This story appears in SLAM 252. Get your copy now.
Non-New Yorkers might think the Big Apple seems like one compact unit where everyone is familiar with the boroughs and neighborhoods, but that is definitely not true. Especially for a teenager who lived in The Bronx’s Mitchel projects in the 1980s.
“I never came to Brooklyn,” chuckles Long Island University’s men’s basketball coach Rod Strickland, a New York City Point God who spent 17 years in the League and more than a decade on high-level college staffs before getting this, his first head coaching job, in the summer of 2022. “I came here a couple of times to play, but I was so young I barely remember… I played in The Bronx, obviously, and we played in Harlem.
“So when I first got the job here, it was a whole different environment. I just had to get adjusted to that, which was fine. At the end of the day, it does look like The Bronx and Harlem. I just hadn’t been here. Now it feels like home.”
And isn’t that lovely for the LIU Sharks? If you’re doing a double take on what one of your favorite point guards ever is doing at a school you may not have even heard of…let’s take a step back.
LIU, formerly known as the Blackbirds, were a national power going back to the 1930s, when legendary coach and author Clair Bee led them to undefeated seasons in 1936 and ’39 and NIT championships in ’39 and ’41. The program crumbled in the 1950s after a point-shaving scandal and did not resurface in DI until ’68. The only reasons fans under 50 might be familiar with the program are the dope ’97 and ’98 teams that featured New York City ballers Mike Campbell, Charles Jones and Richie Parker or the ’10-13 teams that made three straight NCAA Tournaments.
Since that time, the university’s Brooklyn and suburban Brookville locations officially merged and the school has officially been known solely as Long Island University. What’s more, the sports teams are now the Sharks.
Rod Strickland, who in 1998 led the NBA in assists (he ranks 13th all-time in career assists) and was subsequently named second-team All-NBA, has been coaching the LIU Sharks for two years and we’re just getting around to covering them? Well, that’s OK with him, because it took about 24 months for him to get fully comfortable. “I had to get the experience and feel things out,” says Strickland (whose teams went a combined 10-48 in his first two seasons) from the comfort of his office in LIU’s Steinberg Wellness Center. “As of today, I feel like I have a great understanding of the environment. Now it’s a clean slate. These are my recruits. Whole new staff. It feels good.”
OG NYC hoop heads should consider this team a must-watch on the strength not only of Rod but his newly hired assistant Derrick Phelps, who starred at Christ the King in Queens before a stellar four-year career at UNC. But we get it; that demo is aging. Why should a modern hoop fan tune in to see the Sharks? Because they’re gonna be good!
The newcomers LIU fans are most excited about include freshman Roc Lee, a highly touted shooting guard from Atlanta considered a contender for NEC ROY, and Malachi Davis, a senior transfer wing from the Toronto area by way of Power 4 program Arizona State who has NEC POY potential. We find Davis overlooking the Sharks’ court from an office across the hall from Coach Strickland. “The important thing is building the LIU brand,” Davis says. “We’re trying to change the culture. We’re trying to change the environment. And bring the community together and do something real special this year.”
Sophomore forward Jason Steele, a Queens native who played his high school ball at Our Saviour Lutheran in The Bronx, is one of a select group of returnees for the Sharks. “The realistic goal for us is to win,” Steele says firmly. “We have people who want to compete. I would refer to them as straight dogs. Everyone here wants to work and everyone wants to win.”
The de facto team leader is another returner with a very familiar last name: senior point guard Terell Strickland. Terell had a great high school career in the Tampa-St. Pete area (Dad used to coach at South Florida) before playing in 50 games for James Madison University between ’20-23. Rod got the job too close to the ’22-23 season for Terell to get up here, but there was no doubt he’d arrive for the ’23-24 season. Terell had a solid junior campaign at the point, averaging 7.2 ppg and 3.6 apg, and everyone expects an even better performance this year.
“There was no debate about me coming to play for him,” Terell says. “I really enjoyed my time at James Madison, but this was just too special of an opportunity to pass up. Not only is he my dad, but he’s an NBA player who’s played the game at a high level. The chance to learn from him was something I couldn’t pass up.”
As Rod says, “I was quoted as a player as saying I never wanted to coach because I wouldn’t want to coach five of me. But when I was done playing, I needed a job. I called my guy at Memphis—William Wesley—and he got me with Cal [John Calipari]. Cal was so forward-thinking; he knew I was a point guard, and he got Derrick Rose, Tyreke [Evans], J-Wall.”
Strickland followed Cal from Memphis to Kentucky and then did stints at South Florida and with the NBA G League. “I wasn’t ready to be a head coach at first. But after being in it—at a high level at Memphis and Kentucky, playing for national championships—I don’t know exactly when, but it just got to a point where it was like, the next step. I played. Then I was an assistant coach. Then the next thing was to be a head coach.”
It’s an all-around, feel-good New York story that just needs some success on the floor to reach the happy ending everyone in the building seems to think is inevitable.
When asked about his father, who is obviously the key to the whole LIU hoops rebuild, Terell says, “I’m really happy for him. Very proud of him. It really is an amazing opportunity for him, especially for him to be back in New York to do it, surrounded by his family and a big group of supporters.”
Action photos via Getty Images and David Patalano.