Raise The STANdard

A letter from the coach's desk with the latest news and information about the LMU Men's Basketball program straight from Head Coach Stan Johnson. Follow Coach Stan on the bluff here and on social media - @lmulionsmbb & @LMUStanJohnson.

It’s always amazing to me how fast the season comes around. This being my 20th season as a college basketball coach, I feel no different, the season has snuck up on me fast. We’ve had an extremely busy offseason preparing for this year. The addition of five new players, our ten extra practices we had in preparation for our European trip, the three extra games we played in Europe, and the two closed door scrimmages we’ve played over the past two weeks, are all things I hope will give this team the best chance to be successful as we work our way through the schedule.

I’ve been asked, “What am I most excited about this year?” My response has been, “normalcy.” In my first two seasons, nothing has been or felt normal due to COVID. I’m excited about our team having the opportunity to play a full slate of games for the first time without any stoppages or interruptions. It’s my hope that the consistency of an uninterrupted schedule will generate a good routine for our players and will lessen any undue stress that comes along with that.

Normalcy for me also means the opportunity to truly build a great game day environment in Gersten. It’s my hope that this year our campus community, the Westchester area, and all of Lion Nation will rally around this team. Winning requires everyone. Your attendance and energy play a major part in the outcome of games. You are important to us. We hope to be important to you. Let’s make it a great year. I’ll see you at 7:00 PM in Gersten next Monday for Game 1!

Yours In Basketball, 

Coach Stan

Is it me, or does it feel like summer just flew by? It’s hard to believe that we have passed the midway point of August and are two weeks away from the first day of school at LMU. Another year is upon us, which means basketball season is right around the corner.

Our program just completed our eight-week summer program that concluded with a foreign tour which took us to Italy and Greece for 10 days total. I’m extremely proud of the blue-collar mentality our team demonstrated over the course of these eight weeks. This group showed up every day on a mission to get better. Their buy in on the floor, in the weight room, and in the classroom was outstanding. 

It’s early, but this group seems to be about all the right stuff as it pertains to winning. Any time you add five new players to your roster, you never know what the chemistry will look like. Eight weeks in, this group really seems to care about each other and has been committed to the theory that for this team to do well, the whole must be greater than the sum of our parts. This simply means that we individually are not as valuable unless we combine to form a connected team.

The big question for our group moving forward will be can we have the same level of unselfishness and buy in when everything is real? What will happen when there are fans in the stands, when someone isn’t a starter, or doesn’t play as much as they would like. Time will tell that story.

There were three things we wanted to get done with our trip to Europe. Number 1, we wanted to create a lifetime memory that could connect this group this season and forever. Number 2, we wanted to compete like crazy and play well. Number 3, we wanted to get everyone home safe and sound. I’m happy to share with you that each of those objectives were accomplished. Trips to the Vatican and the Colosseum in Italy were shared experiences that our guys will never forget. Our tour of the Parthenon and Acropolis, along with the private boat cruise of the Saronic Gulf in Greece, were events that undoubtedly brought our team closer. Those are experiences our team will cherish forever.

The three victories we had over all three professional teams, one in Italy and two in Greece, were a reflection of our seven weeks of summer workouts. We played well because we practiced well. We looked like a selfless, connected, and relentless group. If we can continue to grow that, this group will be fun to watch.

We have a lot of getting better to do, but I believe we have the right people at the right time to do just that. I’m excited to grow with this team. Hope to see you all soon.

Yours In Basketball, 

Coach Stan

It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to write to you and fill you in on what’s happening in our program. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be “change.” So much has taken place from the last game of the season to today as you read this. We have been on the go nonstop and in the middle of lots of changes especially with our roster.

