Albany State introduced Patrick Gayle as their new Men’s Basketball coach as a press conference earlier this week.
Gayle comes to the Golden Rams after compiling a 125-51 record , two regular season conference championships and four NAIA tournament berths in six seasons as the head coach at Division II St. Thomas University. Last season he led St.Thomas to a 23-8 record and the Sun Conference regular season title. Gayle was also named the Sun Conference Coach of the Year.
Coach Gayle will look to implement an uptempo style of play to ASU; his team at St. Thomas averaged 82.3 points per contest last season, which is nearly 15 points more than the Rams averaged last season at 67.8.
I’ve always been a coach that wants to get guys efficient shots. The past few years I’ve come to embrace the three-point shot. You’ve got to keep up with the way the game is going, and you have to be able to shoot the three. You have to be able to increase your range every season. – Coach Patrick Gayle
Randy McClure a forward on the Albany State basketball team and who was also a part of the selection process, had this to say about his new coach:
He’s going to bring an upbeat play style to the team,” said Randy McClure, a member of the ASU basketball team who was part of the selection process. “He’s going to get us in situations where we’re going to put a lot of points on the board and hold teams from getting points
Coach Gayle and his staff have their work cut out for them. Gayle takes over a program that went 8-21 last season under Michael Moore and were outpaced by their opponents in nearly every statistical category including scoring, field goal percentage from two and three-point range, free throw shooting and rebounding.
