Goodwin looking forward to coaching Dayton alums in July tournament

Jeremiah Bonsu, who formed the team this spring along with fellow former Dayton walk-on Joey Gruden, recruited Goodwin, who's a natural fit because the games will be held at Capital University, where he has been the head coach since the 1994-95 season. The tournament also held games in Bexley, just east of downtown Columbus, last season.

“It’s been a long time since I was a Flyer, but this is a cool event,” Goodwin said. “I was here last year and watched it. It’s a fun event. I hope and I believe the Dayton basketball people will show up. It’ll be a very big crowd for these guys. It was a cool atmosphere when Ohio State was playing here last year. I’m hoping the Flyers will do the same when they play over here as well.”

The St. Mary’s native Goodwin did rule out adding a player from his era to the roster, including his former teammate, Dayton head coach Anthony Grant.

“Anthony’s in really good shape,” Goodwin said. “He could probably get out there and do fine, but all the rest of us, I’m not sure that would be a good thing.”

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The team has eight members at the moment: Kevin Dillard; Devin Oliver; Vee Sanford; Dyshawn Pierre; Kendall Pollard; Kyle Davis; Darrell Davis; and Josh Cunningham. Oliver, Sanford, Pierre, Pollard and Kyle Davis all played for Dayton’s Elite Eight team in 2014.

Bonsu reached out to Goodwin earlier this week to ask him to coach. Goodwin talked to him several years ago about a graduate assistant job, so they knew each other. Goodwin thought about the offer for a day before accepting.

“I really don’t know the players,” Goodwin said. “I’ve met them all, but I really don’t know them. That was the hesitation. But I’m looking forward to getting to know them and having fun with this thing. We’ll see where it goes.”

Goodwin, who guided Capital to a 21-8 mark last season and a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament, played for the Flyers from 1982-86 and ranks 34th in school history with 1,191 points. He has remained close to the program and coached against his former teammate, Grant, in an exhibition game at UD Arena last season. Dayton won 89-71.

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The Red Scare will find out its first opponent when the bracket is revealed June 11. There will be four first-round games on July 19, two semifinal games on July 20 and the regional final on July 21. General admission tickets cost $25. It is a single-elimination tournament.

“We’ll probably practice maybe once before we play,” Goodwin said. “I think the issue is going to be me trying to become familiar (with the players) in talking to Jeremiah and Joey and watching some tape and figuring out a couple things to do. It’s not going to be really complicated: maybe a baseline play or a sideline out-of-bounds play or a little set we can run. Other than that, it’s going to be substituting and talking to Jeremiah and Joey because they’re going to know those guys better than me. I have some catching up to do.”

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer