Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
NJIT Coach Says NCAA ‘Has Not Helped Us’ Find a Conference
When Coach Jimmy Engles and his victorious NJIT Highlanders returned to their Newark campus at about midnight Saturday, there were several hundred students cheering their arrival.
The Highlanders had just stunned the basketball world by beating No. 17 Michigan, 72-70, in Ann Arbor.
“We got back last night and there were a couple hundred kids standing by the bus,” Engles told SNY.tv Sunday morning. “It was just like we won an NCAA Tournament game.”
The NJIT upset made SportsCenter and splashed headlines across the country, and Engles hopes that the positive attention will help usher his team into a conference.
NJIT is the only independent basketball program in Division 1, and Engles wants the NCAA to help his team find a league.
“I’m not just talking about basketball, I’m talking about for the athletic department as a whole, there’s 300 student-athletes on that campus and they all deserve to be in a conference,” Engles said.
Engles says the NCAA should act to help the school of 10,000 students find a conference.
“The NCAA has not helped us in any manner and I don’t know what the problem is, but someone from the NCAA should take notice and get involved with this and help us with the conference commissioners,” Engles said. “It’s a really good academic school in a major metropolitan area. And you’re telling me that NJIT getting into a conference wouldn’t be great for a place like Newark?”
NJIT moved from Division II to Division 1 in 2006.
Now in his seventh year at NJIT, Engles inherited a program that went 0-29 the year before he got the job. The team eventually snapped a 51-game losing streak after Engles lost his first 18 games.
“When we reclassified you could be independent,” he said. “You cannot reclassify now without having a conference affiliation so the NCAA has really limited us. We can’t do anything. We’re just sitting out there until something changes, so it’s not fair.”
The America East and Northeast Conferences have been mentioned as possible landing spots.
“Yeah, we’ve been in contact with them,” Engles said. “I’m not privy to what their conversations are but we should be in one of those leagues, it makes a lot of sense. The Northeast conference is obviously a geographical fit. We play these teams, we’re all comparable.”
Facilities are an issue. The NJIT gym doesn’t have seats on one side, and at their two home games this season they’ve attracted 775 and 500 fans, respectively, according to Chris Makinder of STATS LLC.
But Engles said those issues can be overcome.
“I know for a fact some of these programs started with poor facilities,” Engles said. “And we’re going to build a $100 million recreation facility, that’s definitely coming. It’s not really being done just for the athletic department. We are a tremendous research institution and I don’t understand what the holdup is.”
As they wait on their future, NJIT will next host St. Francis Brooklyn on Tuesday night. Engles expects a few more fans will squeeze into his gym after the Michigan upset.
“Hopefully we’ll get some more,” he said.
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
When Coach Jimmy Engles and his victorious NJIT Highlanders returned to their Newark campus at about midnight Saturday, there were several hundred students cheering their arrival.
The Highlanders had just stunned the basketball world by beating No. 17 Michigan, 72-70, in Ann Arbor.
“We got back last night and there were a couple hundred kids standing by the bus,” Engles told SNY.tv Sunday morning. “It was just like we won an NCAA Tournament game.”
The NJIT upset made SportsCenter and splashed headlines across the country, and Engles hopes that the positive attention will help usher his team into a conference.
NJIT is the only independent basketball program in Division 1, and Engles wants the NCAA to help his team find a league.
“I’m not just talking about basketball, I’m talking about for the athletic department as a whole, there’s 300 student-athletes on that campus and they all deserve to be in a conference,” Engles said.
Engles says the NCAA should act to help the school of 10,000 students find a conference.
“The NCAA has not helped us in any manner and I don’t know what the problem is, but someone from the NCAA should take notice and get involved with this and help us with the conference commissioners,” Engles said. “It’s a really good academic school in a major metropolitan area. And you’re telling me that NJIT getting into a conference wouldn’t be great for a place like Newark?”
NJIT moved from Division II to Division 1 in 2006.
Now in his seventh year at NJIT, Engles inherited a program that went 0-29 the year before he got the job. The team eventually snapped a 51-game losing streak after Engles lost his first 18 games.
“When we reclassified you could be independent,” he said. “You cannot reclassify now without having a conference affiliation so the NCAA has really limited us. We can’t do anything. We’re just sitting out there until something changes, so it’s not fair.”
The America East and Northeast Conferences have been mentioned as possible landing spots.
“Yeah, we’ve been in contact with them,” Engles said. “I’m not privy to what their conversations are but we should be in one of those leagues, it makes a lot of sense. The Northeast conference is obviously a geographical fit. We play these teams, we’re all comparable.”
Facilities are an issue. The NJIT gym doesn’t have seats on one side, and at their two home games this season they’ve attracted 775 and 500 fans, respectively, according to Chris Makinder of STATS LLC.
But Engles said those issues can be overcome.
“I know for a fact some of these programs started with poor facilities,” Engles said. “And we’re going to build a $100 million recreation facility, that’s definitely coming. It’s not really being done just for the athletic department. We are a tremendous research institution and I don’t understand what the holdup is.”
As they wait on their future, NJIT will next host St. Francis Brooklyn on Tuesday night. Engles expects a few more fans will squeeze into his gym after the Michigan upset.
“Hopefully we’ll get some more,” he said.
