|
 Over
the last four years, the Boston University men's
basketball team has made a steady climb to the top
of the America East Conference standings, and head
coach Dennis Wolff has been a driving force in that
renaissance. Since the beginning of the 2001-2002
season, the Terriers have compiled a phenomenal
85-36 (.702) record, including a mind-boggling 57-11
(.838) mark in America East games. Under Wolff’s
guidance, the Terriers won three straight conference
titles (2002-2004) and have made four consecutive
postseason appearances for the first time in school
history.
Wolff has been recognized nationally for his stellar
efforts at B.U. The National Association of
Basketball Coaches (NABC) named Wolff its District 1
Coach of the Year following the Terriers 23-6 season
in 2003-04. The award recognizes the country's best
men's collegiate basketball coaches.
In 2004-05, Boston University went 20-9, reaching
the 20-win plateau for the fourth straight year –
another school first – and prior to the current run,
Terrier hoops claimed just seven 20-win seasons in
its 104-year history. B.U. advanced to the NIT for
the third time in four years, and the Terriers led
the nation in field goal percentage defense (37.1%).
B.U. was 14-4 in league play and handed 2005 NCAA
Tournament darling Vermont one of its two America
East losses during the regular season.
In 2003-04, the Terriers put up one of the program's
best regular-season performances ever, going 23-4
and winning 23 of their last 24 games. Included in
that total was a 12-game winning streak, one shy of
the program's best-ever 13-game streak in 1996-97.
The team also won its third straight America East
regular-season championship. A disappointing
post-season finish, in which it lost in the First
Round of the America East Tournament, cannot
diminish the tremendous season the Terriers had in
2003-04. BU accepted its second straight NIT bid,
going to the post-season for a team-record third
straight year.
The 2002-03 season was just as successful, as the
Terriers compiled a 20-11 record, won the league's
regular-season championship for the second straight
year, and made their third NIT trip.
Wolff is 192-133 (.591) in 11 years at B.U., and is
the school’s all-time leader in victories. He became
the Terriers' all-time leader in coaching wins with
a 69-42 victory over Hartford at Case Gym on January
22, 2001. He passed Mike Jarvis (1985-90, 101-51) to
move into the top spot. Wolff is also 125-67 (.651)
in America East play while at B.U. Including two
years at Connecticut College in the early 1980’s,
Dennis Wolff is 222-151 (.595) in 13 years as a head
coach.
As the Terriers’ stingy defense in 2004-05
epitomized, Wolff preaches an aggressive approach,
which has proven successful over the years. In his
11 years on campus, the Terriers are 72-4 when they
hold opponents below 55 points - nearly a quarter of
the games he has coached at B.U. In 2004-05, the
Terriers were 17-1 when foes scored 55 points or
less, and B.U. held Hartford to just 22 points in a
73-22 romp – the fewest points allowed by a B.U.
squad since 1940.
In 2003-04, the Terriers led America East in scoring
defense, and finished second in field goal defense.
In 2002-03, they held opponents to just .404 percent
shooting from the field and 62.3 points per game. In
2001-02, the Terriers led the conference in field
goal defense at .390 percent and scoring defense at
64.0 points per game allowed. That team's field goal
defense was the 10th-best mark in the country.
In 1996-97, BU established a league record for
scoring defense in conference games, allowing a
remarkably low 60.4 points per game. Overall, the
Terriers allowed just 62.0 points per game that
season, marking the best defensive performance for a
BU team since the 1958-59 season, when the Terriers
allowed only 58.6 points per game. That season was
the team's first NCAA appearance.
Wolff arrived at BU following a four-year (1990-94)
stint as an assistant coach under head coach Jeff
Jones at the University of Virginia. During his
tenure in Charlottesville, Wolff was an integral
part of three Cavalier NCAA appearances, including a
"Sweet Sixteen" appearance in 1993, and one N.I.T.
Championship in 1992.
Prior to his tenure at Virginia, Wolff spent four
years (1985-89) as an assistant coach under Bob
Staak at Wake Forest, and one year (1989-90) at
Southern Methodist University under John Shumate.
Wolff began his coaching career at Trinity College,
a Division III school in Hartford, Conn., where he
served as an assistant from 1978-80. At the age of
25, he was named as the head coach at Connecticut
College and guided the Camels to a two-year mark of
30-18, including a successful 16-8 record in
1980-81, his first year as a head coach.
In 1982, he began his first of three years as an
assistant coach at St. Bonaventure under Jim
O'Brien. There, he helped lead the Bonnies to a
20-10 record, resulting in an NIT berth in 1983.
A 1978 graduate of the University of Connecticut,
Wolff was a two-year letterman under head coaches
Dee Rowe and Dom Perno after transferring from
Louisiana State University in 1975. In his first
season, Wolff appeared in 26 games for the 17-10
Huskies, averaging 6.0 points and 2.2 rebounds.
In his senior season, Wolff received the team's Most
Inspirational Player Award after averaging 8.2
points and 3.6 rebounds a game. Second on the team
in assists with 77, Wolff led the Huskies with an
84.0 percent success rate from the free-throw line.
During his playing days, Wolff and his Husky
teammates faced Boston University on four occasions,
winning three. The lone loss was a 66-61 decision in
Case Gymnasium on Dec. 10, 1977. However, Wolff did
score 14 points in the losing effort.
Born March 1, 1955 in New York City, Wolff was a
standout guard for Holy Cross High School, helping
his team to an overall mark of 55-11 as a three-year
varsity starter. As a senior captain, he guided the
club to the 1973 Brooklyn-Queens Championship. In
recognition of his scholastic efforts, Wolff has
since been inducted into the Holy Cross Athletic
Hall of Fame.
Wolff and his wife JoAnn reside in Walpole and have
three children, Nicole, 21, Matt, 20, and Michael,
17. Nicole, the 2002 McDonald's National Player of
the Year, is a senior on the University of
Connecticut women's basketball team. Matt, who will
be a sophomore on this year’s team, played in every
game as a freshman last year for the Terriers,
averaging 4.3 ppg and shooting 35% from three-point
range. |
