By Joe Pantorno (Editor-in-Chief)
On Friday morning, Hofstra University has revealed that Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway has fired men’s basketball head coach Mo Cassara after three seasons.
“We are very thankful to Mo Cassara for his hard work and dedication to the Hofstra Basketball program over the last three years,” Hathaway released in a statement. “Mo is a tireless worker and has tremendous passion for the game and the students that he coached. I personally want to thank him for his commitment to Hofstra Athletics and the University community during his tenure. We wish him the very best.”
In a season that was filled with off the court issues, including the arrests of five of his players (Kentrell Washington, Shaquille Stokes, Dallas Anglin, Jimmy Hall, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel), Hofstra finished 7-25.
Cassara went 38-59 during his tenure. In his first season, he led the Pride to a 21-12 record and a CAA semifinal appearence before losing to Old Dominion.
It is reported that Cassara had seven incoming recruits for next season.
Cassara stated:
“I would like to express how much I have valued and enjoyed the opportunity to be the head basketball coach at Hofstra University. I appreciate the experience and challenge that I was given almost three years ago by President Rabinowitz, and have loved my time working with our administrators, student-athletes and staff. I would also like to thank the Hofstra fans and students for all of their love, support and dedication to what is a great and storied program. I want the entire community to know just how much I care about our student-athletes and this team. We have navigated through what has been a challenging season. I wish nothing but success to the athletic department, basketball program and supporters of the Hofstra Pride.”
Hofstra will pay Cassara the remainder of his contract deal.
Two transfers that he did bring in, guard Taran Buie from Penn State, who was recently arrested for traffic violations and forward Jamal Coombs-McDaniel from UConn, who last week was arrested for possession of marijuana, will likely not return to the team next year. Buie was Hofstra’s leading scorer this season while Coombs-McDaniel never appeared in a game.
Assistant coach Pat Sellers has been named interim head coach.
While Sellers, who according to Hathaway, is being considered by the athletic director for the head coaching job, the early names popping up to fill the void is former Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, former Boston College coach Al Skinner and Boston University coach Joe Jones.
Here are some of the issues Cassara had to deal with this season:
https://thehofstrachronicle.com/four-hofstra-mens-basketball-players-arrested-on-burglary-charges/