Deane Ready To Retire From Coaching
HARRISONBURG — When Matt Brady was fired as James Madison’s basketball coach last March, Mike Deane figured his coaching career was likely over as well.
He and his wife, Paula, were in the process of packing up their Harrisonburg rental house and moving back to Amsterdam, N.Y., when his phone rang. It was a call from Louis Rowe — then just a candidate for the JMU job — asking if Deane, a veteran with 35 years of coaching experience, would have an interest in staying on as an assistant.
About an hour later, Deane handed in his keys, computer and JMU identification. Then Rowe was hired, and Deane added a 36th season to his career.
“I really appreciate Lou giving me an extra year,” Deane, 65, said. “When he asked me I was shocked. ... It was another year to coach, and those seven seniors are great kids.”
Deane announced his retirement Tuesday more than 40 years after he received his first collegiate coaching job as an assistant at his alma mater, Potsdam State.
In a phone interview Wednesday, he said he simply “had enough,” adding there was no specific moment during the season that led him to this conclusion.
“When you’re in the season, you’re getting ready game-by-game and practice-by-practice,” Deane said. “It’s a job that requires a lot of focus and it’s intense during that time.”
Prior to arriving at JMU, Deane was a head coach at four different schools from 1986-2010, leading three of them to the NCAA Tournament. He took a two-season hiatus before joining Brady’s staff before the 2012-13 campaign, and helped the Dukes reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 19 years in that first season.
JMU had a record of 82-83 in Deane’s five years at the school.
“I loved it here, I really enjoyed my five years,” Deane said. “My JMU experience couldn’t have been better.”
When he was contemplating hiring Deane as an assistant, Brady, who played one season under Deane at Siena, asked his college coach if he would have any problems being an assistant after being a head coach for so long. Deane responded that he didn’t believe it would be an issue.
Quickly, Deane said he learned that his coaching talents might have actually been put to better use as an assistant.
“I often told my wife that I thought I was more effective as an assistant because you’re a little less emotionally involved,” Deane said. “You don’t care as much about how things look as much as how things are going during a game. The head coach has a lot more things he has to filter through.”
Deane is not leaving Harrisonburg just yet. His contract was extended through August, so in the meantime he will work within the athletics department in an undefined role reporting to JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne. Deane said he suspects his tasks will be related to the basketball program, but he added “whatever Mr. Bourne asks me to do, I’ll be happy to do.”
He’ll also become a casual basketball fan, focusing on the wide network of former players and assistants he has accumulated over the years.
“There won’t be a lot involved with basketball,” Deane said. “I’m going to not divorce myself from the game, but enjoy it from a spectator’s point of view. I have a rather large coaching tree of former assistants and players spread out across Division I and Division III. Those programs I’m going to stay very invested in, including JMU.”
As for non-basketball activities, Deane said he might do some traveling with his wife, but the bigger issue is finding a place for his “last home” and making a decision about golf, a sport his wife loves but he hates.
“I either have to get better at golf, or I have to quit,” Deane quipped.