It’s 3:15 Thursday afternoon. A tall fellow, really tall — as in 6-foot-11 — is standing on the edge of the University of the District of Columbia’s basketball court, whistle in his mouth and frustration in his voice.
“Wake up!” he yells. “You need some smelling salts?”
The guy with the whistle is Jeff Ruland, recently named coach of the UDC Firebirds. A minute later he blows his whistle to interrupt a two-on-two drill.
“Violation!” he yells. “Can we get a guard who can handle the ball?”
Better questions might be: How did Ruland, an NBA all-star with the 1983 Washington Bullets, become the UDC coach? In a city where kids live to play hoops, where great college teams come to recruit, why isn’t UDC a top team? Coming to the job in August, a week before school started, can Ruland field a squad? Can he resurrect the program from a five-year NCAA Division II probation for serious infractions?
“It’s a work in progress,” he tells me during a break.
Ruland is 50. He’s had a tough couple of years. His ex-wife, who was very close with him and their three daughters, died a year ago. He had been working as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers at the time. When Eddie Jordan took over this season, after he was fired as Wizards coach, he didn’t rehire Ruland.
Meanwhile, UDC Athletic Director Patricia Thomas was looking for a basketball coach. A mutual friend suggested she call Ruland. He came down to talk to Thomas and new UDC President Allen Sessoms.
“I wanted to see whether they were behind the program,” Ruland says.
His last college coaching experience didn’t end well. After bum knees forced him to quit the NBA in 1993, he went on to coach, first in pro ball then at Iona College, north of New York City, his alma mater. He won three conference championships and took the team to three NCAA tournaments. In 2007, after one bad season, the president fired him.
“I was on a cruise,” he says.
Ruland liked what he heard from UDC’s Sessoms. He took a five-year deal.
“A lot of things have been neglected here,” he says. “The new president wants to make a statement, academically and athletically. I was blown away.”
Can he blow the dust off the basketball squad?
“I want to do it the right way,” he says. “Kids go to class, kids graduate, and we win a lot of games along the way.
“I like coaching in the pros,” he adds, “but here I can have much more of an impact and make a difference in a young man’s life.”
He has a prospect in Nigel Munson. A freshman, Munson was a star at DeMatha High, went to Virginia Tech but came back to D.C. “If he stays,” says Ruland, “he has a shot at the next level.”
Ruland dreams of taking UDC to the top level: an NCAA tournament bid. First, he has to get out of probation.
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