MBB Zebold: Former NBA Star Strickland Heads to USF to Teach

[Brad]

Former NBA Star Strickland Heads to USF to Teach

 

By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

 

TAMPA, APRIL 17, 2014 – Basketball players suiting up in green and gold at USF are in a unique situation.

 

The Bulls added championship experience when Orlando Antigua was named head coach on March 31 and Antigua was quick to set expectations for a new era of USF men’s basketball.

 

“We will run a championship program, one that will compete against the best on the court, in the classroom and on the recruiting trails,” he said. “I want our players to have an incredible college experience that includes winning.”

 

Antigua wants to get the most out of his Bulls and part of his plan included adding an assistant coach that has a basketball resume any player with NBA dreams would admire. Rod Strickland, a 17-year NBA veteran guard, was officially named to the staff on Monday after he jumped at the chance to work for an old friend he’s been around for a while.

 

Strickland spent the past five seasons serving with Antigua on John Calipari’s Kentucky staff and the two spent the 2008-09 season together with Calipari at Memphis. Antigua and Strickland also have coached the Dominican Republic national team together and both grew up in the Bronx playing for the Gauchos, an AAU program in New York.

 

“We’ve grown from Memphis to Kentucky to the Dominican Republic team. We’ve grown big-time together and I have great respect for him,” Strickland said Wednesday. “He’s a great person and that’s why I followed him here. I believe in him and I believe what he stands for and I believe what he’s about, otherwise I wouldn’t have followed him here.”

 

The current Bulls on the roster may be too young to appreciate just how good of a basketball player Strickland was, but a quick history lesson will certainly grab their attention. Strickland was a first-round pick by the Knicks in 1988 and racked up 14,463 points and 7,987 assists in 1,094 games with New York, San Antonio, Portland, Washington, Miami, Minnesota, Orlando, Toronto and Houston during his storied career. Any fans of the New York rap group Wu-Tang Clan would know Strickland is a popular name they bring up and he’s mentioned for his pump-fake ability at the end of the song “Triumph.”

 

“One of the players texted me a YouTube video, I don’t think they really know,” Strickland said with a smile. “I think he checked on me and did a little background.”

 

Strickland said he isn’t at USF to give players a history lesson on his career, however, and has a goal of making the team better by passing down knowledge about the game and showing them how hard you have to work to reach the next level.

 

“I’m not one of those guys sitting here telling them about my 17-year career,” Strickland said. “I don’t think kids want to hear that and I don’t think it’s necessary. I think they’ll respect you if they feel you have an interest in them and you have their best interest in heart.”

 

Strickland wrapped up his NBA career with the....

 

Rest of story

[DELdaBull]

best pro playing career ever on a USF bench

[JTrue]

I've got to give that honor to Tino.

[Triple B]

You kids .... Don't know much about Strickland but a baseball Hall of Famer definitely trumps Tino.

[DELdaBull]

You kids .... Don't know much about Strickland but a baseball Hall of Famer definitely trumps Tino.

 

Who is the baseball hall of famer?

[Triple B]

 

You kids .... Don't know much about Strickland but a baseball Hall of Famer definitely trumps Tino.

 

Who is the baseball hall of famer?

 

 

 

 

Robin Roberts

[JTrue]

Was Florida even a state back when he was coaching?

[raptorcj]

Crossing my fingers for Rod. Our kids can really use his experience; and his hard lessons if he's willing. I just hope he's got a handle on himself.

[Triple B]

Was Florida even a state back when he was coaching?

 

Actually, no ... In fact, one of his seasons here was interrupted by the Seminole Wars.

[charsibb]

 

Was Florida even a state back when he was coaching?

 

Actually, no ... In fact, one of his seasons here was interrupted by the Seminole Wars.

 

 

LOL. Funny stuff, but exactly how much time did he spend on a bench in Curtis Hixon or the Armory or the Sundome (or wherever it was we played BASKETball back then, before electricity)?