PROVIDENCE — Anyone fortunate enough to sit a few rows away from the Providence College bench at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center knows Ed Cooley isn’t very shy.
The Friar coach rarely sits down, paces up and down the sideline and is an almost non-stop talker. He’ll bark at his players, the referees and his assistant coaches and is even fond of looking into the crowd and shouting, "C’mon Dunk, let’s hear it!”
On Friday night when the Friars play for the first time at DePaul’s new Wintrust Arena, Cooley’s game-long monologue is going national. For what is believed to be the first time ever, a men’s college basketball game will be presented commercial-free and both head coaches will wear microphones for the entire night. Every word that Cooley and DePaul’s Dave Leitao say from the bench, in team huddles and inside the locker room at halftime and postgame will be carried live on Fox Sports 1. FOX Sports GO, the FOX digital app, will offer two additional live streams, with separate channels dedicated to Cooley and Leitao.
Both coaches agreed to the inside touch through the urging of Steve Scheer, the senior coordinating producer for college basketball at Fox. Scheer produced two Big East women’s hoop games with coaches wearing the open mic and everyone came away happy. He’s hoping for the same on the men’s side.
“When I came up with the concept I knew everyone was looking for access,” Scheer said. “To hear everything a coach is saying to his players is off the charts. It takes the viewer as inside as you can get. We have a five-second delay so the only thing off limits is cursing.”
Fox chose to forgo commercials for this one game, with the exception of before and after halftime. Those breaks are added only because that will give Fox’s camera crews time to access the team locker rooms at the half.
Cooley said he was willing to assist Scheer because of the uniqueness of the opportunity, but he knows some challenges await.
“It’s something that helps the school and the Friar brand,” Cooley said. “It will give our fans an insight into what it is to be in the game. Literally be on the bench during a game, be in the locker room.”
As for watching his language, Cooley admitted “it will be a challenge for me because there will be things that I’m going to think about that I probably can’t say."
What Cooley won’t let happen is the specter of saying too much affecting his team’s play. The Friars (2-2 Big East) are looking to build on an impressive 81-72 win over Xavier. If PC can beat the Blue Demons in Chicago for the first time in three tries, they’ll return to The Dunk and await tests against Butler and No. 25 Creighton. Clearly the opportunity to string together an impressive winning streak is at hand, but so is the chance to continue a current trend where the Friars have won consecutive games just once in the last 10 games.
“We have more confidence but we have to keep continuing to trust one another,” Cooley said. “Guys have to buy into their roles, make and take open shots and keep it simple.”
DePaul is improved over a year ago, thanks to two impact transfers. Center Marin Maric is a graduate transfer from Northern Illinois who can face the basket and he can hurt foes with his shooting, passing and rebounding. Max Strus was a Division II All-American at Lewis University, a Catholic college in Romeoville, Illinois. He’s now a junior at DePaul and is third in the Big East in scoring after two weeks of play with a 23.5-point average.
“They are a much-improved team,” Cooley said. “The two new guys, Maric and Strus, make a big difference. We’re going to have to go on the road and play well to have a chance to win. Strus is good. Wow, God bless them for finding that young man. He can score it at all three levels and is a super athlete.”