We had five scholarships to fill this offseason, which is a great thing, because it means you have the ability to make substantial changes in order to improve. It’s a daunting task because it means you have lots of work to get done against very good competition vying for the services of those talented young men. There are three things we wanted to get done with this class. We wanted to get bigger, more athletic, and improve our perimeter shooting. On paper, we were able to do so. Bringing in Rick Issanza, a 7’1” transfer from the University of Oklahoma, and Michael Graham, a 6’9” transfer from Elon University, gives us two athletic centers that can rebound and protect the rim. The addition of Noah Taitz, a 6’3” guard from Stanford, Justin Ahrens, a 6’6” guard from Ohio State, and Chance Stephens, a 6’3” guard from Poly High School in Riverside, Calif., gives us three prolific three-point shooters on the perimeter. I do believe all five of these guys fill the glaring needs of our program. I’m excited to get them here this summer and can’t wait for you to see them play.

We also had to replace Coach Allen Edwards this offseason. Allen took a job at UMass working for Frank Martin. Although I hated to see Allen go because of the respect I have for him as a person and coach, his departure allowed us to go out and find someone who could fill some needs on our staff. I’m proud to have Dave Marek from Weber State join us. Dave is from the Czech Republic, and his relationships all over the world will be a huge asset for our program. He’s also a tremendous coach who will help us get better on the floor.

Our team will be reporting on June 10th for Summer Session 2 and our workouts will begin on June 13th. It’s a big summer as we prepare for the upcoming season, but it’s also a little different because we will be taking our guys to Italy and Greece on a foreign tour from August 4th to August 14th. This trip couldn’t come at a better time as we integrate our five newcomers with the eight returners. This will be a great time to bond off the court, create chemistry on the floor and be educated on different sets of cultures in which we will experience. We will play three games versus professional teams (1 game in Italy/2 games in Greece). I can’t wait to share that experience with you when we return.

As I conclude, I’m proud of the work our program continues to do in the classroom. This spring our team achieved a historic best 3.130 GPA in the classroom. This is the highest GPA in the history of LMU Basketball. It takes a total team effort to accomplish such a feat. Wishing all of you a great summer. I can’t wait for you to see the changes we’ve made.

Yours In Basketball, 

Coach Stan

Leadership is about taking responsibility and not making excuses. I have no excuse for the way our program has performed to this point in the season. The bottom line is, we have not been the team I expected us to be and I am accountable for that. I own that!! Every decision that is made daily in our program on and off the court I sign off on. You need to look no further than me when evaluating our performances this year. I must be better, and I promise you I will be. There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist or to accept the responsibility for changing them. Our conditions will change. I believe with all of my heart that we are in the process of doing great things with this program. 

Success is hard, and often times not a straight line. We are in the beginning stages of building what I believe will be a beautiful house. Any great home must be built on a solid foundation if it is to last. I want you to know the foundation (which you can’t see) that has been laid over the last 22 months is strong. There are so many great things that we have in place now that will give us the best chance to win moving forward. The disappointing part for me is you haven’t been able to see the fruits of that on the floor YET this season. When you’re building a house and a nail breaks, you don’t stop building, you change the nails and keep going. That’s exactly what we are going to do. I’m asking you to accept my apology for our play and stick with us as we build LMU Basketball. “Something great is happening.” Those aren’t just words, that is my steadfast belief.

I read the other day that an elephant is pregnant for almost two years. The baby elephant is so large, it takes a long time for it to develop. Elephants give birth to only one baby per pregnancy. A dog on the other hand is pregnant for only 63 days and can give birth to five to eight puppies. Imagine the elephant and the dog having a conversation. The dog says to the elephant, “I don’t think you’re pregnant, I gave birth after 2 months. Something is wrong with you.” The dog comes back to the elephant two years later and has given birth to 30 puppies and the elephant hasn’t birthed yet. The elephant says to the dog, “What I’m carrying is not normal. It’s incredible, it’s unique and so big it takes time,”

Like the elephant, it might be taking longer than all of us would like, but I’m believing we have something special coming. Hang with us as we continue to fight for this season and all others to come. “The greatest difficulty always come right before the birth of a dream.” 

 

My apologies,

Coach Stan

Who would have thought that one year later we would find ourselves in the same place, fighting the same enemy (COVID / Omicron)? As everyone around the country and world continues to deal with this virus, our program also shares the same fight. 

