage, Hillsman, Keith Fisher III and Walter Graves III–are going to leave the program in the near future. These four aren’t just random players either. They’re some of San Jose’s finest. This isn’t the NBA where a lot of top-notch players leave their hapless teams just to win a championship or two.
As if that wasn’t enough, Noah Baumann recently posted a vague tweet about how he felt at the moment.
We don’t have a definite answer in regards to Baumann’s tweet yet, but he might’ve been hinting that he’ll also leave SJSU. We’ll see what happens. But enough damage has been done and the Spartans can’t afford to suffer anymore.
At the end of the day, the Spartan faithful deserve better.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Ryan Welage was selected to the NBAC All-District 17 Second Team on March 13.
Press release below:
March 13, 2018
Welage was given All-Mountain West honorable mention after scoring 18.1 points per game during the regular season. He had 14 games of 20-plus points and had a pair of 30-point games. He was the league’s most accurate free throw shooter at 87.7 percent.
NABC DIVISION I All-District 17
First Team
Second Team
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