The Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame held its fourth annual induction ceremony Monday night. Former New York Knicks point guard and NBA Hall of Famer Earl Monroe hosted a meet and greet for paying attendees of the event.
A four-time NBA All-Star, Monroe was traded from the Baltimore Bullets to the Knicks in 1971, pairing “Earl the Pearl” with fellow Hall of Famer Walt Frazier and forming New York’s renowned “Rolls Royce Backcourt.” Less than two years after the trade, the Knicks won the 1973 NBA Championship, which is still the franchise’s most recent championship. Monroe averaged 18.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game during his 14-year NBA career.
The formal recognized 15 individual inductees, including BU graduates Jason Goldman ‘98, Mark Gumble, ‘88, and former BU tennis coach Michael Starke.
Attending Maine-Endwell Senior High School, Goldman went 36-0 and won the 1993 New York State Wrestling Championship. During his time wrestling at BU, Goldman was a two-time NCAA All-American.
In his playing career, Gumble earned three All-American selections and a 1988 National Championship while wrestling for the Bearcats. He also coached the Binghamton wrestling team for nine seasons.
Starke coached tennis at BU for 20 seasons, earning America East Coach of the Year recognitions three times. He oversaw 14 All-Americans in his tenure at BU.
While Monroe did speak briefly at the dinner, a press conference featuring him during the cocktail hour was canceled. Despite not speaking to the media, Monroe provided recommendations for what today’s Knicks should do in an exclusive interview. New York recently fired head coach Jeff Hornacek and is in the midst of searching for a new leader.
“I would be very pleased if Mark Jackson was named head coach of the Knicks,” Monroe said. “I think that he’s done an excellent job where he was in Golden State, taking a losing team and preparing them for championships. He had a winning record over there. Whatever problems he had over there would be different from today.”
In his first year as Warriors head coach, Jackson suffered a meager 23-43 record during the 2011-12 season. In a quick turnaround, Golden State won 47 and 51 games, respectively, in the following years, earning the team’s first playoff berth since 2008 in the process. Jackson was ultimately fired due to run-ins with the front office and assistant coaches. The Warriors’ ownership also felt that another coach could further maximize the roster’s ceiling. The team has since won two NBA Championships in three finals appearances in the tenure of current head coach Steve Kerr, breaking a plethora of association records along the way.
Jackson was initially considered one of New York’s top candidates for the position, along with former Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale and Jerry Stackhouse, the head coach of the Toronto Raptors’ G League affiliate. Other notable names mentioned for the job include recently departed Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer and former Cavaliers coach David Blatt. According to reports from ESPN and the New York Post, Fizdale and Stackhouse have impressed New York’s front office the most out of candidates who have interviewed for the job, while Budenholzer has been rumored to prefer coaching the Knicks to any other team.
Coming off its fifth consecutive losing season, and 13th season without a playoff berth since 2001, New York is seeking a coach who can achieve sustained success. Monroe feels that the Knicks are a few pieces away from competing — largely due to All-Star power forward Kristaps Porzingis suffering a torn ACL — but still have some assets on their current roster.
“They are not getting Porzingis back until the latter part of [next] season,” Monroe said. “To be competitive, you got to go out and get some guys who can really play… I like [Courtney] Lee, but I don’t know if they’re going to be keeping him at all … [Enes] Kanter had an excellent season, and if he can improve upon that or even just stay as consistent as he was with the double-doubles, I think that would be good for [the Knicks].”