Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Skip navigation

The Mike Jarvis ERA: Part I

// Owls Basketball: New ERA, New Beginning


With the basketball season starting today, the Jarvis era is ready to be set in motion. But it hasn't come without some fans being upset with Jarvis being picked over then FAU assistant Mike Bolado.

 

Regardless of what has been written about Mike Jarvis in the past, there is always a new beginning on a new journey.  Some documented troubles off the hard court (even though the NCAA did not sanction him), kept many schools from giving him another chance, even with a proven track record of winning on the court.  With a new chapter about to begin, Mike Jarvis has a unique opportunity to coach a program in his home town of Boca Raton, Florida. 

 

It has been a long hiatus away from the hard court for Jarvis, yet he found a way to stay involved by teaching at clinics and helping young men develop not only as basketball players, but as individuals.  His work as an analyst for Yahoo! And ESPN also helped bridge a gap and help fill a void in his heart for a game he truly loves.  The time away may have been long, but his hopes of returning to coaching a game that is implanted within his DNA never diminished, and life's new journey has brought him on a collision course with  building a program with very little foundation.

 

Things do happen for a reason, and Mike Jarvis had to endure some burdens that overshadowed him, pushing forward with willpower and purpose - not driven to prove people wrong, but instead found the strength and inner peace of a higher power found in all of us as motivation to carry on a path that would one day lead him to his true love again.

 

And that love for the game is not just about coaching basketball, but teaching young men the values of becoming complete individuals, to succeed not only on the hard court, but in life in general. 

 

It's not every day you have a chance to hire someone with the qualifications of a Mike Jarvis, Matt Doherty had similar highly held qualifications, but with Jarvis came more controversies.  Florida Atlantic made sure to proceed with due diligence, which did not sit well with many fans as the recruiting period was fast slipping by and the hopes of landing any recruits of any worth.

 

Even with a lengthy coaching search, there is no doubt that FAU will benefit from having Jarvis at the helm.  Jarvis' return to coaching might have been long overdue, but his patience was rewarded.

 

Some might say it's not much of a reward, coming to a program that lacks many of the things the more establish program have to offer, yet sometimes the rewards are not as apparent to the naked eye and an individual like Jarvis can envision and create the opportunities that will lead to those rewards.

 

Unlike his previous predecessors of Matt Doherty and Rex Walters, Jarvis understands what it takes to building a program with very little resources in place, yet he did not shy away from the challenge, he embraced it.  Sounds familiar, Jarvis might very well become what Schnellenberger is to FAU Football.



Edited by: Rick Smith

Trackbacks

There have been no trackbacks yet

Rating

Unrated