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Coach Monroe was promoted to Head Men's Basketball
Coach at UMBC on March 23, 2004. He had been serving
as Acting Head Coach since March 2, and coached the
Retrievers in their 65-59 First Round loss to Stony
Brook in the America East Conference Tournament. Tom
Sullivan resigned as Head Basketball Coach on March
11.
In Monroe’s first season as a head coach, the
Retrievers displayed the same intensity and
determination that the rookie mentor displayed from
the sideline. In the non-conference portion of the
schedule, the Retrievers defeated local rivals Navy,
Towson, and Loyola, rallying from late second half
deficits in wins over the Midshipmen and Greyhounds.
UMBC capped the non-league slate with a stunning
road win at Delaware, handing the Blue Hens a rare
home loss.
In conference play, the Retrievers won three
straight in late January, including a 14-point win
at Maine, then made eventual league champion Vermont
sweat out a 10-point win in Baltimore and a last
minute 66-61 win on Senior Night in Burlington.
After UMBC closed the regular season with a win over
Hartford, Coach Monroe guided the squad to its
first-ever America East Tournament win, a 78-73
triumph over New Hampshire before the season ended
less than 24 hours later in a setback to Vermont.
Monroe had been an assistant coach at UMBC since the
1994-95 season, a span of ten years. He was hired by
Earl Hawkins, and retained when Coach Sullivan took
over the following season.
"This is a tremendous opportunity…an opportunity
most assistant coaches live for," said Monroe. "I
have been an assistant coach for 20 years, and
perhaps some people in that position would have been
upset not to get an opportunity earlier. The way I
look at it, I gained a tremendous amount of
experience and learned so much about the development
of young people throughout the years. I believe that
experience will serve me well as a head basketball
coach.”
In 2003, many people around the country learned what
East Coast basketball fans have known for a long
time when the affable native of Philadelphia was one
of 27 Division I coaches (all sports) nationally to
receive AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year
honors. The winners were selected from a field of
more than 350,000 coaches across the nation. The
criteria in the second annual AFLAC National
Assistant Coach of the Year program allowed for
coaches to win based on longevity, expertise,
contributions to the school and community, and
special achievements throughout their careers."I
would like to express my gratitude towards [UMBC
President] Dr. (Freeman) Hrabowski, [UMBC Provost]
Dr. (Arthur) Johnson, and [Director of Athletics]
Dr. (Charles) Brown for giving me this opportunity
and showing enough confidence in me to become the
head basketball coach at UMBC. I will work as hard
as I always have and be as committed as I've always
been to this program and the young men that are a
part of it. We will put a product on the floor that
the UMBC community can be proud of."
"In his ten years at UMBC, Randy has displayed all
of the outstanding qualities necessary to be a
Division I basketball coach," said Dr. Brown. "He
has a passion for the game, a tremendous work ethic,
knowledge and experience as a player and as a coach
at various levels of Division I, and the personality
to bring out the best in our players. I was also
very impressed with the number of alumni and people
in the community that contacted me in support of
Randy."
Monroe had previously served as assistant coach at
Vanderbilt University (1993-94), LaSalle University
(1988-1993), and his alma mater, Cheyney University
(1985-87). During his tenure at Vanderbilt, the
Commodores finished the 1993-94 season at 20-12 and
were 1994 National Invitational Tournament
finalists. While at LaSalle, the Explorers compiled
a record of 119-39, won three Metro Atlantic
Athletic Conference titles, and gained three NCAA
Tournament berths and one NIT berth. Cheyney
averaged 24 wins per season in Monroe's two
campaigns, and in 1986, they were the Pennsylvania
State Athletic Conference Champions, the Eastern
Regional Champions, and participants in the NCAA
Division II Final Four in Springfield,
Massachusetts.
In 1987-88, he assisted Dave "Lefty" Ervin at the
William Penn Charter School, where the Quakers tied
for the league title with a 20-10 record.
Monroe had an excellent playing career at
Philadelphia University and Cheyney State
University. In 1982, he was named one of the top
freshmen on the East Coast by Eastern Basketball
Magazine. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree
(Magna Cum Laude) in Recreation Administration from
Cheyney in 1987. Monroe was recently selected to
enter the Cheyney University Athletic Hall of Fame.
"I want to develop a winning attitude with everyone
involved with the program," said Dr. Brown. "I would
like to see improvement in every player in all
phases of the game, and bring that all together to
form a cohesive team. Ultimately, I want our team to
become more competitive in the America East
Conference, and contend for a conference title. |
