Coach Class
Mike Jarvis learned teamwork on the Huskies'
bench
By Paul Perillo
M ike Jarvis was very much like most eighteen-year-old
high school basketball stars when he graduated from Rindge Tech in Cambridge
in 1963. That fall, he headed to Northeastern, where he fully expected
to continue his success.
But sometimes things don't turn out exactly the way they are planned.
"I thought I knew it all," laughs Jarvis, now the head men's
basketball coach at St. John's University in New York City.
"I wasn't playing very much and
I thought I was a big hotshot, so I decided to quit the team during
my sophomore season. At the time, I thought what I was doing was right,
but I later realized that I wasn't a team player and wasn't doing things
that it took to win basketball games."
Perhaps Jarvis gained perspective after spending a year as a fry cook
in his brother's fish and chips store. He eventually rejoined the Huskies.
"After working with my brother, I begged Coach [Richard] Dukeshire
to let me back on the team," says Jarvis, who lettered for three years
in basketball and also played center field for the Huskies baseball team.
"After that, I came to see what my game was lacking. I realized I
didn't have the physical skills and started thinking more along the lines
of coaching."
It didn't take long for Jarvis to learn what it took to succeed in coaching,
and he's been teaching others a thing or two about winning for the past
thirty years, garnering over 250 victories in the process.
He has run the gamut in the coaching ranks, starting as the sophomore
coach for Newton (Massachusetts) North High School in 1969. He moved to
the collegiate ranks as an assistant with N.U. (197072) and Harvard
University (197277) before getting his first head coaching job at
Boston University in 1985.
In between Harvard and BU, Jarvis hit another bump in the road. After
spending four years at Harvard as an assistant coach to former Boston Celtics
great Tom "Satch" Sanders, Jarvis believed he was next in line
for the head job. Once again, things didn't quite go as he had planned.
"God sometimes works in strange ways," says Jarvis. "I
think it was the greatest thing that could have happened, not getting that
job. No one has really ever been able to win at Harvard, so it's not likely
I would have, either."
After being out of coaching during the 197778 season, Jarvis returned
as the head man at his high school alma mater, now known as Cambridge Rindge
and Latin (197985).
While in the high school ranks, Jarvis won three state titles and introduced
us to a lanky seven-footer named Patrick Ewing. Ewing, of course, went
on to star at Georgetown University and in the NBA with the New York Knicks.
"When I got back to Cambridge, we tried to build a college-like
program," Jarvis says. "We had a lot of talented players and
consequently had a lot of success. I used the same teaching methods that
I learned at Northeastern, and that's what I'm doing now.
"I consider myself to be very blessed to have gone to Northeastern
University," says Jarvis, who graduated in 1968 with a bachelor's
degree in education and was named "Man of the Year" in 1982 by
N.U.'s African-American Institute. "I received a great education from
so many people-Dick Dukeshire is one of the finest coaches and teachers
I've ever met. Dr. [Richard] Zobel, [Harold] Mickey Walker-I can't tell
you how much I learned about methods of coaching and teaching. It really
has been a circle effect."
After successful stints with BU and later with George Washington University,
there's no doubting that Jarvis learned much. He resurrected a struggling
BU program in the mid-'80s, making three postseason appearances in his
five years on Commonwealth Avenue. He moved to George Washington in 1990
and there qualified for postseason play seven out of eight years, including
a trip to the "Sweet Sixteen" of the NCAA tournament in 1993.
Last year Jarvis moved up to St. John's, the school with the fifth-largest
number of wins in Division I. He has settled in nicely, as the Red Storm
has spent most of this season ranked in the nation's top ten.
Besides being acclaimed as one of the nation's up-and-coming coaches,
Jarvis is also proud to see growth in the number of blacks in the coaching
ranks. When he was hired at BU, he was one of only sixteen black head coaches
throughout the country. In 199798, Jarvis was president of the National
Association of Black Coaches. The number of black head coaches had improved
to fifty by then-17.3 percent of the 289 Division I head coaching jobs-according
to a study by N.U.'s Center for the Study of Sport in Society.
Track Stars to Shine
Track coach Sherman Hart took to Saundra Sedgwick immediately
when the two met at the high school track nationals in Syracuse, New York,
in 1995. Sedgwick's daughter, Jackie, was a senior in high school at the
time and was interested in continuing her career at the collegiate level.
The elder Sedgwick had been a star sprinter and hurdler in her day at
Hampton University in Virginia. When Hart saw Jackie's talents and Saundra's
drive, there was an instant connection.
"Her mother and I are definitely on the same page," says Hart.
"I was watching Jackie bouncing around different events, performing
extremely well in all of them. Her mother was right there, but not in an
overwhelming way. She was supportive, but not suffocating."
Sedgwick, who has spent the past three years dominating the throwing
events for the Huskies track team, characterizes her parents as supportive
of her athletics, but demanding when it comes to academics.
"My parents were both very involved in athletics when they grew
up," says Sedgwick, who starred for the nationally acclaimed track
team at Sweet Home High School in Tonawonda, New York. "My mom was
into track and my dad did some boxing. But they never forced me into athletics.
On the other hand, when it came to my studies, basically the motto was-'Come
home with a 3.0 or better or don't come home.' "
Evidently, that motto has been a good one for Sedgwick. She received
the Reggie Lewis Memorial Scholarship and has made the dean's list. The
history major plans to attend graduate school, perhaps at Northeastern,
and hopes to go into teaching.
On the field, Sedgwick has been just as impressive. Over the past three
seasons, no one in the America East conference has earned more points for
his or her team in the weight throw and shot put than Sedgwick. She fell
just short of qualifying for the nationals last season but Hart expects
her to make it this year.
"She just gets better all the time," he says. "She's
very competitive and very hardworking. I expect that her work with [assistant
coach] Brian Crowley will pay dividends."
For N.U., the talent doesn't end with Sedgwick. After winning the America
East women's meets for five straight years, Hart has his sights set even
higher. With a boatload of depth and talent at his disposal, Hart enters
his first year as coach of the Huskies' entire program-men's and women's
track-with a women's squad that's a contender for both the ECAC and Eastern
crowns.
One area that appears particularly strong is the sprints. With the talented
Andrea Clarke leading the way, Hart believes his sprinters run five or
six deep. Perhaps the most intriguing member of that group is sophomore
Nikiya Reid.
"Nikiya is a girl without a conscience," says Hart. "She
likes to refer to herself as a first-year senior. She is one of those rare
athletes with that mental frame of mind-like Michael Jordan; just give
her the ball and she'll get it done."
Reid came to N.U. from Trenton (New Jersey) Central High School. As
a freshman last season, Reid excelled almost immediately. She set meet
and conference records participating in several events, including the 55-meter
hurdles, 100-meter dash, and the 4x100 and 200 relay teams.
With talented performers like Sedgwick and Reid in the fold, Hart knows
this year's team could do some special things. "We're very excited
for the season, but at the same time, I'm more worried this year because
I know we're good," he says.
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