A search committee headed by the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Executive Director of the Hiatt Career Center Andrea Dean is in the process of hiring a new head men’s basketball coach to replace Coach Brian Meehan, who was fired last year based on allegations of discriminatory and abusive behavior.
The committee expects to have a coach hired by the start of the basketball season, which begins in October, according to Jeffrey Ward, the interim athletics director.
Ward stated that the committee hopes to move quickly. “We want to move as quickly as possible,” Ward said. “Coaches are incredibly important. It’s probably the most important thing to the student experience.”
The assistant coaches, Sean Tabb and Patrick Luptowski, have taken over pre-season training until a new coach is hired, and Tabb has been named interim head coach, according to the Brandeis Athletics website.
The committee undertook a national search to hire a new basketball coach and has reviewed over one hundred resumes, according to Ward. The committee is currently narrowing down the number of candidates to a handful which will be brought to Brandeis for on-campus interviews.
The basketball team, according to Ward, will also have a say in who is hired during the final deliberation stages. There will be an opportunity to meet the candidates and for team members to give their impressions, but it has not yet been decided whether the whole team or part of the team will participate.
In an interview to The Brandeis Hoot, Ward stated that his ideal candidate would be someone who is “a bright person who is passionate about their students, passionate about their sport and an effective communicator and leader.”
Ward also stated that the coach must understand the Brandeis student experience and that “our students are students first.”
Last year, Meehan was fired after several players complained to the athletic department and other administrators since 2014. Meehan was the subject of a Human Resources investigation, which drew criticism from students and administrators about the length of the investigation. His firing and the discovery of the drawn-out HR investigation set off an independent investigation into the athletics department’s culture, procedures and policies of the complaint process.
The independent investigators released a summary report of their findings, which was delivered to the student body on Sept. 4. A second part of the report, with recommendations on how Brandeis should change their policies and procedures, is expected to be released in early November.
