Bruiser Flint

Philadelphian James "Bruiser" Flint, an assistant coach at UMass under John Calipari, will replace his departed boss as head coach of the Minutemen, university officials said yesterday. Calling it a "dream come true," Flint, 31, said he was eager to continue the winning ways at UMass, which reached the Final Four for the first time last season. "I just can't tell you what this opportunity means to me, and I believe this is the beginning of a long marriage between myself and the university," said Flint, a graduate of Episcopal Academy and St. Joseph's University.

Drexel athletic director Eric Zillmer announced Monday that Bruiser Flint, the Dragons' head men's basketball coach, has agreed to a multi-year contract extension to remain at the school. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Flint, who recently completed his 11th season at the school, led the Dragons to a school record 29 victories in 2011-12. The Dragons won 19 straight games at one point, including 16 straight CAA contests, that shattered the old school mark of 16 straight wins.

Bruiser Flint. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Bruiser: bru-zer noun: a big husky man. Flint flintn 1: a hard quartz that produces a spark when struck by steel. Flinty adj: harsh and unyielding.   So maybe he's not so much the big and husky part of that definition, although he is a long way from being frail, but made of flint? Bruiser Flint? Unyielding? Oh yes. You bet. And if you're going to coach basketball at Drexel University, you'd better be flinty, because you're going to spend your days and nights beating your head against the unpadded walls trying to earn the 3 Rs: Recognition, regard, respect.

Drexel men's basketball coach Bruiser Flint was suspended by the Colonial Athletic Association last night for one game and will not be on the sideline this afternoon when the Dragons play at No. 23 Memphis. Flint was assessed two technical fouls with 20 seconds left and ejected from the game in Saturday's 81-75 nonconference loss at Bucknell. The conference, in an e-mail, cited Flint's violation of its standards of sportsmanship. "I was trying to get a technical, but I wasn't trying to get tossed," Flint said from Memphis last night.

Drexel basketball coach Bruiser Flint has received an oral commitment from Damion Lee, a 6-foot-5 swingman who is currently attending St. Thomas Moore Prep in Connecticut. For a team that went 30-7 this season, the versatile Lee averaged 17 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Under NCAA rules, Flint cannot comment on Lee until the player makes his choice official by signing a letter of intent. The signing period begins April 13. Already in the Drexel fold are 6-6 forwards Kazembe Abif (Elizabeth, N.J.)

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The work in progress that is Drexel men's basketball succumbed to a pivotal performer at this year's Olympics in the first round of the DirecTV Classic. Australia's Matthew Dellavedova scored a career-high 32 points to lead St. Mary's to a 76-64 victory on Thursday at the Anaheim Convention Center. The Dragons (1-3) will face Xavier at 6 p.m. Friday (ESPNU) in a consolation game. Xavier, like St. Mary's (4-0), reached the Sweet 16 in last season's NCAA Tournament.

DREXEL HAS received an oral commitment for next basketball season from a 6-4 point guard described by his high school coach as possibly "one of the biggest steals in the country. " Last season as a junior, Major Canady averaged 13 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists for Kiski Prep in Saltsburg, Pa., east of Pittsburgh. Coach Daryn Freedman said Monday he also averaged "nine to 10 steals. " Freedman, a former student manager for coach Bruiser Flint when the latter coached at Massachusetts, said Stanford, Pittsburgh, South Florida and Virginia Tech were pursuing Canady.

Bruiser Flint is looking into resuming his coaching career at La Salle, Drexel or Northeastern, according to a report in yesterday's Boston Globe. Flint, a St. Joseph's University product, resigned Monday after five years at the University of Massachusetts. Flint is making calls about each of the schools he is eyeing, each of which has merits and drawbacks. "I've talked to some people at La Salle," said Flint, who made it clear there hasn't been official contact with any school, but he expects that will come soon.

Look up and down Drexel's roster and you find players with New York City roots. Jamie Harris. Gerald Colds. Chris Fouch. Derrick Thomas. Kevin Phillip. Dragons coach Bruiser Flint, with the help of one of his top assistants, Tony Chiles, has always had success recruiting quality talent in the area. But when Chiles, a New York guy, left to become an assistant under new coach Steve Lavin at St. John's, Flint needed a replacement with a similar pedigree. With this in mind, Flint hired as his newest assistant Queens native Matt Collier, who was his coordinator of basketball operations at Drexel from 2002 to '05. "We always like to keep it in the family," Flint said of Collier, who was the head manager at UMass when Flint coached there.

