Now that we have reached summer, it's time to reflect back on years and people past. During the course of the summer, I am going to look back at some of the most unsung people in all of college athletics: assistant coaches. This is a group of folks that work hard, are underpaid and get little to no publicity for what they do.

The people that respect them the most, however, are their student-athletes and the head coaches they work with. Towson has been fortunate to have some great people that have helped to mentor their student-athletes over the years. They have also had former assistant coaches become head coaches. Gordy Combs was an assistant at Towson for almost 20 years before taking over as the Tiger football coach.

Rob Ambrose was an assistant coach under Gordy, before leaving Towson and then returning back as the head coach of the football team. Shawn Nadelen was an assistant under head coach Tony Seaman before taking over as the head coach of the Towson lacrosse program. Michael Hunt was an assistant at Towson before leaving and coming back to be the head coach of the Tigers basketball team.

If there is one guy I would like to find and talk to, it's former Tiger basketball player Derrick Goode. Derrick may own an obscure NCAA record. Derrick came to Towson in 2000 when the head coach was Mike Jaskulski. Derrick redshirted that first season. Coach Jazz was fired after the 2000-01 season. Michael Hunt then took over as head coach. In his three years, Coach Hunt had a revolving door of assistants. Finally, in 2004, Pat Kennedy took over as the Towson head coach. He brought in a new staff. So, in his five years at Towson, Derrick Goode played for three head coaches, and by my count, 14 assistant coaches. If that isn't an NCAA record, it has to be close.

There have been assistants at Towson that have gone on to be very successful elsewhere. Just look at this year's NCAA tournament. Five former Towson assistant men's basketball coaches were on staff's that made it to the big dance.

Kenny Johnson who came to Towson as an assistant in Pat Skerry's first season is now an assistant coach at Louisville. Kenny was a great guy and his spirits were always high during a very trying 1-31 season.

Luke Murray was also an assistant coach who came to Towson with Coach Skerry. Luke was here for two seasons before moving on to Rhode Island and is now an assistant at Xavier. They went to the elite eight this season.

Fred Quartlebaum was an assistant coach with the Tigers under Terry Truax during the 1996-97 season. I remember Fred coming to Towson from Navy and being a no nonsense type. Fred is now on the staff at Kansas.

Rob Senderhoff was an assistant under Michael Hunt in Coach Hunt's first season as Towson head coach in 2001-02. Rob was always quiet. Well, he has worked his way up over the years, because he is now the head coach at Kent State which made it to the big dance this season.

Bruce Shingler was an assistant under Coach Skerry from 2012-16. I always enjoyed talking with Coach Shingler on the road. He is a real good guy. He is also now on the staff at South Carolina which did okay this year. They made it to the Final Four!!!!

Finally, the sixth former Tiger who was in the big dance this year was Mike Swets. Swets was I believe the first person that Coach Skerry hired when he came to Towson. Mike was the director of basketball operations through the 2015-16 season. He was outstanding at his job. We all were sorry to see Swets leave after last year, but it worked out. He is now the director of basketball operations at the University of Southern California. So not only does Swets get to live near Beverly Hills, he got to watch the Trojans play in March Madness.

So out of the 68 teams in the NCAA tournament, six had former Towson assistants on their staffs. Not bad.

Oh, Mike Longabardi who was one of those 14 assistants that Derrick Goode had, didn't make it to the big dance, but the former Towson assistant from 2002-03 is now an assistant coach on the staff of a team that has a guy named Lebron James on it. Coach Longabardi and the Cleveland Cavaliers just lost in the NBA finals in case you hadn't heard.
 
Until next week, GO TIGERS!!!