Men’s Basketball Head Coach Gaeton
Curione is proud of his players, although
the team just completed a disappointing
season.
The team had one goal going into the
2007-08 season; to improve on the prior
year, and make a run at a championship.
This goal was not achieved as the
Centurions finished a disappointing 5-
15.
Although their record wasn’t a success,
Curione believed that the season
wasn’t a total loss. “Even though our
record does not indicate a successful season,
I believe that there were some successful
aspects. The players grew as a
team at the end of the season and played
better than the record shows on the
floor.”
Curione preached to his players that
each loss was a way to learn and grow.
The Centurions lost six games by a margin
of six points or less. Curione showed
his players a way to learn from a heartbreaking
defeat by asking them, “What
could each of you guys have done to
save six points?” Players began to catch
on to what their coach had been preaching
and began to improve gradually
throughout the season.
Many people will just look at the
record of this team but Curione said,
“The team’s success this year did not
come from wins and losses, it came from
[the] growth of student athletes.”
Curione, known to stress the importance
of education and growth as a person
over success on the hardwood, could
not say enough about how hard his student
athletes worked.
“From my perspective, a successful
season is also measured in different
ways. Learning teamwork and personal
growth for a young man who is trying
real hard to juggle his schedule is what’s
important here.” Curione understands
the pressures that come along with being
a student athlete, even if the program is
not Division I caliber. He said the men
on the team learned many life values
that will transfer into everyday assets.
“Taking 12 credits or more, working
part- or full-time, home issues, transportation
issues, ability to make practice,
games and a personal life in between
[basketball] is very difficult,” said
Curione.
Curione believes that his team’s past
season was a growing process where
every single one of the players benefited
from their experiences. The season was
hard to go through for the coaches and
players, but Curione doesn’t want to forget
how his players grew to become a
team.
However, when asked about next year
Curione said, “Yes, a few more basketball
game victories would be nice too.”