>>> Kyle Macy Previews the Field of 65
 

“Who the heck is Kerry Keating?”

That was the first question that Rider coach Don Harnum wanted an answer to, as he stepped off the stage on The Runway to the Fashionable 4.

“I know Larry (Keating), but does that mean that his son has a free pass to talk about my attire,” wondered Harnum. “I don’t think so. Tell Kerry Keating that I will see him in St. Louis.”

Donny was obviously charged up, after defeating Florida International’s Sergio Rouco in the head coach ‘style-in’ contest. It was tightly contested match, but Harnum’s New York style, along with fashion advice from me, proved to be the difference.

“Advance scouting was the difference,” said Harnum. “I had some great scouts in Miami. Now let me ask you again, who is Kerry Keating? As for the victory, I honestly thought I was being set up. My opponent sounded more like an Italian fashion designer than a basketball coach. I was pleased with the victory and I honored to be back in the tournament. I questioned the idea of being in the style-in contest, but now that I have advanced, I am fine with it. Any idea where I can find Keating?”

There is no question that the Harnum-Keating confrontation in St. Louis will find its way into Final Four lore. Early trash talking is tremendous!

This is obviously a new role for me. In the past I have always been able to use my size and girth to force my way into the competition. But now that I am currently out of the coaching profession, I am relegated to spectator/commentator/judge. That’s right, you can be assured that I will be putting my keen sense of style to work here on the Runway to the Fashionable 4.

As I noted in my last trip to The VERY Round Table, I am very disturbed that the Mid-American Conference is visibly absent from the field of 65 coaches. A soon-to-be full-fledged Portly & Stout member, Steve Hawkins (Western Michigan) should have been part of this fashion tournament. I decided to take my case to the fashion selection committee.

But after a short discussion with Angela Lento, I decided not to pursue the issue any further. As Angela pointed out, the MAC was well represented in the Assistant Coach Tournament, with five competitors.

I did however also inquire into the possibilities of me getting a special pass to compete in this year’s tournament, but that was also denied. Thus, I decided to take my case to some of the coaches who are competing in the field. I asked CollegeInsider.com’s Ray Floriani to gather some responses.

“Magarity didn’t deserve to be a part of fashion madness in the past,” laughed Drexel’s Bruiser Flint. “He’s not stylish. He’s just big.”

“Some of us have to accept the fact that we are not fashionable,” says Oklahoma’s Kelvin Sampson. “Nobody is ever going to mistaken Dave and me as being stylish.”

“If there is a fascination with big skulls, he might have a chance,” says Harnum. “He asked me if he could take my spot and told him that this was a tournament for the stylish and not over-sized craniums.”

Well apparently I need to invite Bruiser and Harnum over to take a closer look at the fine line of threads that my wife has helped me to procure. As far as big men go, you are just not going to find a more stylish and a better looking man then me.

By the way, both Harnum and Flint quickly left the room after providing Floriani with those cute sound bites. And both dashed out of the hall, following their first round contests so I did not have an opportunity to get follow-up responses.

There was plenty of action on both the head coach and assistant coach style stages, with both fields being reduced to 32.


HEAD COACH TOURNAMENT

Defending champion Neil Dougherty (TCU) was the first to compete, as he went head-to-head with Milan Brown (Mount St. Mary’s). Coach Brown, who has done a nice job since taking over for the legendary Jim Phelan, stopped to speak with me before the fashion parade began.

“I'm pleased to be a part of this year's Fashionable 4,” said Brown. “Since I've just finished my second season as a head coach, it's only fitting that I draw a heavy weight No. 1 seed in Neil Dougherty. I don't know if my closet is deep enough to hang with Neil, but I'll try to last as long as I can. Next year I will have some new additions to my wardrobe and fully expect to be a higher seed in the future.”

Milan is not only a coach. He’s also a prophet. He was right. His closet was no match for the very sharp Dougherty. In fact, each of the No. 1 seeds had little trouble moving on.

Rick Pitino (Louisville) got past Jeff Jones (American), while 2003 champion Gary Waters (Rutgers) out-styled Paul Biancardi (Wright State). Also moving on was the 2002 Runway champ, Willis Wilson who hammered Don Harnum.

“It’s always great to be a part of Majestic Madness,” says Wilson. “You never want to take anyone for granted so I was very prepared to face coach Harnum. My approach has always been to respect all opponents, but fear none. Coach Harnum is a pretty sharp guy so I feel fortunate to be moving on.”

Who are you kidding Willis? If Harnum is stylish then I am skinny. Hey Mr. MAAC Daddy, guess what -- You are out of the fashion tournament.

Unfortunately, Mr. Smooth, Bruiser Flint did not meet the same fate as Harnum, as he advanced past Fang Mitchell (Coppin State). It was also a clean sweep for the No. 2 seeds, with Johnny Jones (North Texas), Bobby McKillop (Davidson) and Elvis all moving on.