As most of you know, our game against Gonzaga last week was postponed due to the virus, and as I sit here today putting my thoughts on paper, I’m not 100% sure when, where, and who our next game will be against. That’s the unpredictability in which this virus has created. I do want you to know all our players & staff are doing well. I’m thankful for all our trainers, doctors, and our COVID response team for keeping us safe and protected. We have a resilient group of people in this program. 

There is no doubt in my mind that upon our return, we will be better; and better we must be! I believe in this team. I believe that our best days and our best ball is ahead of us. It’s my belief that the lessons the non-conference has taught us will be the tide that raises our ship. Like I tell my team every day, “Something good is happening. But the only way to see it through, is to not only go through the adverse moments, but we must grow through it together.”

The best way to grow through something is to examine yourself first and be accountable. That starts with me. I can do a much better job coaching our team. I’m committed and dedicated to that outcome. We have a lot of guys who have not played to the level they are capable of, but I know they will. Success is not a straight line, it’s much more of a dance and being open to possibilities. If we continue to dance and stay open to all the possibilities, we will be right where we want to be in the end. 

I want to encourage everyone to keep fighting, to keep going, and to stay encouraged. Life has taught me that sometimes you have to fight a battle more than once to win it. That’s true in hoops & life. 

Happy New Year! 

Yours In Basketball, 

Coach Stan

I can’t believe we are already nine games into the season. It feels like we wait around so long anticipating the start of the basketball season and in an instant the season comes and goes. As I write to you, we are 35,000 feet in the air flying home after a huge road win at the University of Tulsa. I’m really proud of our team and the fight they’ve shown over the course of the last four days. Winning at Long Beach State last Saturday and completing our road swing with this last win at Tulsa, shows who we are capable of becoming.

We currently sit at 6-3 with a huge home game coming up this Saturday in Gersten against New Mexico State at 4:00 PM. I would love nothing more than to see our fans show up and cheer us on in what should be a great game versus a championship program. As grateful as I am for the last two road games, I must be honest in how disappointed I’ve been in how our team has performed at home. In this very young season, we have already given up two losses in Gersten to two quality opponents, both of whom I believe will have great years. With that being said, we must be better at protecting home court. That’s the mark of a good program.

A big part of our growth as the season moves along will be our ability to put 40 strong minutes of basketball together. So far this season, we have not had a complete game yet. A lot of that has to do with the opponent, which we must give credit to, and a lot has to do with us understanding how hard and smart you must play for the entire game to beat the level of competition we are playing. Winning is hard. It is extremely hard when we are playing the hardest schedule the program has played in the last 30 years. We have a lot of getting better to do, and I want you to know we are working relentlessly to get there. The teams that can continue to improve over the course of the season are the teams that will be there standing in the end. We must improve because as we begin to look to WCC play, we are staring at one of the best leagues in the country right now. I truly believe our league is better than it’s ever been, and this might be a year we see four teams go to the NCAA Tournament.

It’s the best time of year for me with basketball season here and Christmas approaching. It’s my hope and prayer that all of you will have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. One of the best gifts I’ve ever received is being the Head Coach at Loyola Marymount University. I love this place, and I love building something that we can all rally around and be proud of.

Merry Christmas!

Yours in Basketball,

Coach Stan

            I’m so incredibly excited for this season to begin. As thankful as I was for the opportunity to have a season last year and to be a head coach for the first time, there were so many things that were missing. My family never got the opportunity to be at a game and share the experience. My parents, who have been such an intricate part of me being where I am in life, didn’t get a chance to see me coach my first game in person or any game for that matter. Our team didn’t get the opportunity to be with the people who play such a major role in their lives (family & friends). Lastly, our program missed you!!! We missed competing in front our fans and building this new version of LMU Basketball together. As we begin a new year of hoops, it’s my hope that all of us can push the reset button on what LMU Basketball games will look like. I truly believe in my heart of hearts that we have a team that you will fall in love with. We have a group that are not only talented, but are also about the right things. This is a team that will be easy to cheer for, and that you can be proud of. These guys bleed LMU, and truly want to do something special. 

