BALTIMORE | Jimmy Patsos found himself on one of his many tangents, one cascading into another and into another, as he handed out sheets of paper to his Loyola basketball team.
Brett Harvey knew what was coming.
Ten minutes. A list of all 50 states. Or maybe a full rundown of Barack Obama’s Cabinet appointees. It didn’t matter. It was an old trick, one the junior point guard is accustomed to at this stage of his career.
It also summed up the worldly coach with an oft-maniacal sideline demeanor and eclectic interests he can’t help but share with his players away from the court.
There’s also basketball to attend to: The youthful Greyhounds (11-13, 6-6) are in the middle of a muddled Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference mix and have won six of seven overall entering Saturday’s meeting with Manhattan.
It’s the latest turn in perhaps the wildest season of Patsos’ remarkable turnaround of Loyola’s program. Only one of his seven immediate predecessors departed with a winning record, yet Patsos keeps winning in his fifth year with the team. He also has drawn attention for two notable November incidents.
And therein lies a struggle. A man of Patsos’ considerable energy can do many things, but the same creativity that prompts him to take his team to watch “Slumdog Millionaire” also can earn him headlines for less-than-ideal reasons.
“I’m trying to have patience,” Patsos said. “I played for Jack Bruen [at Catholic], I worked for Carroll Holmes [at Archbishop Carroll High School] and I worked for Gary Williams [at Maryland]. I was taught many things in my life. Unfortunately, those three guys didn’t have a lot of patience.”
Salesman, showman, teacher
Loyola was in the Bay Area in December. Patsos, eager to turn the cross-country excursion into an educational opportunity, set up a trip to see landmarks throughout San Francisco and eventually noted which sites appeared in the “Dirty Harry” film series.
And then came a question from a player.
” ’Who’s Dirty Harry?’ ” Patsos recounted. “That guy was a foundation of my growing up. And they’re like, ’Here he goes again.’ ”
Yet it was precisely the same sort of constant prodding, gabbing and cajoling that permitted Patsos to thrive at Loyola. There are courtside seats where once there were none, and Loyola is home to summer basketball just a few years after it was a local nonentity. Patsos drove it all.
“Until you actually do it, there’s no book to read on how to be a head coach,” Williams said. “It’s not like installing a light bulb where you have to screw it [in] this way. You have to feel it yourself. … He took Loyola when no one was going to games and they’d won one game the year before, and it became a hot ticket in Baltimore. That’s not easy to do in a metropolitan area.”
Neither is generating attention, though Patsos did in November. In the season’s fourth game, he went into the stands and sought the advice of athletic director Joe Boylan after he was slapped with a technical foul and told to remain quiet the rest of the game or face ejection.
A week later, he opted to play a triangle-and-two on Davidson’s Stephen Curry - with the two defenders standing with Curry in a corner for the entire game. Curry was held scoreless; injury-depleted Loyola lost by 30.
It was an atypical stretch for any coach, but it was a display of Patsos’ creativity.
“He’s very cultured and has a lot to offer,” said Vermont coach Mike Lonergan, Patsos’ close friend. “Sometimes he starts quoting things and going off on tangents, but he’s probably one of the most generous people I know. He’s not an egomaniac like some coaches. When all this stuff happened, I didn’t think people who didn’t know him would understand.”
Those incidents pop up in conversation, and Patsos doesn’t hide from them. But he’s quickly on to rubbing the peace bracelet he started wearing over the summer. Or his decision to quit drinking, which helped him lose 35 pounds. Or praising Bill Clinton’s ability to compartmentalize issues. Or coaching a college all-star team in China.
Oh yeah, basketball. The take there probably depends on whether a game is in progress or just ended.
“I’ve always coached hard, and I’m coaching as hard as I’ve ever coached, but this team doesn’t need yelling,” Patsos said. “[And] the referees, they’re humans, too.”
A new approach
Patsos was only a few minutes removed from a cathartic, entertaining 15-minute session with reporters after an early January loss to Fairfield. His mind was still racing, and it didn’t seem like the 42-year-old is mellowing much.
Or not.
“He’s been more patient,” Harvey said. “He has calmed down. He’s a little different this year. It’s sort of a teaching year for him.”
Some eager pupils don’t hurt. Harvey has started for most of his three seasons. Providence transfer Jamal Barney is averaging 19.0 points. And former Maryland forward Shane Walker will become eligible next year after transferring.
Orchestrating it all is Patsos, who hopes to turn Loyola into “a mini-Maryland.” He maintains homes in Baltimore and the District and doesn’t seem inclined to leave anytime soon.
“I’m addicted to the Baltimore-Washington area,” Patsos said. “I’m in real trouble. I like the politics. I like the sports. I’m a big Ravens guy. I love the Caps.”
Soon he’s on a spiel about attending both Game 6 and Game 7 of last spring’s Washington-Philadelphia Stanley Cup playoff series. And then it’s on to a mention of the Beanpot college hockey tournament in his hometown, then a reference to the Boston Public Library.
The threads never seem to end, but neither does Patsos’ work. Soon enough, he’s off to practice, prepared to go about things in his inimitable way.
“He dances to his own beat, but he’s really a good guy,” Lonergan said. “He’s going to do his own thing.”
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