At Center Court With: – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 15, 2001
By Adam Widman
This season head coach Jim O’Brien begins his journey to become the only coach in Ohio State men’s basketball history to lead the Buckeyes to four-consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Further, he will try and notch the program’s fourth 20-win season in a row.
O’Brien has 24 years of college coaching experience (5 as an assistant and 19 as a head coach), but his largest support comes from the 45 years of knowledge between his three assistant coaches: Bruce Parkhill (24), Paul Biancardi (15) and Monte Mathis (6). Add O’Brien’s experience and the Ohio State coaching staff comprises 69 years of college coaching experience.
“It’s comforting knowing that we have a lot of experience. The guys on this staff have a real good understanding as to what this business is all about,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said he is fortunate to have Bruce as an associate head coach. Parkhill replaced Rick Boyages, O’Brien’s top assistant who left the OSU program to become the head coach at William and Mary in August of 2000. Parkhill guided the Penn State men’s basketball program for 12 seasons, which included four trips to the NIT and one NCAA tournament appearance. More importantly, all 43 seniors who played for Parkhill at Penn State earned their degrees.
“There aren’t too many head coaches in America who have the luxury of having a guy with Bruce’s experience sitting next to them,” O’Brien said. “With his loyalty, integrity and friendship, I’ve really hit a home run by getting a guy like Bruce to join us.”
Assistant coach Paul Biancardi is entering his 12th season with O’Brien and has been labeled as one of the top assistant coaches in America. Called by Sport Magazine as one of the “six college coaches on the rise,” Biancardi serves as the recruiting coordinator and works primarily with the back court players.
“Paul has been with me longer than anyone and if there is an assistant coach in America who is ready for his own team, it’s Paul,” O’Brien said. “I have an awful lot of confidence in him and the players really like him because he relates to everyone so well. He’s ready for his own team without question.”
Monte Mathis is entering his first season on O’Brien’s staff and seventh season overall. Mathis served as an assistant coach for one season each at South Alabama and McNeese State. Mathis then returned to his alma mater, Toledo, as an assistant coach for four years from 1997-00. He spent the last season as the video coordinator for the Buckeyes and was the coordinator of the Jim O’Brien summer basketball camps.
“Monte is very good with the kids and spends a lot of time breaking down video tape,” O’Brien said. “He’s somebody that everyone really respects and I’m very fortunate to have Monte here with us at Ohio State.”
O’Brien gives much of the credit to his staff for the success of his program that has included a Big Ten Championship, three-consecutive NCAA tournament bids and a trip to the 1999 Final Four.