            What is special? For us that’s returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over 30 years. That’s no easy feat. If it were, it wouldn’t have taken this long since the last time we were dancing! How do we get there? It begins with me. I must do a great job pushing our players to a place they can’t take themselves, while putting them in the best position to W-I-N! Our players must do their part in embracing the moment by being a consistently good practice team and by being the most unselfish team in the country. The last piece is you!!! We need you to help us create an environment in Gersten that gives us a competitive advantage. I’m asking you for your trust and support. I know there is a lot going on in L.A. “I get it.” I believe Gersten could become one of the best places to watch a game in Los Angeles. If we do this together, we will create some moments that will go with us for the rest of our lives. 

            I don’t know about you, but I want to scream from the rooftop with pride in LMU. It’s time for us to come together and fight for our rightful place. If we don’t do it, who will? I’m telling you, when high-level hoops is combined with high-level academics, the experience for all associated with the university gets better. We have a chance to change our story starting this Friday in our exhibition vs. UC San Diego and November 9th (next Tuesday) in our season opener vs. UT Chattanooga. Hope you will take this step with us!

Yours in Basketball,

Coach Stan

Today marks our seventh official practice of our 2021-2022 season. I can’t wait for 11:30 am to roll around so we can get closer to the group we aspire to be. I’m happy to report that our team is getting better and has had the right approach to start the season. In our program we talk about habits a lot. I believe that we don’t become what we want, we become what our habits are. That being said, it’s really important that we develop the habit of being a great practice team. My goal for our program is to make sure game days are simply a byproduct of all the work and great habits that were formed leading up to the games. I want us to be a program that doesn’t overvalue the event (games) and undervalue the process (practices). If you’ve seen our game schedule, you will understand why this is so important. This season, we will play the toughest non-conference schedule the program has had over the past 30 years. That schedule consists of some of the best teams in the country, and programs that will be at the top of their respective leagues, fighting for NCAA tournament berths. 

People have asked me, “Why play a schedule like that in only your second year?” My response, “I believe in our group, and I want to give our players the best opportunity to make the school’s first NCAA Tournament since 1990.” Regardless of that, I believe part of growing a program and building a brand, is to compete against the best teams across the country. There is no doubt iron sharpens iron. One of the best things we do to prepare for our season every year is our “Team Advance.” We take everyone in our program on a 48-hour getaway from campus. This year, we took our team to San Diego and titled our advance, “The Innocent Climb.” 

You might be wondering why I call it an advance, rather than a retreat. In our program, we retreat from NOTHING!! We are always ADVANCING. The “Innocent Climb” means that in order to climb the last 10% of the mountain that’s ahead of us, everyone must do it with a pure heart. Understanding that it will require more “accountability, leadership within, embracing what’s mine is yours and what yours is mine philosophy, and believing when a gifted team dedicated itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort, magic happens.” This is a belief I stole from the legendary coach Pat Riley. Our advance gave us an opportunity to grow closer and understand that more people fail on the last 10% of the mountain than they do in the first 90% of it. I hope as you read this, you will lend a helping hand or even a push to help us reach the top of the mountain. The best way to help us close the gap and reach the summit of the mountain is to show up, and be loud. See you in Gersten soon!”

Yours in Basketball,

Coach Stan

The line “Time Waits on No One” has never felt more real to me than it does in this moment. It’s hard to believe that summer is over, and we are back in school with 70 days to go before we open up our season at home on November 9th. As I write to you, I can hear and see my team from my office conditioning on Drollinger Field in preparation for the season. Our expectations for ourselves are extremely high. We believe with the proper plan, the right mindset, and the blessing of good health, this could be an incredible season. 

When I was hired, the most consistent question I was asked was, “What is going to be different?” People said to me, “Every Coach has said what you are saying, so what’s going to be different.” Well, a year later, I hope that question is starting to be answered. We finished in the top 3 in the WCC a year ago, when we were picked 8th. It is the first time that’s happened in 14 years. We have set the highest team GPA in program history with a 3.056. We were able to sign a top-40 recruiting class in a pandemic. We’ve helped set a fundraising record for the athletic department and our program this past year. And we finished with the highest “NET” ranking in program history since the “NET” ranking was introduced to college basketball. All this is a good start and I’m proud of the steps we’ve taken, which has required the help of so many people outside of our program. There’s no doubt in my mind how good LMU Basketball could be moving forward. That being said, it’s time to take the next step. It’s time to close the gap, and it’s time to get behind this program like we haven’t seen in 30 years.

