Steven Morano
On April 19, the Athletic Department of Mount St. Mary’s University announced Danny Lind as the 23rd head coach of the school’s men’s basketball team. This came after the resignation of head coach Dan Engelstad who left the Mount to pursue a job as the assistant coach of the Syracuse men’s basketball team. A national search was conducted by the search firm, Korn Ferry, to find the next coach, eventually hiring Lind for the job as coach. Before the hiring, Lind served as the assistant coach for the men’s basketball team of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Lind however is no stranger to Emmitsburg and Knott Arena, as he served as an assistant coach and coordinator of recruiting for the men’s team from 2013 to 2016 before he was hired to be the assistant coach of Radford University’s men’s basketball team in Radford, Virginia. Before then, Lind served as the assistant coach of the men’s basketball team at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia from 2010-2013. Lind joined up with head coach Mike Jones in 2021 at UNCG, where the two led the team to three top five finishes in the Southern Conference and a invite to the College Basketball Invitational tournament in 2022.
The stress for Lind and his teams at the Mount will be the defense. The resurrection of the “Mayhem” defense that Mount teams have been known for over the last 30 years will be a focal point for the coaching staff as they look to try and recruit players who embody that defensive ideal. That should be an easy job for Lind and his staff as they still have big men left over from previous teams such as Jedy Cordilla (C’25), Terrell Ard Jr. (C’25) and redshirt junior, Dola Adebayo. The team also has Jonathan Ogunfuye, who redshirted his first year on the team, to develop into a power under the basket.
After the transfer of players such as Josh Reaves, Dakota Leffew, De’Shayne Montgomery and Ronald Jessamy, the staff will go out and look to recruit more offensive minded guards who could transition quickly to defense while playing aggressive zone or man defense on the other side of the court. “We are going to get up and down, I want to move fast and make the other team uncomfortable” said Lind in his introductory press conference on April 23.
“I always meet with student athletes and ask them what they want in a coach and give them a voice in it, make them feel like we are doing this together.” said athletic director Brad Davis on the input from student-athletes on the search for a new head coach. And one athlete on the men’s basketball team has had some experience with Lind in the past. Xavier Lipscomb, a graduate student who was a senior on the team in the previous campaign was recruited by Lind when he was at Radford to play for the school before Lipscomb transferred to the Mount in 2022. “He is a relationship person; he really built that relationship when he recruited me at Radford and that grew.” Lipscomb added at the press conference.
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