Mount St. Mary's is dealt an ending, but focuses on a beginning

 

Mount St. Mary's forward Dola Adebayo handles the ball in Friday's Round of 64 contest against Duke.  (Photo:  Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)

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RALEIGH, N.C. – Mount St. Mary’s coach Donny Lind paused after a question to compose himself. His eyes filled with tears. His voice trailed.

It wasn’t the emotion of the game that had just concluded or the season ending, though those things clearly played a role.

The question was about Lind’s ability to share his special first season at the helm of the program with his son, Silas. Silas has been a regular around the program, getting to sit on the bench with the team for home games and just enjoying being a kid with a lot of cool, talented friends.

“It's amazing,” Lind said. “This is a hard business for us as fathers, very difficult. So to be able to bring him with me-- my wife and my daughter are here too -- it's been a blast. He's enjoyed missing school, playing with his friends on the court, but he can speak to that, I'm sure.”

Silas would, indeed, take his turn at the mic – after a little more of the constant encouragement he gets from his dad.

“These have been the best few weeks of my life, and I hope we have many, many more of them.”

The days have been pretty great for Silas’ dad and the Mountaineers, too. Mount St. Mary’s came into the Lenovo Center Friday afternoon winners of five straight, beginning with back-to-back takedowns of third-seeded Marist – first in the season-finale and again in the first round of the MAAC tourney in Atlantic City. Wins over second-seeded Merrimack and fourth-seeded Iona earned Lind’s team a conference title in his first season and a trip to Dayton.

After the Mountaineers knocked off American, 83-72, in Dayton – on what would have been legendary Mount coach Jim Phelan’s 95th birthday, Friday’s date with Duke awaited. The result most expected happened, but Lind reflected on the many positives. His group at The Mount is special, the first mile in a culture-building trek in Emmitsburg. He has been guided by some of the best coaches in the modern game. He has publicly opined that he has the best job in the world.

“To share (the journey) with the people I love the most, with my family and, shoot, those guys in the locker room has been unbelievable,” Lind said.

Lind spent time on Shaka Smart’s powerhouse staff at VCU. He coached alongside Jamion Christian in his first run at The Mount. He then went on to work for Mike Jones at both Radford and UNC Greensboro. Now that Lind has his own program, the impact the program and community has left on him in a short time is clear.

“They’ve given me an opportunity to develop and to test what I do and what I believe in, starting from when I was 25 or 26, when I showed up there the first time and The Mount believed in me, just like I try to do with these guys,” Lind said. “When someone believes in you, it gives you the confidence to do what you do best.”

“The people who have come out from the athletic administration, the university administration, fans, and all the alumni – the support we’ve gotten has been unbelievable. That’s helped me to be a better person, first and foremost, but also a much better basketball coach than when I showed up here 10 months ago.”

One of those mentors sat across from Lind’s bench as his team made its first appearance in the Round of 64 under his tutelage. Mike Jones, for whom Lind coached before taking over, watched on as Lind led his Mountaineers.

“It absolutely shaped who I am as a coach to grow under (Jones and others),” Lind said. “All that (Jones) believes in and espouses is truly who he is, and that’s been the biggest thing. I know I was put on this Earth to help these young men grow as people, to demonstrate to them what a husband, a father, and a man should be. (Jones) gave me the confidence to be myself and do that with these guys. To see it pay off and to see it works gives me such confidence going forward that we’re going to be really successful as we lean into those sorts of things.”

One of Lind’s players may have been the seed who helped plant the growth of the 2024-25 season. Guard Xavier Lipscomb manned the point for the Mountaineers, and while Lind did not recruit Lipscomb to The Mount, Lipscomb may have recruited the majority of the team.

“He’s the heart and soul of our team. Everyone who’s coached him says that,” Lind says of the player with whom he shares a connection to Radford. Mike will say the same thing, (Lind’s predecessor) Dan Engelstad will say the same thing, Mike Jones at DeMatha (High School in Maryland) will say the same thing.”

“He’s a leader. He’s tough. He’s resilient. He doesn’t care about his own personal success. In a day and age where it’s harder and harder to find, that guy is unbelievable. He means the world to me. I love him. I’m so happy that he gets to have some success like this in his career and I get to be a part of it with him and go on this journey together.”

“I met X when he was 15 years old and have built a relationship with him over the course over almost the last 10 years. To see the growth that he’s had as a person and as a player – the stats are irrelevant to him. The impact that he makes goes far beyond any stat sheet.”

As much of an impact as players like Lipscomb have on Lind, he clearly has an impact on his players, as well.

“He’s going to play the guys who are hungry,” forward Dola Adebayo said after the game. “(Lind’s) the head of the snake. Everybody here works their butts off. That’s how you know the sky’s the limit for this group.”

Indeed, the message late Friday evening among the entire Mount St. Mary’s travel party was one of hope and a bright future, guided by their young, transformational leader.

“I love the relationships I have with these guys,” Lind said. “One of the cool things about The Mount is this is part of what we do. We’re not some flash in the pan that gets in the NCAA tournament every blue moon. The Mount is a winning program. It’s been a winning program since long before I was alive.”

“I’m fortunate to be in charge of that right now and beyond blessed for that. I know that the culture we’ve established can help us ascend to even greater heights. Hopefully, that’s with a lot of these same guys. If it’s not, it’s up to us as coaches to find the right people to help continue to push that culture forward.”

Among the many cliches in college basketball, “culture wins” is at the forefront. Lind sees it as a lifestyle, not a slogan.

“It’s not easy to have coaches want to invest in your life. Most 18-to-22-year-olds want to be as far away from me as possible. These guys want to be coached by someone who truly cares about them, and those are the guys we’ve got to find.”

“We're going to be really intentional about the guys we bring into this program, that they're guys who want to be coached this way, that they're guys who want to be not just yelled and screamed at for two hours a day and then left alone for the other 22, but they want to be invested in, they want to grow.”