A peek behind the benches

Imagine a Division I basketball program. What figures come to mind? Head coaches like Rick Pitino, Coach K or Kim Mularkey, or larger-than-life players like Zach Edey or Caitlin Clark? While big names like these attract , there are plenty of people involved who aren’t so visible – like the folks who set up the whiteboards in the locker rooms for halftime debriefs.

Enter the student managers. You won’t find them on the stat sheet after the final buzzer, but that’s not to say that they weren’t involved in every play of the game.

 On game day, they’re usually found sitting directly behind the team bench, double-checking that everyone’s water bottles are filled up for all 40 minutes (plus overtime) so the team stays hydrated. Well before tip-off, they organize and set up all the stretching bands for the team because they want to see the players at their best as much as the coaches and fans do. They bring around chairs during media time-outs, and most importantly, they pride themselves in bringing the energy to the Pride.

 “After that, it’s really just energy-bringing and being a positive presence,” said men’s basketball manager Zach Oestreicher. “I’m gonna run around with the rebounds and make sure everything runs smoothly behind the bench and making sure that everyone is involved in some way, shape or form. Stat-tracking, giving out guys’ towels during time outs, filling up waters [and] stuff like that. [I’m] making sure that everyone is active in some regard, to make sure that everyone feels included and feels welcome.”

 That’s a feeling that goes both ways.

 “They don’t treat us like managers; they treat us as equals,” said Max Greenwald, another men’s basketball manager. “It’s a really amazing thing to experience because they could treat us as people that are below them because, in theory, we are, but they respect us and what we do.”

 Greenwald has been in love with basketball for years, so much so that he wanted to pursue it to the top. Not landing the junior varsity basketball team in his high school put up a roadblock, but he took it as redirection.

 “Being a manager was never really my first intention,” he said. “I didn't make [the junior varsity team], but they brought me on as a manager. I still practiced with the team [and] did all that stuff, but it kind of gave me a new look at basketball and how I can still stay involved in something I love so much.”

 That courtside view at the bigger picture of basketball is a career that he’s seriously considering pursuing after graduation this December.

 “I can still stay involved in basketball and just take a different aspect of it, which is coaching,” Greenwald said.

 For Oestreicher, who is also graduating this semester, coaching has been a long-term consideration for the last few years.

 “For me, managing kind of started out as a social thing but became a passion, a love, of mine,” Oestreicher said. “I did my senior internship in high school with the Towson men's basketball team. I knew coming in that I wanted to be a manager here at Hofstra.”

 The Towson, Maryland, native had an easy in at Hofstra. “Coach Pat Skerry put in a word for me with Coach Mihalich, so before I stepped foot on campus as a student, I had already gotten the job.”

 Greenwald believes that managing men’s basketball has created a better learning environment than a classroom.

 “To me, this job is what you make of it; how much you put in is how much you're gonna get out of it. All this stuff that we do is just kind of like the behind-the-scenes stuff you don't really see,” Greenwald said. “It's taught me [about] becoming a young man and going into the world. A month from now, you know, it's no more college, no more pick-me-ups: it's real. Watching how [Coach] Speedy or Coach Mihalich or Coach Farelly  answer questions in interviews, how they treat visitors when they come to practice or other coaches before games or after games. Just the little things that you pick up on over the years and it starts to [come] together; learning your role and playing your role to perfection because that's what makes a team so great.”

Photo courtesy of Lee S. Weissman / Hofstra Athletics

 For Oestreicher, it was about getting involved in what he loves with hopes of pursuing a career in it.

 “The team has impacted me [in] a lot of different ways. It’s a full-time job; balancing classes, social life, homework, and this, it’s a lot, and you kind of have to live and breathe this if you want to be engrossed in it,” Oestreicher said. “I feel like I’ve gotten a lot of professional experience and, most importantly, met a lot of good people that I can count on in my life. I have been very, very fortunate to have been with this team for this long.”

 Nachelle Milord, a manager on the women’s basketball team, has a completely different story behind her. She wanted to get more involved with campus life. The sophomore came to Hofstra with experience, having been a student manager in high school, and her plans for what she wants to do after her time at Hofstra are already shifting.

“I started thinking more about [sports medicine] after spending more time with the players and the coaching staff,” Milord explained. She entered Hofstra knowing she wanted to study medicine, but she was unable to pin down a specific field.

 Her story completely differs from that of sophomore Chris Crisden Jr, who only discovered flyers about management openings in athletics on move-in day.

 “I initially was thinking about being a practice player, but then one of the players asked, ‘Oh, are you interested in being a manager?’” Crisden said.

 Each manager has this in common, though: being a part of the managing team expanded their horizons tenfold.

 “For me, it helped me break more out of my shell,” Crisden said, citing exposure to a multitude of professions as possibilities to pursue after graduation. “With travel last year, I got to work close with Nick Kapatos, so if not coaching, it would definitely be [public relations], video or marketing.”

So, while the starting five is important to the game – don’t forget the folks behind the bench either.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Alexis Friedman