ATLANTA - The turbulence in the first two months of Drexel's season was left behind in a poised and efficient six-minute stretch to start the second half Wednesday night at Georgia State. The Dragons entered their first Colonial Athletic Association game with a 4-8 record, but they straightened things out quickly against the Panthers (5-9). Drexel made 6 of 7 shots to start the second half and rolled to a 77-60 victory. Picked in the preseason to win the CAA, Drexel resembled a contender, shooting 65 percent from the field after halftime and winning its 17th consecutive CAA regular-season game.

A T-shirt-clad Drexel student at the Daskalakis Athletic Center Saturday night for the Dragons' regular-season finale - preparing for a road trip to Richmond next weekend - summed up his chances of enjoying a few days in Virginia quite succinctly. "We could totally win the whole thing," he told a buddy in the stands, "or it could be the biggest waste of a trip ever. " Bruiser Flint can relate. Drexel's coach won't go crazy making wild predictions about next weekend's Colonial Athletic Association tournament.

NEWARK, Del. - Just about the only type of game Drexel had not lost this season was of the double-overtime variety. Bruiser Flint and the Dragons can check that one off their list after falling to Delaware, 73-71, Thursday night at the Bob Carpenter Center. The Dragons (11-16, 7-8 Colonial Athletic Association) were in foul trouble heading into the first overtime. By the end of the second, four players - essentially Drexel's entire frontcourt - had fouled out. The Dragons finished with 32 team fouls.

NEWARK, Del. - Just about the only type of game Drexel hadn't lost so far this season had been of the double-overtime variety. Bruiser Flint and the Dragons can now check that one off their list after falling to Delaware in a 73-71 heartbreaker Thursday night that took 10 extra minutes to complete at the Bob Carpenter Center. The Dragons (11-16, 7-8 Colonial Athletic Association) were in foul trouble heading into the first overtime, and, by the end of the second, four players - essentially Drexel's entire frontcourt - had fouled out. Drexel finished with 32 personal fouls.

Bruiser Flint has found a lot of reasons to shrug during Drexel's disappointing season, and that happened again Thursday night with the Dragons' dismal defensive performance late against George Mason. The Patriots scored on their final nine possessions, including the go-ahead three-pointer by Corey Edwards with 1 minute, 57 seconds to play, to take a 68-62 victory over the Dragons in a Colonial Athletic Association game at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. George Mason made 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch.

Bruiser Flint never knows what he's going to see when Drexel takes the court, but he liked what he saw a lot better Sunday night than in his team's previous game. The Dragons got balanced scoring, led by 14 points from point guard Frantz Massenat, and bounced back from a disheartening loss to defeat James Madison, 60-48, Sunday in a Colonial Athletic Association game at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Three nights earlier, the Dragons (10-14, 6-6 CAA) played poorly on defense and lost at home to Old Dominion, 78-66, only the Monarchs' third win in 23 games.

FAIRFAX, Va. - The fiery Bruiser Flint was at his best Thursday night, when at times it appeared he would blow a gasket. The Drexel coach got a warning from one referee about a possible technical foul, screamed at all-league guard Frantz Massenat during a timeout, and sat on a table in front of the school's radio announcers so they could barely see the action against George Mason. And that was all in the first half, when Flint could hardly believe what he was seeing as his team fell behind, 33-13.

FAIRFAX, Va. - The fiery Bruiser Flint was at his best Thursday night, when at times it appeared he would blow a gasket. The Drexel coach got a warning from one referee about a possible technical foul, screamed at all-league guard Frantz Massenat during a timeout, and sat on a table in front of the school's radio announcers so they could barely see the action against George Mason. And that was all in the first half, when Flint could hardly believe what he was seeing as his team fell behind, 33-13.

Temple coach Fran Dunphy says his 11-4 Owls are a work in progress, one in which 6-foot-4 senior Khalif Wyatt of Norristown is carrying too much of an offensive load. Wyatt had 24 points in Saturday's 64-54 win over St. Louis after being limited to five points the game before, a 57-52 loss at Xavier. "We are relying too much on Khalif and need to space the scoring around a little more," Dunphy said. "When he didn't score very well against Xavier we were in trouble, and that speaks to needing to be more balanced.