After assistant head coach for men’s basketball Joey Stiebing left Loyola to accept a coaching job in China in the middle of the last season, the team has named Stacy Hollowell as the new assistant coach.
Stiebing was offered a head-coaching job in China’s National Basketball League in January and left the team later that month when it was made clear the job would not be available by the end of Loyola’s season. Hollowell’s hiring will put him in the place of interim assistant Ted McNeel.
Stiebing, with whom Hollowell worked as an assistant on Qatar’s national basketball team, is the one who first told Hollowell about the coaching vacancy.
“I wanted a job in the states and I told him that if there was anything available to let me know,” said Hollowell.
When Stiebing told him about the opportunity with Loyola’s men’s basketball team he was excited, though his job was secure as coach of Qatar.
“I probably could have stayed there as long as I wanted,” he said.
Even though his job was secure, being away from home during the season was difficult.
“My family was one of the main reasons I wanted to take the job,” said Hollowell, a Mandeville, La., native.
In addition to being close to his family, Hollowell was also excited to work with Michael Giorlando, the head coach, with whom Hollowell said he had wanted to work with for years.
“I guess you could say I’ve known about Coach Gio a lot longer than he’s known about me,” he said.
Hollowell has worked with Giorlando before as he assisted him at a basketball camp Giorlando was running at Louisiana State University in the early 90s.
In addition to his responsibilities with game planning, Hollowell will also be one of the main recruiters for the basketball team. Hollowell said he is taking on the roles despite the long hours he works to recruit incoming freshmen.
“Sometimes recruiting is a 14 or 16 hour day,” he said.
Included in his responsibilities as a recruiter, Hollowell also scouts out potential recruits for Loyola to pursue. Though it can be hard to sort through all the high school talent in the country, there is one piece of technology that he said has made things easier.
“The internet is a huge recruiting tool,” he said. “If a kid can just throw some highlight reel video on YouTube he can get a school’s attention.”
He said this is a lot more convenient than the days before the Internet where it would take days to get game film on a player.
In terms of how the recruiting season is going thus far, Hollowell is already excited about recently signed a new forward, 6’4″ Robert Lavaglio from Winter Park High School. Though Lavaglio is talented, Hollowell said that he went somewhat unnoticed.
“He’ll be a really nice player. He got overlooked because he’s got some players on his team who were McDonald’s All-American.”
Players who receive the McDonald’s All-American honor play in a high school all-star game with the top players in the country and garner the most attention from scouts and recruiters.
Despite all the different responsibilities he has in his new role, Hollowell is looking forward to coaching at Loyola and working with coaches and players to improve the team.
“We’ve got a really good group of guys here. Not just good players but good people,” he said.
Hollowell will need the help of his newly signed recruits, the coaching staff, and the returning players as the Wolfpack hope to bounce back from losing six seniors to graduation and missing the NAIA tournament this past season.
Hasani Grayson can be reached at [email protected]