City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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With Delaware’s coaching search looking like it could stretch well into the spring, several Blue Hens are starting to explore their options of playing elsewhere.

Sophomores Eric Carter, Chivarsky Corbett and Skye Johnson all received their scholarship releases from the school on Friday morning, several days after another sophomore, Kory Holden, announced his decision to transfer out of the Newark, Del. institution.

Former head coach Monté Ross was relieved of his duties on March 18 after 10 years at the school. Two seasons after reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time under his reign, the Blue Hens went just 7-23 this last year, bowing out in the first round of the CAA Tournament.

“We were all really shocked to hear it, it came out of nowhere, we were just sitting in class and got a text that said ‘come down to the arena,’” Carter said. “I thought somebody got in trouble for skipping a class or something, and then we were just completely blindsided by it.”

This leaves the Delaware athletics department in somewhat of a pickle. Former athletics director Eric Ziady stepped down from his position on Dec. 31, leaving interim AD Matt Robinson in charge over the last few months.

According to Carter, the search for the athletics director will be finalized before the coach is hired, and that could be May by the time both contracts are finalized.

“I had a meeting with the athletic director [...] they said they wanted to hire an AD and then hire a coach,” the Jackson Memorial (N.J.) product said. “They won’t hire the AD until the end of April and then, I guess they’ve started the search for a coach but then they’ll move onto the head coaching job.”

Carter and Corbett both missed their sophomore seasons with knee injuries, and a transfer for either would mean sitting out 2016-17 as well before finally becoming eligible; both would also, at that point, be eligible for a sixth-year waiver. Carter tore his ACL in the preseason, while Corbett suffered the same fate in an early season game at Temple.

So as they try to get healthy and back on the court, the process has become more difficult without a set coaching staff.

"They’re there and they’re willing to do anything to help us that’s allowed within the NCAA as far as working out and stuff, but right now they’re trying to plan their future as well as us,” Carter said of current players’ work with assistant coaches.

The Hens will definitely be without their top two scorers next season, as Holden (17.7 ppg) is heading elsewhere and forward Marvin King-Davis (14.8 ppg/9.0 rpg) is graduating. As it stands, Cazmon Hayes would be the leading returning scorer for Delaware, but any more attrition -- especially from players like Carter, Corbett and Johnson -- would setback the program even more.

With so much in limbo, it’s an odd feeling for the Hens, one riddled with uncertainty for both players and the program.

“Nobody really knows the future plans and nobody really knows what to do right now,” Carter said. “There’s no plan, we don’t have really anything set up.”

Still, Carter said he wants to wait and see how it plays out, adding that he would like to stay at Delaware and win with the Hens.

“I’m going to wait, 100 percent," Carter said. "It’s more than basketball, I love school itself, the school and the campus and my friends and everything they’ve done. I just have to be safe."