My question is, what are you prepared to do differently this year to help our program elevate?

What we need you to do differently is to show up and to help us build the attendance at our games. There is not a great program in college basketball whose fans don’t show up. If we want to be great, and play in the NCAA Tournament, we must defend home court. This starts with our students. The best environments I’ve coached in, had the best student sections. There is no reason why this can’t be us. We have some of the best students in the country, who attend one of the best institutions in the country, who live in one of the best places in the country. It’s time to use all that we have and be all that we are. In order to do so, we must show up on game days, which will in turn become some of the most memorable moments of your college experience and life. I know there is a lot to do in L.A. but let’s make showing up to games and cheering on our school with pride one of the must-see attractions in Los Angeles. This is our time, this is our team, and this is our opportunity to put Loyola Marymount University back on the map nationally. It’s my hope you will help us make this year, and every year after, “Different”.

Yours in Basketball,

Coach Stan

I don’t know about you, but as I sit here today writing to you, I have no idea where the summer went. The last few months have gone by like a speeding bullet. But, as the old adage goes, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” As we bring to close week 7 of our 8-week summer session which we are allowed to be on the floor with our guys, I can honestly tell you, this team has been fun to be around and has a chance to do something really exciting this year. 

One of the things I enjoy the most during this period of time with our players is implementing our culture. As we closed out last year and moved into a new season, I knew we had to go from A New Standard to Raise the Standard. I was looking for a word that indicated that we all in our program had more to do, and in so many ways we all needed to get better. I settled on “haijakamalika” which in Swahili means “incomplete”. The point of this word is that even though we’ve taken a big step in many areas of our program, we are still incomplete. It means that all of us has a mission to close the gap between who we are, and what we say we want to be. It’s also a reminder that as we strive to close all the gaps and Raise the Standard, we can never ever be complete as people, students, players, and as a university because there is always more to do as we chase excellence. On a much greater scale, this year more than any other, has proven how incomplete we are without our student body, our professors, and the many faculty and staff members who work on this amazing campus. One of the ways I hope we collectively can become more complete is by being present and supporting one another as we lift our program and this university to unprecedented levels. I look forward to having everyone back on campus and working hand in hand with you in creating an elite experience and connection for all those who love LMU. There is no reason why great things can’t happen if we attack together. 

I must tell you, yesterday was a pretty cool day for me. Coach Paul Westhead agreed to come to practice and speak to our team about his time here. If you know our history, you know how important he was in putting LMU Basketball on the map. Part of being more complete for me is having him around the program. I certainly hope we can make him proud by living up to the Standard in which he set. One story he told our players was how important fans are to a team when they show up and how important the team is to the fans when they perform. You need both. He told the story of how there were 50 people at the games when he first started coaching at LMU. Three years into his tenure there was a line out the building and into the streets trying to get into the games. 

It’s my hope collectively we can get LMU Basketball back to that this year!!! See you on campus soon. 

“Haijakamilika”
Yours in Basketball,

Coach Stan

It’s been incredible! For the first time since our staff has been here at LMU, we are finally able to work with our players during the summer. We are currently in our third week of workouts as I write this blog. We are allowed 4 hours a week on the floor with our guys and another 4 hours in the weight room with our strength coach. It’s been unbelievable to see the amazing carryover our team has had from the last season. To this point we have, without a doubt, a player-led team thus far this summer. As a coach, that’s what you desperately want from the group you are leading. Our returners have done an amazing job of demonstrating a seriousness about their approach to these eight weeks, and our newcomers have followed suit. This summer for me is about being very intentional with five specific areas, prior to our guys coming back to school in late August. 

