A long, storied trip leads McLeod to Assembly Hall

If Tom Crean likes some tradition in his basketball – a little fundamental, old-school panache to add to his high-octane style – then he must love Roshown McLeod.

Try this out: A candidate for the Hoosiers’ last assistant position slides his resume across the desk. A few names jump off the page.

Bob Hurley. Mike Krzyzewski. Lenny Wilkens. Larry Brown.

Those are a few of the high-profile coaches for which McLeod has played during a career that began at Hurley’s storied St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, N.J., and included stops with Duke, the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics. You tend to pick up a few tips along the way.

But in which of those storied programs did McLeod learn the most?

“I would probably say at St. Anthony’s under coach Hurley, because I knew absolutely nothing about the game, and he really filled my mind with all the fundamentals of what it was going to take to be a really good player,” McLeod said at basketball media day Wednesday. “By understanding the fundamentals, I was capable of adjusting myself to whatever program I needed to be effective at.”

He’ll need those fundamentals this year, and more.

McLeod works primarily with the Hoosiers’ post players, of which there are few. As with fellow assistant Bennie Seltzer, there have come times where the former St. John’s Red Storm and Duke standout has had to suit up and bang inside with his charges.

And “coach Ro,” it turns out, still has a little banger in him.

“He’s pretty big, he’s kind of tough to move. It’s a lot of fun though,” said freshman forward Tom Pritchard. “He’ll definitely go 100 percent at you, and he’ll try to block your shot or get you off the post.”

But how does one get from the halls of Cameron Indoor Stadium to the block at Assembly Hall? With a stop off in Atlanta.

When injuries forced an end to his NBA career after the 2001-2002 campaign, McLeod spent a season at Fairfield University as an assistant before returning to Atlanta, the place where he spent a majority of his pro career. He took the reigns of the basketball program at Therrell, a city high school known more for academic underperformance than athletic skill.

But McLeod didn’t stop with the Panthers. He established his own basketball development program and worked with local AAU teams like the venerable Atlanta Celtics, whose alumni include Hawks standout Josh Smith and All-Star Dwight Howard.

He then spent a short time working as the basketball director at Woodward Academy on the south side of the city.

“We were impressed with his willingness to work with the kids, and his understanding of the game,” said Dave Chandler, the athletics director at Woodward and the man who hired McLeod after the 6-foot-8 former Blue Devil forced his way to the front of a field that already had 10 applicants, with more on the way.

McLeod was not long for the War Eagles, as he took the job last spring and was approached by Crean over the summer. Still, when the Cream and Crimson called, Chandler talked it over with McLeod, and the former said he understood and stand firmly behind McLeod eventual decision to come to Bloomington.

“He has too many things to offer,” Chandler said. “Not that that wouldn’t be fulfilled in high school, but I think at the collegiate level, he’ll be happy.”

Happy he might be – McLeod wore a smile the width of the court and joked with media, players and coaches throughout IU’s media day. But for McLeod, there is no time to rest, no “Welcome to Indiana” moments – Hurley, Krzyzewski, Wilkens and Brown all taught him better.

“I’m not looking to be welcome here,” McLeod said with a resolution that seems entrenched like the Maginot Line throughout this coaching staff. “I want to help get it back to where it’s supposed to be, and I think we have the right people in place to do that.”

See you next Thursday.