Local Sports

Local Carleton College coach, player enjoy last hurrah in Bahamas

Posted: Jul 08, 2011, 9:52 pm

By Brett Boese
The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

NORTHFIELD — Mayo grad Jim Hayes will soon be taking his coaching expertise to the bench of the defending Division III national champions where he'll try to help replace outgoing Lourdes legend Steve Fritz. But it's difficult to imagine a better last hurrah than what he experienced in late June.

The former Spartans standout was selected to coach a squad of Division III all-stars — which rostered three of his current players at Carleton College in Northfield, including Red Wing's Caleb Rosenow — in the Bahamas by the USA Sports Tours and Events program. About a week after his return, he took a new job as the top assistant at the University of St. Thomas.

The opening was created after the Tommies promoted Johnny Tauer to interim head coach following the retirement Fritz, who capped his illustrious 40-year coaching career with a national title in March.

"Obviously being national champions, I'm hoping to just fit in and not mess anything up," Hayes said.

Fritz led Lourdes to a state title in 1967 as a player and retired with a career coaching record of 594-246.

While the Tommies have enjoyed a highly successful run during Fritz's 44 years in purple, Hayes is a comparative MIAC vagabond. He was a two-time all-conference player at Hamline University and, upon graduating in 1994, immediately transitioned into coaching. He spent 10 seasons on the Pipers coaching staff before jumping to Carleton for the next eight years.

While Carleton actually tied the Tommies atop the MIAC standings at 17-3 in the 2010-11 season, St. Thomas has experienced unprecedented success in recent years. The Tommies are 106-13 over the past four seasons, while they also opened a new $52-million athletic complex in 2010.

But Hayes says the decision to leave the Knights was more simple than that. He lives five miles from the St. Thomas campus and, with two young children at home, the opportunity to cut down on the daily commute was too good to pass up, he said.

Leaving Rosenow, a 6-foot-7 post who blossomed last year, behind is one of his main regrets.

The former Winger star transformed himself from a seldom-used reserve in his first two years to a crunch-time regular as a junior, earning the MIAC Sixth Man-of-the-Year award in the process. He was the team's third-leading scorer and rebounder at 9.5 and 4.6, respectively. Rosenow also shot 56 percent from the field, which was sixth-best in the league.

That jump in production made it easy for Hayes to justify selecting Carleton's backup post for the eight-player all-star squad.

The USA team got just one practice together in the Bahamas before playing three games against many current and former Division I players, who are currently trying out for the Bahamas national team. The event was held in preparation for FIBA-sponsored Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championship, which is scheduled to be played later this month in Nassau, Bahamas. Ten countries are scheduled to take part, with Jamaica being the defending champ.

The USA Sports Tours and Events program was created in 2010 by Ron Smith, who was recently hired by Southern Illinois as the associate head coach. Members of the St. John's men's basketball program represented the MIAC last year in a similar trip to Brazil.

The Hayes-led USA team, which received NCAA approval to work with players in the offseason, played three games in the seven-day stay in late June, while also getting plenty of time on the beach. They left tanned and winless, but still called it a successful venture.

"I would put it more like D3 basketball being very technical and executing things properly," Rosenow said. "That was put against really athletic guys, so it was kind of a clash of styles. …I didn't know what to expect going down and playing, but I thought we all came together and brought it pretty god."

Added Hayes: "We were actually ahead at halftime in two of the three games, so it must have been coaching that couldn't quite seal the deal."

Hayes' Tommies will face Rosenow's Knights twice in the regular season next year. The games are scheduled for Jan. 11 and Feb. 13.

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Rochester Mayo graduate Jim Hayes (red shirt) draws up a play while coaching with the USA Sports Tours and Events in the Bahamas against the Bahamas national team in June. One of the players on that team is Caleb Rosenow (No. 9), who is a Red Wing graduate. Hayes and Rosenow teamed up at Carleton College last year, but Hayes recently accepted a position as assistant coach at the University of St. Thomas.

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