8 Week Focus

1. Grow Our Culture: For me, you implement culture just like you would an offensive or defensive system. Our staff, players, and everyone that touches our program meets for an hour once a week to discuss who we are, how we behave, and what we are fighting for collectively. We use that time to implement things like our core principles (selfless, relentless, and connected), and to create a culture where our entire program is speaking the same language and takes ownership in fighting for it. These meetings are more important than anything we do because I believe it leads to being better teammates, students, players, and more importantly: PEOPLE!
2. Get Ahead Academically: We want to create a culture here where our guys are using the summer as an opportunity to take courses in order to boost their GPA’s and put them on track to not only graduate early, but also maybe start and finish their Master’s Degree. Eli and Joe are two examples of this, as both those guys are currently starting their Master’s programs this summer. I am happy to report that our grades from Summer Session 1 were all A’s and B’s, with one C. Our players are truly fighting for the culture academically. 
3. Get Stronger/Change Our Bodies: The weight room is one of the most important aspects of any winning program. For me, I not only want our players to be strong, I want them to look the part. We want to be a physically imposing and well-conditioned program. The weight room in the summer is a time to gain the right kind of muscle, and also, it’s a great environment to create competition. I have been pleased with what Coach Jordan and the fellas are getting done in there.
4. Skill Level Improvement: I’m a big believer that before the team can get better, the individuals must improve first. The summer is all about fine-tuning each player’s skill set. At the end of the year, our staff gave each player three things offensively and defensively they had to improve on. Our workouts from a skill standpoint have been centered around that. I don’t believe in the cookie cutter approach, where everyone does the same thing. Our workouts are all catered to addressing the needs of the individual.
5. Implement the Foundation of our Defensive and Offensives System: With the make-up of our team, I think it’s really important to establish our style of play with this group on both sides of the ball early. I believed this team is hungry and on a mission. With that, we are attacking the three major things we must improve on both offensively and defensively from a year ago. I can tell you it’s been fun to see the parts coming together and how smart this group is when coached.

I love this team. There’s no doubt in my mind that we have all we need to take the next step as a program. If we continue to fight for the culture while being willing learners, the potential of an impactful year will no doubt be upon us. I can’t wait for you to see our guys in action.

Yours in Basketball,

Coach Stan 

It’s officially summer here at LMU and for our team that means it’s time for our players to recharge, get home to their families far and near, and to improve their individual games in order for our program to take the necessary steps. As far as our staff, we are using this time to dissect our culture, and our defensive and offensive systems in order to make sure how we are playing and what we have taught fits this team we have coming back. I love our versatility and how interchangeable we can be. It’s of utter importance that our staff puts this group in the right positions to be successful. For me, that’s eliminating what no longer works for this group and adding what improves us. 

We are allowed eight weeks in the summer to work with our players. Four hours a week is designated for on court instruction and four hours are set aside for strength and conditioning. Our eight weeks will begin the week of June 21st and run through the week of August 9th. This is going to be a tremendous time to continue to build our culture and to improve systematically on the court, as a team, while developing our players individually. 

This time of year, we are also working on our non-conference schedule and I’m really excited about what we are putting together so far. We have a long way to go, but our plan to improve and strengthen that part of our schedule is under way. We will be playing in the Jacksonville Classic in Florida on November 21st – 22nd. We open up with Florida State and will play the winner or loser of Missouri vs. SMU. We have also started a home and home series with Tulsa University. We will play at Tulsa this season and they will return the game to Gersten Pavilion the following year. We have agreed to play Bradley on a neutral floor in Las Vegas on December 22nd. Our schedule is far from done, but the idea of playing National programs really excites me. It’s my hope that a high-level schedule will create high-level excitement amongst our fans. I know our team is extremely excited about playing great competition. 

I’m very happy to tell you that our team had another great semester in the classroom. We finished the spring semester with a 3.03 GPA. This is the first time in the history of the program that we had above a 3.0 GPA for two semesters in a row. I’m also really proud of Dameane Douglas who made the Dean’s List for the second semester in a row. There’s a lot of good things happening in our program and it’s my hope as things begin to open up in Los Angeles, you will be able to see if up close for yourself. I’m wishing all of you the best start to your summer. 

