Published: May 08, 2008 01:38 pm            

Osina moving to Division I

After 17 years as the leader of the pack, Weatherford College Coyotes head basketball coach Mark Osina is moving east to become a member of the Mercer University Bears coaching staff.

“I’ve just been here 17 years and have spent a total of 32 years in coaching and I’m eligible to retire in Texas, so I was looking for a situation where I can move on and I can draw my retirement in Texas and draw my salary in Georgia as well,” Osina said. “I can basically go make twice the money.

“Plus, we have had some administrative changes here and so much change and different philosophies... it was an easy decision to make.”

Osina is leaving for Macon, Ga. and the Division I program after a season in which he lead the Coyotes to a North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference Championship and an overall record or 24-6. Some players from the 2007-08 team, such as All-American Roderick Flemings, will be moving on, however, many will remain for their sophomore seasons and will look to return Weatherford College to the top.

“In JUCO you don’t have them for four years, you only have them one or two years,” Osina said of his players. “We lost some good players this year, had some success, won conference and everything. We re-signed the kids that wanted to come back next year. Hopefully, [assistant coach] Arendijus [Mejeras] will get the job, but if he doesn’t, hopefully, whoever gets it will be able to continue on.”

Osina is looking forward to the move and is eager to get on campus, but he won’t have to wait long, Osina said he is planning to start work Monday.

“It’s going to be a new challenge, something different,” he said. “I told my wife, ‘It’s kind of like a new fire going.’ I’m ready to tackle this challenge and hopefully have the same kind of success that we had here.”

Osina is coaching under Bob Hoffman, who is stepping in as the Mercer head coach after former coach Mark Slonaker left the position following the 2007-08 season. The Bears earned an overall record of 11-19 and had an Atlantic Sun Conference record of 6-10.

“I hope to learn from him and I have been friends of his for a long time,” Osina said of Hoffman. “I was looking for the right situation to go to work for somebody because I have been a head coach for a long time. He’s a good person and a good friend of mine and when he gave me this opportunity, I jumped on it.”

Mercer had no Texas players on its roster last season, but that is something Osina is hoping to change and already has.

“We already signed one player from Collin County in our conference and I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot of recruiting in Texas in high school and JUCOs,” Osina said.

Osina said he is leaving behind many friends at Weatherford College, including Lady Coyotes head basketball coach Bob McKinley, who coached Osina and has worked with him the past 17 years.

“It’s hard, but like I said, there’s been a lot of changes around here,” he said. “It’s different. It’s not the same place as I worked the first 15 years. It’s changed since Dr. Birmingham got here and that made it a lot easier to leave.”

Another aspect that made leaving Weatherford College easy for Osina was the draw of the state of Georgia and the region of the country he is moving to. However, not much time will be spent sightseeing as Osina has high hopes for the Bears.

“It’s two hours from Savannah, Ga. on the coast and you can go to the mountains three hours away,” Osina said. “It’s a different part of the country that I really hadn’t seen.

“Hopefully, I’ll get some good recruiting contacts out there and do the best job I can and get Mercer, you know, Belmont, last year, made it out of the Atlantic Sun Conference and played Duke and barely got beat in the NCAA Tournament. They almost beat Duke. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, we can win our conference tournament and maybe play in the NCAA Tournament.”

        

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