The excitement Kyle Gerdeman felt when he became a Division I basketball coach at Lindenwood in February was tempered almost immediately by the realization that his 19-man roster was not going to work.
Gerdeman enjoyed the benefits of an overabundance of bodies when the Lions were at the D-II level. The same went for the 15 players who received some level of scholarship money.
Evaluation of the talent resulted in a remaining roster of seven players and six available scholarships to reach the D-I maximum of 13.
鈥淲e had to go through some tough conversations, and you lose a little of the excitement at that point,鈥 Gerdeman said. 鈥淲e had a couple that were on the same page with us. We had a couple make those decision on their own.
鈥淭he process was how do we keep the guys we know we want to have here and open enough scholarships to be as competitive as we can be.鈥
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The roster is one of many adjustments Gerdeman and his staff face as they make the transition to play next season in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Lions were 12-17 in 2021-22 with an 8-12 mark in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
Lindenwood has since added two transfers. A new approach to scheduling has been adopted as the coaching staff looks for nonconference opponents. And a D-I calendar will make for a much busier summer than usual.
The program is following a path similar to the one that Southern Illinois Edwardsville took when it jumped to D-I and entered the OVC in 2008.
The Lions will retain two starters in Kevin Caldwell Jr. (Alton High), who averaged 14 points and 3.1 assists, and Brandon Trimble (8.4 ppg). Two others contributed in reserve roles. That leaves Gerdeman with a lot of leeway to find contributors.
He discovered that Lindenwood would have more players interested when he returned to his office after the 30-minute press conference announcing the move to D-I. Awaiting him were 50 emails from players and players鈥 coaches.
鈥淎ll of a sudden so many more doors open for you,鈥 Gerdeman said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e automatically in the mix for a larger pool of players. The GLVC was a really good league, and we were always looking for guys who might be D-I players. We鈥檝e been patient not to take the first guys we come across who we like. We鈥檙e making progress and doing it at the right pace.鈥
Gerdeman has added transfer Cameron Burrell from Western Illinois and Keenon Cole from Northern Illinois to join other returners Tommie Williams (Belleville West), Karrington Davis (Chaminade), Devion Harris (Parkway Central), Sharrod Taylor and Donavan Moore.
That group will be tested by a D-I schedule that is still being created. In recent years, the Lions have played St. 亚洲无码 University, Northwestern and Illinois with lopsided results. They did give Marquette a scare, losing by two, in 2017.
Gerdeman built D-I schedules for Central Michigan during his time with that program. He expects Lindenwood to play three road guarantee games against power conference opponents. One that has been discussed, he said, would pay Lindenwood $92,000. He has scheduled a home-and-home series with Kansas City.
鈥淢y thought initially was, we鈥檙e a first-year program so we should be able to get this done real quick because everyone wants to play you,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut it takes time. The problem is getting home games. Our administration has been supportive. They want to have a competitive nonconference schedule.鈥
Lindenwood won鈥檛 be eligible for the NCAA Tournament for four years, but the university is willing to lend support if an appearance in one of the lower-level postseason events becomes a possibility.
Although the move to D-I wasn鈥檛 a complete surprise, Gerdeman said the process never was obvious until the latter stages. The announcement came Feb. 24 when the Lions were finishing their final D-II schedule.
Gerdeman and his staff had to prepare for an offseason unlike anything previous at Lindenwood. In D-II, players had voluntary summer workouts. Now, they will go through a mandatory six-week sessions regulated by NCAA guidelines on permissible weekly hours. Gerdeman will be able to expand his staff to the D-I standard of three full-time assistant coaches.
But he is not overstretching his expectations of what it means to be at the top level of college basketball in a metro area that will have one D-I program east of the Mississippi River, one in the city and one west of the Missouri River.
鈥淪omeone brought up the question, how are we going to compete with the Blues, Cardinals and St. 亚洲无码 University?鈥 Gerdeman said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we should think in those terms. We need to own St. Charles County to get started.鈥