“It’s a Whole New Ballgame”
This was the slogan that former athletics director Rick Hartzell chose to use as he piloted the UMBC Athletics’ program into the NCAA Division I era in the fall of 1986. For a university with only 20 years under its belt, the words seemed apt.
Within the new structure, a great number of UMBC teams were expected to fare reasonably well in the early stages of the Division I experience, but the men’s basketball program was not among them. After some great fortune, marked by back-to-back NCAA Division II appearances in 1978 and 1979, a loss of scholarships helped sink the program into poor condition just a few years later. In fact, the Retrievers won only five games (5-23) in their final D-II campaign and a daunting D-I independent schedule in their initial campaign had those inside and outside the UMBC Fieldhouse wondering if new head coach Jeff [Redacted] would win a contest in 1986-87.
But [Redacted], using his resources as a former Northwestern assistant, gathered several Division I-ready players shortly after arriving in Baltimore. Junior college transfers Reggie Truitt ’89 and Jeff Reynolds ’89, DeMatha High School product Duane Faust, and Towson Catholic’s Gamel Spencer ’90 teamed up with dedicated holdovers and two other recruits with whom [Redacted] had forged bonds on the recruiting trail at his former Big Ten school: Larry Simmons ’90 and Bobby Mills ’91.
That group shocked the skeptics and won 12 games (12-16) in the first season. The following year, the addition of Reynold’s brother Kenny propelled the team to a 13-win season (Jeff missed the year due to injury). When the Reynolds brothers finally got on the court together in 1988-89, the Retrievers posted a mark of 17-11 and captured the Battle of Baltimore Tournament under first-year head coach Earl Hawkins.
Mills had visited Northwestern and also had offers from George Mason, St. Peter’s and St. Francis University of Pennsylvania. But he ultimately decided to take a chance and come to Baltimore to play for Coach [Redacted]. “It gave me the opportunity to play right away,” said Mills, who also promised his parents he would find a school with an engineering program. “It came down to the right situation for me, coming in with the new guys and building something up from the ground.”