Al Skinner

[MikeUMA]

Article from a couple weeks back...
Al Skinner Hopes to Continue Winning Ways in College
http://nothinbutnets.com/2016/05/03/al- ... n-college/

[uz2b-len]

Really enjoyed getting the chronology and Skinner's take on it all. This quote should be on the office wall of every coach of every sport:

"I tell my staff that this is like a puzzle and we have to figure out how it fits together, we can’t paint a picture because we don’t have all the colors at our disposal and we can’t just paint with broad strokes.”

[MikeUMA]

Reviving an old Al thread...

Unless my eyes are deceiving me, looks like Al paid a visit to Conte Forum recently. Tyrese Rice played for Al from 2005-09, and posted a couple pictures:
https://twitter.com/ReseRice4/status/17 ... 4936664235

It's been 13 years now since BC fired Al. I guess fences have been mended to some degree. Someone else pointed out that Al went back to BC for Troy Bell's jersey retirement in 2020.

[LS71]

Love to see Al at the Bill!

Having said that how cool would it be to see a steady stream of alums at games throughout the season?

Great way to connect the generations of UMass fans!

[MikeUMA]

Having said that how cool would it be to see a steady stream of alums at games throughout the season?

I think Frank and/or Jay Burnham said something in the last few months that they're trying to get more alums to come back once in a while.

[MikeUMA]

Unless my eyes are deceiving me, looks like Al paid a visit to Conte Forum recently. Tyrese Rice played for Al from 2005-09, and posted a couple pictures:
https://twitter.com/ReseRice4/status/17 ... 4936664235

It's been 13 years now since BC fired Al. I guess fences have been mended to some degree. Someone else pointed out that Al went back to BC for Troy Bell's jersey retirement in 2020.

I guess fences have not been mended.

I don't have a Globe subscription. If you do...
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/03/ ... asketball/

The author summarizes: "Skinner led BC basketball to unprecedented success in the 2000s but was abruptly fired. He wants no part of the school’s Hall of Fame until he receives an explanation of his removal."

Topic on the bird site: https://x.com/i/trending/2062216720752976223

[PintOGuinness]

I read the article. While BC had every right to terminate him, it was shameful they didnt provide him with an explanation But the bigger takeaway was that sanctimonious boomer Bob Ryan writing that he was “the least hard-working man in show business” which essentially torpedoed his career.

[PreecherJenkins]

hang on,

"He was not able to get a coaching interview at UMass, his alma mater"

would have this been the diaster of 2016 hiring? Not sure when else he would have been a canidate...

Here is the thing I heard from Al from someone in the BC program in the early 2000's. Al was very quiet, never raised his voice, and the asst, did much of the on-court work. Take that for what you want. All three of Al's asst Ed Cooley, Tim Shea and Pat Duquette all moved on to d1 jobs and maybe Bonzie Colson and Mo Cassara were not as good Ed and Tim?

[MikeUMA]

Speaking of Al...

I missed the actual day, but we just passed the 50th anniversary of UM alums Julius and Al winning the ABA Championship.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/bo ... 30NYA.html

[MikeUMA]

"He was not able to get a coaching interview at UMass, his alma mater"

would have this been the diaster of 2016 hiring? Not sure when else he would have been a canidate...

The Kellogg to McCall transition was in March 2017. That was halfway through Al's tenure at Kennesaw State, and coming off a season when they only did marginally better than his first.

If he had gotten the opportunity to get a better job than Kennesaw, he probably would have taken it, but as much as I don't like Ryan Bamford right now, I can't really blame Ryan for not granting an interview to Al in March 2017, assuming that was the timing Al was alluding to. UMass was just coming off having an alum as coach, there was probably little desire to do it again right away, and one that was older and not exactly a hot commodity at the time. No disrespect intended to Al there, facts are what they are.

That 2017 timing is more likely than March 2022, when Bamford canned McCall. Al was out of the game for three years at that point, and he was months away from turning 70.

[minutefanjsf]

"He was not able to get a coaching interview at UMass, his alma mater"

would have this been the diaster of 2016 hiring? Not sure when else he would have been a canidate...

The Kellogg to McCall transition was in March 2017. That was halfway through Al's tenure at Kennesaw State, and coming off a season when they only did marginally better than his first.

If he had gotten the opportunity to get a better job than Kennesaw, he probably would have taken it, but as much as I don't like Ryan Bamford right now, I can't really blame Ryan for not granting an interview to Al in March 2017, assuming that was the timing Al was alluding to. UMass was just coming off having an alum as coach, there was probably little desire to do it again right away, and one that was older and not exactly a hot commodity at the time. No disrespect intended to Al there, facts are what they are.

That 2017 timing is more likely than March 2022, when Bamford canned McCall. Al was out of the game for three years at that point, and he was months away from turning 70.

I think the quote was more about Al saying that he was unable to get any interview and used UMass as the one place as an alum he should be able to at least get interviewed. It seemed he was specifically referring to when he got canned from BC which was in the third year of DK's tenure. It was more he was saying he had been black listed. I don't think the timing ever lined up for him to have a shot at UMAss. He could have been hired when Cal was back in the late 80's that when he got the URI gig.