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The Will Brown era at Albany has ended.
In a release from the university, Brown said he and the athletic department "agreed to mutually part ways" after 20 years. He was in the final year of a contract extension, according to the Associated Press.
Brown compiled a 315-295 record and brought the program to five NCAA tournament appearances, including a run of three straight from 2013-15.
The 49-year-old led the program to five America East championships and two conference regular-season titles. After a 14-18 campaign in 2019-20, the Great Danes finished 7-9—their third consecutive losing season.
"Anyone who knows me knows this decision was extraordinarily difficult," Brown said, per the release. "But I leave the University at Albany with an enormous sense of pride in the positive impact that my staff, my family and, most important, the student-athletes I had the honor of coaching, have had on UAlbany basketball and the greater Albany community."
Brown initially joined the program as an assistant, but replaced Scott Beeten during the 2001-02 season, according to Pete Dougherty of the Times Union. At 30, he became the second-youngest active Division I coach, and he was tasked with helping transform Albany into a legitimate competitor. The school had just joined Division I in 1999, per the AP.
Before his run at Albany, he had coached Sullivan County (New York) Community College for three seasons, where he led the group to a 90-10 record.
The school, which currently lists associate head coach Jon Iati as the interim head coach, said it will begin a national search for Brown's replacement.
Former 3-star recruit Josh Speidel scored his first career points for Vermont on Tuesday, making his first start since suffering a traumatic brain injury five years ago.
In a Senior Day matchup with Albany, Speidel got the start and converted the team's first shot of the game in a prearranged moment:
Vermont went on to beat Albany 85-62.
Per ESPN's Myron Medcalf, Speidel was a standout at Columbus North High School in Indiana, averaging over 28 points per game during his senior season. But on Super Bowl Sunday in 2015, the Vermont commit suffered traumatic brain damage in a car crash that left him in a coma for five weeks.
Doctors told his parents their son might live the rest of his days in a vegetative state, need 24-hour care and never read above a fourth-grade level:
According to Medcalf, he will graduate with a 3.4 GPA this year.
After the game, the senior joked he considered missing his shot so he could grab a rebound:
It was an emotional night, according to UVM:
Vermont will start the America East Tournament as the top seed and face Maine in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Binghamton basketball player Calistus Anyichie died Sunday after drowning in an accident at Buttermilk Falls State Park in New York, the university announced Monday.
He was 19.
"There are no words ... There is no blueprint for how to deal with such a painful loss," Binghamton head coach Tommy Dempsey said in a statement. "We all loved Calistus so much. He was such a special young man. We are devastated."
"A talented young person has been tragically taken from us," Binghamton University president Harvey Stenger said in the release. "This is a heartbreaking loss for our community. We will do all that we can to be there for his family, for the team and everyone who knew Calistus."
Details surrounding Anyichie's death are still unclear. According to Matt Steecker of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, Anyichie's body was found on a 15-foot bank, and emergency crews pulled him from the ravine using a rope system after being dispatched around 5 p.m. Sunday.
Anyichie averaged 9.1 minutes per game and finished with 21 blocks in 32 contests as a freshman last season at Binghamton.