Jay “Viva Las Vegas” Wright (Villanova) had a pretty good weekend, as his Wildcats advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Tremendous job coach! On the fashion stage, Jay edged out my pal Timmy O’Toole (Fairfield) who was carrying the banner for the MAAC. I was very disappointed that he was given a No. 15 seed. Apparently the MAAC’s FPI was dragged down by the poor gear of Harnum.

As for Wright, he still has an eye on a bigger style prize.

“I’ve slipped in the past few years,” said Wright. “I was concerned that my ranking wasn’t what it was a few years ago. I thought maybe I needed to upgrade my wardrobe.”

The afternoon session ended with all the favorites advancing, but that wouldn’t be the case in the evening session.

My man Steve Hawkins (Western Michigan) was in attendance to take in the action. He was still a little miffed that he wasn’t part of the festivities, but he was in pretty good spirits.

“Dave, I'm doing my best to not let this get me down and am dedicating myself this off-season to work even harder in my search for the best fabrics and colors that will help thin and lay naturally. I promise to return and plan on staying a while next year. But in the meantime I hope Angela will consider my thoughts and suggestions about her obviously flawed system.”

Steve was referring to Angela’s failure to include any head coaches from the MAC. This is the first season that each conference was not guaranteed at least one entry into the field.

“I told Angela that maybe she should have another bracket for the portly and follicle challenged members of the coaching fraternity,” says Hawkins. “I guess you could call it the Fashionable NIT. And you could be the chair of the committee.”

That is a tremendous idea coach. There is no question that I am both large-framed and stylish. We can call it the ‘Style and Girth’ bracket. I will get my friend at the Atlantic 10, Ray Cella, and my pal Jeff Ruland (Iona) on the selection committee. I cannot speak I intelligently to the follicle issue, but the size factor is something I can relate to.

Speaking of large, as I alluded too, there were some big surprises in the evening action. Here is a little breakdown of the fashion upsets.

No. 13 Doug Oliver (Idaho State) defeated No. 4 Trent Johnson (Stanford): Coach Oliver has been one-and-done in the past, but experience appeared to be the big factor in this contest. It was Johnson’s first, since taking over at Stanford. Pocatello, ID is still stunned by this Big Sky win over the Pac-10.

No. 13 Riley Wallace (Hawaii) defeated No. 4 Mike Young (Wofford): The tremendous floral patterns blinded Young, the former champ on the assistant coach stage. Riley also has a little girth, which played a roll in this major surprise.

No. 12 Bo Ryan (Wisconsin) defeated No. 5 Bill Self (Kansas): It was a tough weekend for a coach Self, who is a first-class guy. Ryan, the modern day Vincent Price, used his House of Wax routine to stun Self who is a dead ringer for actor, Aaron Eckhart.

No. 12 Jim Larranaga (George Mason) defeated No. 5 Bobby Lutz (Charlotte): This one was a little surprising to me. Not because Jim isn’t stylish, but because Bobby was ranked pretty high in the FPI this season.

No. 12 Bruce Pearl (UW-Milwaukee) defeated No. 5 Seth Greenberg (Virginia Tech): No surprise here, as Mr. Clean didn’t even belong in the field. The Pearl of the NCAA tournament is the jewel of the Runway.

“It’s been a pretty good week,” said Pearl. “Getting to the Sweet 16 and being a part of Angela’s Runway is unreal. Seth was a tough opponent. I don’t know what gave me the edge, but I am happy to be moving on.”

I’ll tell you what gave you the edge Bruce, you are stylish and Seth isn’t.

Coach Larranaga also had some post-style comments.

“I was confident going into the first round against Bobby Lutz that my wardrobe would clearly move me to the next round,” said Larranaga. I though it was an M&M'er as Dickey V would say. My 'Joseph Aboud' against his 'Versace knock offs' was a knock out.”

Both Larranaga and Pearl were headed off to the Assistant Coach tournament to see how their understudies would fair.

Everything else went pretty much as expected, but I was sorry to see my friend Barry Hinson (Southwest Missouri State) bow out early. Some guys are clothes’ horses, but I thought Barry was the clothes Shetland pony of the field. Apparently his gear didn’t measure up.

As I made my way over to the Assistant Coach stage, I bumped into Brad Holland (San Diego) and Lute Olson (Arizona).

“Angela is always kind of enough to put me in the field,” said Olson. “I am not quite sure that I am one of the more stylish coaches, but I can tell you that my wife was quite pleased that I made Angela’s list of the 50 Sexiest last season.”

I’d like to point out that I also made that list of College Basketball’s Sexiest. As for his next opponent, Hofstra’s Tom Pecora, “Tom is a fine coach, but I do not know much about his style,” said Olson. “I am sure that Josh (Pastner) will get me a good scouting report.”

Lute was pretty happy to be advancing on the Runway, as was Brad Holland.

“I believed that I deserved the nod over my friend Mark Gottfried,” said Holland. “I hold my own even though I probably make one-fifth money he does and have to shop at the Men's Wearhouse where as he gets to buy Armani suits. I guess I'm an overachiever. I just look better than him in a suit.”

For all the results on the 2005 Runway to the Fashionable 4: CLICK HERE