Another View by Charles Hallman
EIU coach looks to beat Gophers in ‘money game’
Minnesota hosts Eastern Illinois in women’s basketball this week, Nov. 20. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Marqus McGlothan as he returns to The Barn for the first time since Dec. 2022, then as the Panthers assistant coach. This time he’s in charge, being named in May as interim head coach after a season as associate coach.
This is McGlothan’s third season at EIU, having joined the staff in 2022-23. Before that, the 2015 St. Cloud State graduate was an assistant coach there (2019-20), where he helped coach the women’s team to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament Championship. Before that, he was a local successful AAU coach (2019 Coach of the Year) and co-founder of a Midwest basketball training facility.
Since coming to EIU, McGlothan helped the Panthers to two second-place regular finishes in the OVC, a six-week stint ranked in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll last season, and consecutive semifinal appearances in the conference tournament as an assistant coach, then associate HC.
Now he has moved over one seat. This from the outset wasn’t a problem, even though it was unexpected after former coach Matt Bollant resigned to take another job at another school, McGlothan told us during a recent MSR phone interview.
Already being on staff “helped a lot,” he pointed out. “It helped me taking over already having a familiarity [with the players]. They already know how I am.”
He is looking forward to his first matchup against the Gophers as HC. Minnesota’s Dawn Plitzuweit “has been a mentor to me, helping me out with certain things” and he’s known her since her days at South Dakota, continued McGlothan.
The Eastern Illinois visiting coach believes this week’s scheduled meeting, his club’s second this season against a Big Ten opponent, “should be a good contest.” EIU returns home for consecutive contests vs. Loyola Chicago (Nov. 23) and IU Indy (Nov. 27).
The Minnesota-Eastern Illinois game falls under the “money game” category, when a smaller or mid-major team plays at a larger school for guaranteed financials. Yet McGlothan strongly believes his squad is looking for more — a victory — rather than being a sacrificial lamb.
Teams like his have been inspired by Northern Illinois’ stunning victory at Notre Dame in football in September, led by Thomas Hammock, one of the few Black head football coaches at a non-HBCU school.
“I’m happy for him and his team,” said McGlothan. “We can coach, too.”
Twins diversity and new ownership
After last week’s announcement of the Minnesota Twins’ executive succession plan, the MSR asked both outgoing team president and CEO Dave St. Peter and his successor Derek Falvey on what effect, if any, this may have on the club’s ongoing diversity efforts on and off the field.
Falvey assured me that both Torii Hunter and LaTroy Hawkins are expected to return as special assistants in the baseball operations front office. “We have diverse leaders already at the V-P level and at the director level across the board,” the current baseball operations boss stressed.
Added St. Peter, who will transition to a strategic advisory role, “We have work to do. I think we’ve made progress.”
The Twins currently are up for sale.
“Hopefully the future owner would be equally committed as I’ve been and we’ve been in trying to make that progress,” concluded the outgoing president.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.