P.S. June 1st marked the date where we are now allowed to have recruits visit campus. I haven’t had the opportunity in my first year to show off LMU and my staff in person. I can’t wait to do that this month. 

Yours in Basketball,

Coach Stan 

Since my last blog, we’ve added three Division I transfers who fill the needs our staff wanted to address within our program at the conclusion of this past year. We wanted to get older, improve our perimeter play, and add versatility to our front court, while adding high character personnel to the culture we are establishing here. I’m beyond excited to welcome Kwane Marble, Cam Shelton, and Alex Merkviladze to our program. All three of these guys will help Raise the Standard in how we compete, and will help elevate our program to new heights. Kwane and Cam are big time perimeter play makers who bring a very serious competitive spirit to our team. Alex’s ability to play inside and out, combined with his shooting ability, allows us to play the way I envisioned when I took the job. What I really love about all three guys is that they really wanted to be at LMU and turned down some great programs because they believed in what we’re building and wanted to be a part of something special. There is no doubt you will love cheering these guys on. All three are very good students and are more than just basketball players. Our staff can’t wait to get in the gym with them.

As we welcome the new, we also say goodbye this week to Mattias, Parker, and Kodye. I’m extremely proud of all three of these guys and what they’ve meant to our program and this University. Mattias has given his blood, sweat, and tears to LMU Basketball and has been a tremendous ambassador for our program. He will conclude his master’s degree this summer and move onto the professional ranks of our game. Parker has been a huge asset to our program the last two years, and has been a major part of our success this year. Parker will leave here with his degree and a world full of possibilities in front of him. Kodye has been as good of a leader as I’ve ever been around in coaching. He often times this year sacrificed his body in order for our team to win. Kodye had to make a tough decision to walk away from the game because of his knee. He will finish his graduate work in our film school over the next two years. 

As all our students around campus finish with their finals this week, our program applauds you for your tenacity through what has been a very difficult year. You’ve come this far, finish strong. To all our graduates, congratulations! We are proud of you and we look forward to the impact you will have on our world. It’s my hope that you will come back when you can and watch us bring some excitement to Gersten. 

Yours in Basketball,

Coach Stan 

Today marks the end of what has been an unprecedented season in college basketball. So many people at the NCAA offices led by Dan Gavitt, and at all the various universities around the country, have done so much to get us across the finish line, which was no small task. As a first-year coach, nothing in my career prepared me for such a task as handling this COVID-19 Pandemic. There is no doubt in my mind, our program will be better equipped moving forward because of the adversity we encountered this year.

When I took this job, I made it very clear that we wanted to establish “A New Standard” here at Loyola Marymount University as it pertains to our basketball program. We wanted to change the belief within our players and everyone who touches our program daily to know we are capable of great things and should expect it if, and only if, we operate at a higher level in everything we do. In 12 months, I can unequivocally say we have established “A New Standard.” We have raised the most money in the history of LMU Basketball that has completely reshaped our locker room, weight room, practice gym, recruiting war room and walk of champion hallway. We have set the mark for the highest a G.P.A. in our program’s history (3.058). We ended the year with the first winning record in conference play since the 2011-12 season and we finished in the top three of the WCC standings for the first time since 2005-06. Our recruiting class currently ranks number 44th nationally, which bodes well for our future. All of this has helped shape who we are becoming as a program. 

As we close out the season and begin to focus on next year, it’s important that we also transition from “A New Standard,” that was established a year ago, to “Raise the Standard” which will require more from everyone on our team, department, university, and community. What was accomplished this year is a great start, but by no means is it where I want our program to be. To play in the NCAA Tournament, to win championships, and to compete on a national level will require more of us in every way. One of the requirements will be to show up and pack Gersten in order to create one of the best atmospheres in the country. I love being your coach and during this year I’ve fallen deeper in love with LMU. That being said, I can’t do it alone and don’t want to. It requires more than me if we are going to “Raise the Standard” of our basketball program. We are on the verge of something special. I hope you will help us get there. There is no better time than now. 

Yours in Basketball,

Coach Stan