Russ Pennell has turned over the University of Central Arkansas men’s basketball roster in just more than a month.
Pennell, who was hired in early March, announced the signing of nine players Wednesday on the first day of the spring signing period. He will retain only one player from last year’s team that finished 8-21 and missed the Southland Conference Tournament for the third time in four years.
Pennell said he evaluated the program, which has not had a winning season at the NCAA Division I level in eight seasons, and came to the conclusion that he had to start over fresh.
“There were some good athletes, but we felt like it was in the best interest for the program to move on,” Pennell said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “We are moving in a new direction.”
The nine new players are junior college guards Derreck Brooks (Phoenix College) and Mike Martin (Coffeyville Community College in Kansas); junior college forward Joel Feigler (Phoenix College); former Grand Canyon University players Jeff Lowery and Justin Foreman; high school guards Jordan Howard and Thatch Unruh; and high school forwards Mike Milligan and Otas Iyekekpolor.
“This class is very talented,” Pennell said. “There’s a lot of good length. … We’ve got some shooters. We’re real happy that this quality of player was available.
“We had so many holes to fill.”
The only player left from last year’s roster is sophomore forward Ethan Lee from Camden. Lee, 6-7, 190 pounds, averaged 4.3 points and 2.6 rebounds in 29 games last season.
UCA loses three seniors - guards DeShone McClure, Ryan Williams and LaQuentin Miles, who led the Southland Conference in scoring last season with an average of 23.2 points per game.
Former guard DuShaun Rice signed with Northern Oklahoma, a junior college in Enid, Okla., and Pennell said Wednesday that four other players have been in contact with him about transferring to other schools.
NCAA scholarships are renewed on a year-to-year basis, which allowed Pennell and his staff to make the decision not to bring back 11 players from last year’s team.
The turnover could lead to problems down the road for UCA. The basketball team’s academic performance has been a concern in recent years, with Miles and sophomore forward Tirrell Brown having to sit out the fall semester last season because they were academically ineligible. Junior guard Oliver Wells was ineligible for the spring semester.
The NCAA uses the Academic Progress Rate to track schools’ graduation and retention rates over a four-year period, and those scores can be affected by players leaving a program.
UCA’s Academic Progress Rate scores were 927 (multiyear) and 938 (2011-2012) in the NCAA’s latest report, which came out last June. When the new scores come out in June, the NCAA’s standard to avoid penalty will jump to 930 (multiyear) or 940 (yearly) over the most recent two years.
Pennell said he isn’t sure if UCA will be penalized when the next APR report comes out. But he said considering the state of where UCA’s program is on the court, the Bears are in a rebuilding process regardless of what happens academically.
Several of the new additions are familiar with Pennell.
Foreman, a 6-6, 210-pound forward, and Lowery, a 6-2, 200-pound guard, played for Pennell at Grand Canyon. Both will sit out the 2014-2015 season because of NCAA transfer rules. Howard, 5-11, 180, led the state of Arizona in scoring as a junior in 2013, averaging 25.6 points per game. He was the first player to sign with UCA on Wednesday.
Brooks, 6-5, 190, and Feigler, 6-10, 200, helped lead Phoenix College to the NJCAA national championship last month. Brooks scored 25 points in the championship game and averaged 16.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He also shot 46.7 percent from three-point range. Feigler had 17 points in the title game and averaged 6.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Martin, 6-0, 190, averaged 10.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game and shot 40.8 percent from three-point range last season at Coffeyville. The school went 55-12 in his two seasons.
Unruh, 6-5, 190, played at Branson High School before transferring to Quakerdale Prep in Iowa last season, where he averaged 20.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Milligan, 6-6, 195, averaged 17.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game last season for Future College Prep in California. Iyekekpolor, 6-8, 220, starred at Lillian Osborne High School in Edmonton, Alberta, where he averaged 28.1 points and 17.0 rebounds per game.
Pennell said he hopes to sign two more players in the coming days.
Pennell didn’t coach in 2013-2014 after not being retained by Grand Canyon despite leading the school to two consecutive NCAA Division II tournaments. He was the interim coach for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury last summer but passed on the full-time position because he wanted to go back to coaching in college.
“I knew I was going to wind up somewhere,” Pennell said. “I was trying to keep my relationships open.”
A new start
Central Arkansas Coach Russ Pennell signed nine men’s basketball players in his first recruiting class. After taking the job last month, Pennell decided not to retain 11 players from last year’s team. Three others exhausted their eligibility this past season:
2014 CLASS
NAME POS. HT. WT. PPG. RPG
Derreck Brooks* G 6-5 190 16.7 7.8
Jordan Howard G 5-11 180 15.9 2.0
Jeff Lowery^ G 6-2 200 4.5 1.3
Mike Martin* G 6-0 190 10.0 3.1
Thatch Unruh G 6-5 190 20.0 2.8
Joel Feigler* F 6-10 200 6.4 4.4
Justin Foreman^ F 6-6 210 5.2 2.6
Mike Milligan F 6-6 195 17.0 8.4
Otas Iyekekpolor F 6-8 220 28.1 17.0 * Junior college ^ Will sit out 2014-2015 season
PLAYERS NOT RETURNING
NAME POS. HT. WT. PPG. RPG
Aubrey Ball (Jr.) G 6-3 185 5.4 1.2
Daouda Berete (So.) G 6-4 175 4.6 3.4
Lenell Brown (Jr.) G 5-11 155 6.1 4.6
Taylor Johnson (Fr.) G 6-2 170 NA NA
DuShaun Rice (Fr.) G 6-0 165 4.2 1.9
Oliver Wells (Jr.) G 6-0 185 5.6 2.2
Chasen Williamson (Fr.) G 6-0 200 1.2 0.6
Tirrell Brown (So.) F 6-5 235 6.1 4.6
Jeff Drew (Jr.) F 6-7 215 1.9 2.8
Phabian Glasco (Fr.) F 6-7 215 5.2 3.8
Jalen Jackson (Fr.) F 6-6 205 9.6 4.2 NOTE 2013-2014 statistics
PLAYERS EXHAUSTING ELIGIBILITY G DeShone McClure, G LaQuentin Miles, G Ryan Williams
Sports, Pages 15 on 04/17/2014