FAU coach Dusty May certainly has things going in the right direction. After being hired in 2018 he had 4 straight winning seasons before taking it up a few notches this year with a 28-3 record as he prepares for his C-USA quarterfinal game on Thursday night. The coach who helped get the program going in D-1 back in the 1990s was Tim Loomis, who later was hired as head coach at Thiel College and just finished his 17th season in Greenville, PA. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Tim about a quadruple-overtime game and making the leap to D-1. Today is Tim’s 70th birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!
You spent 2 years as an assistant under legendary head coach Eddie McCluskey (1 of the best high school coaches in Pennsylvania history) at California University of Pennsylvania before becoming head coach yourself: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing you ever learned from him? He was the best coach I ever worked with. He was a national COY once and won a lot of state titles. The biggest thing I learned from him was how to make adjustments at halftime and manage a team. He is 1 of the most knowledgeable guys that I have ever met.
In 1984 you had a 2-PT 4-OT loss to Philly Textile: where does that rank among the most exciting games of your career? Herb Magee and I are good friends: he is a legend. I recall that we each ended up with only 4 players on the floor due to everyone fouling out! It was a strange and exciting game. Textile was a D-2 powerhouse and we were just starting to get good. We played UDC after they won the national title and had the D-2 tourney MOP (Michael Britt) and a future 1st round pick (Earl Jones): that was the other biggest game I was ever involved with.
You were an assistant coach under Bruce Parkhill at Penn State from 1986-1989: why did you decide to take the job? I did not start out wanting to coach but different things lead to different paths. I thought about staying in California but I was young and figured I would see what D-1 was like. Bruce was great to work for and I do not have any regrets.
What are your memories of the 1989 A-10 tourney title game (Rick Dadika made a pair of 3-PT shots in the final minutes of a 4-PT win by Rutgers)? It was a tough game and the loudest crowd that I have ever heard in my life. Bruce had taken the program a long way so it was disappointing to miss out on a spot in the NCAA tourney. My ears hurt for 2 days after that! We had a young pair of guards that year so it was a turning point for our program.
In the 1989 NIT 7’3” Tom Greis scored 24 PTS/9-11 FG in a 9-PT win by Villanova: I assume Greis was the “biggest” reason for the Wildcats’ win? The biggest thing from that game is that I distinctly remember Rollie Massimino switching from a matchup zone to a man-to-man defense. He came into our locker room after the game and was very gracious. It was great to break down film with coaches like him and John Chaney: they were so crafty and such great coaches.
Later that year you became head coach at Florida Atlantic, where you oversaw the team making the transition from D-2 to D-1: what is the biggest difference between the 2 levels of competition? Not a lot: good coaches can coach anywhere but the talent level is a bit different because the guys are bigger and the PGs are quicker. We figured we would stay at D-2 for awhile but the administration decided for a quicker switch so we had to get a lot of talent in there ASAP. Chaney’s advice was to just play it 1 half at a time and keep making adjustments. We had about 5 athletic directors during my 7 years there so it was hard to maintain a consistent winning atmosphere.
You have spent almost 2 decades as head coach at Thiel College: how do you like the job, and what do you hope to do in the future? I love it here. Everyone in D-3 has a couple of low D-1 or D-2 guys and everyone can coach a little bit so you just have to keep recruiting talent. The last several years we have been good and we should have won the conference title at least once or twice so hopefully we can get to the D-3 tourney this year. We are kind of building our own good program and are well respected in the region.