Former Dayton staff member looks back on ‘incredible’ 29-2 season as he departs for new job

“It was something to do each day,” Haring said, “and it was kind of a fun little project to work on some nights when you were just sitting around with nothing to do and nowhere to go.”

Haring could have spent all summer posting nothing but dunks by Obi Toppin, who set a school record with 107 dunks in the 2019-20 season, but he also put the spotlight on dunks by Ryan Mikesell, Trey Landers, Jalen Crutcher and other players from his previous stints at Jacksonville State, Illinois and West Virginia.

Haring saw more than dunks during his time at Dayton. The 29-2 season of 2019-20 will stick with him always, and the relationships he built that season and last season made it hard to leave the program. He officially joined the staff of fellow West Virginia alum Darris Nichols at Radford University in Virginia last week. The news first leaked in late April.

It was an easy decision to leave because he’s now an assistant coach for the first time, and that means he’ll be able to recruit and coach on the court. At the same time, it was difficult to leave coach Anthony Grant’s staff.

“It was kind of exciting telling everybody,” Haring said, “but at the same time, it was hard to because I absolutely loved it at Dayton. Great people, great place. It’s incredible there.”

Haring has deep connections to Nichols. When Haring was a freshman student manager at West Virginia in the 2010-11 season, Nichols was was a graduate assistant on head coach Bob Huggins’ staff. Then in the summer between Haring’s sophomore and junior year, he had an internship in Cincinnati and lived with Nichols, who had since moved on to take a job at Northern Kentucky, and his wife.

Haring and Nichols stayed in touch over the years, and Haring told Grant about his long relationship with Nichols when he informed him he was leaving for the Radford jobs.

“He was pumped,” Haring said. “He was like, ‘This is one you’ve got to leave for. That’s a great opportunity with someone you know and trust.’”

Radford is a strong Big South program that has won 20 or more games in three of the last four seasons. Nichols replaced Mike Jones, who left for UNC Greensboro after nine seasons at Radford, which last made the NCAA tournament in 2018 when it beat Long Island University in the First Four at UD Arena.

Haring, who joined Grant’s staff in the summer of 2019, would have experienced the NCAA tournament in his first season at Dayton. The pandemic robbed the Flyers of that opportunity, but the memories of the 29-2 season will stay with everyone involved with that team.

“Oh, it was incredible,” Haring said. “It was something that I’ll never forget. Obviously, how it ended was challenging, but if you can push that aside, you can think back about everything that went on during that year. I didn’t quite understand how great (Dayton) was until opening night in the arena when they had just finished that transformation. You walk into that place with nobody in the building and it’s incredible, and then you go and play a home game there with 13,407 fans and it’s like, ‘Wow!’

“We beat Indiana State that opening game and had a couple more wins and then went to Maui, which was unforgettable. That was absolutely arguably one of the best experiences I’ve had in college basketball — one because it’s Maui, and two because the Flyer fans showed up. They were rolling deep out there. The championship game didn’t go the way we wanted, but it was still a great experience for everybody.

“Then we’re just rolling along with the season, winning 20 games in a row. We won at La Salle, where we hadn’t won in forever, and then won at St. Joe’s, where we hadn’t won in forever. Then just down the line, the Jalen (Crutcher) shot in St Louis. Then the 22-0 run against VCU at home and starting the game against Rhode Island at home on a 17-0 run and the endless Obi dunks throughout the year and then how it all wrapped up with College GameDay and cutting down the nets. It was incredible.”

Haring put his piece of the net in the case that holds his Atlantic 10 Championship ring. Dayton finished 18-0 in the conference that season.

“The guys on the team were really connected,” Haring said, “and they had supreme confidence in one another that they were never going to lose a game. I’m young. I’m only going into year 12 in college basketball, but I don’t think I’ve ever been around a team that was as connected as that group. But I also think coach Grant did an unbelievable job, along with the whole staff, of just keeping people loose and staying focused on the next one, not getting too far ahead of each other. At the same time, we had fun each day.”

A 14-10 season full of injuries and COVID-19 schedule changes followed the 29-2 season, but Haring leaves with a sense of optimism about the future of Dayton basketball.

“I think they have a great opportunity ahead of them, and I’m excited to watch them play,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see how everything comes together. I’m excited for our season at Radford, but I’m also excited to see those guys play as well.”