By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — St. Bonaventure Athletic Director Bob Beretta released an official statement explaining the roll-out of men’s basketball head coach Mark Schmidt’s retirement announcement.
Beretta noted that he and the department were made well aware that many fans were “unhappy that we did not properly celebrate Mark during our last home game.”
Well, to put it bluntly, that was never how it was supposed to go down in the first place.
“In the weeks leading up to our final home game, we communicated our desire to celebrate Mark prior to season’s end, and a ceremony to honor him after the season,” Beretta said in his statement. “True to Mark’s admirable, career-long focus on his players, he demurred. We respected that decision. He certainly did not want to interfere with Senior Day festivities before the Davidson game.”
According to Beretta’s statement, Schmidt had made the decision that he was going to announce his retirement at the complete conclusion of the campaign. He wanted to go out on his own terms and not take the spotlight away from the players.
Schmidt got a warm send-off from fans that made the trip down to Pittsburgh to watch and cheer on the team’s special three-game run at the Atlantic 10 Championship, peers and other head coaches in the conference and A10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade, who took the time during her press conference at the tournament to honor Schmidt’s legacy.
Beretta noted that St. Bonaventure is not done honoring its winningest coach in program history either. In his statement, he asked fans to “stay tuned, as we’d still like to plan a future public celebratory ceremony, fitting to the legacy he leaves behind.”
In the meantime, Beretta acknowledged that the program must direct its attention towards making the correct next steps. In doing so, would only continue to honor the legacy of Schmidt.
“Our attention must turn now to what’s next,” Beretta said in the statement. “We believe the best way to honor Mark’s legacy is to build upon the tremendous foundation he leaves us – and to work to achieve this mission together. We must evolve the program and remain ahead of the seismic and rapid change that dominates the sport.”
Beretta also gave a significant update on the national head coaching search that has been underway, noting that they “hope to have our new head coach, who we can all rally around, identified very soon.”
