Five takeaways on what Joey Cantens will do as FIU’s men’s basketball coach

On March 27, when Joey Cantens was introduced as FIU’s men’s basketball coach, school president Jeanette M. Nunez made a bold claim.

“Joey is going to bring us to March Madness next year,” she said. “That’s my charge to you, Joey. No pressure.”

Perhaps she was joking, but the fact remains that FIU – in nearly 40 years as a Division I program – has made just one NCAA Tournament appearance, and that happened in 1995.

Nunez also said the following: “I wanted a winner, and we got that (in Cantens). I do fancy myself a coach. (Athletics director) Scott (Carr) never thought he would have a president who would have so much interest in sports, but I’m very competitive.”

So, clearly, the pressure is on Cantens. What will he do to achieve immediate success at a program that has known mostly misery over the past four decades?

Here are five takeaways:

1. THE CULTURE

It’s possible that “culture” is the most over-used word in sports, but Cantens said he practices what he preaches, and his wife, Mel Thomas, is a witness.

“I’ve watched him wake up at 4 a.m. for the past five years,” said Thomas, a former women’s basketball star at national power Connecticut. “He truly cares about his team, and he wants each guy on the squad to have a great experience.”

Cantens said it’s important for him to be the first one in the gym every day.

He also promises to recruit high-character players. In addition, Cantens said each player will know the “why” behind every ask, and that will ensure that he gets the best version of each athlete.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure we have student-athletes who are engaged on campus and in the community,” Cantens said. “We will help kids pass their classes, be good citizens and be respectful to their professors.”

2. THE OFFENSE

Cantens hangs his proverbial hat on this side of the ball, saying he ran the top junior-college offense in the nation at Daytona State the past five years.

“We were No. 1 in efficiency,” Cantens said. “And we were top-five in best 3-point percentage and most 3-point attempts.”

Cantens said his goal for his team is to shoot 35 3-pointers per game.

“Not everybody on our team has to be a shooter,” he said. “But if you’re not a shooter, you have to put pressure on the rim.”

3. THE DEFENSE

Heath Glick, FIU’s deputy athletics director/chief operating officer, was a key part of the search committee that ultimately settled on Cantens. Glick was also on the FIU coaching staff when Cantens was a player there in 2005-2006.

“Heath loves defense,” Carr said. “And his inside joke with Joey is: ‘Your offense is great, but how about your defense?’”

Cantens, though, told The Herald that his defense is aggressive and disruptive.

“We play full-court defense,” Cantens said. “We dictate the pace, and we rotate guys. We will press, but we’ll have different calls whether we’re trapping and trying to turn them over or whether we’re trying to get into their legs to exhaust the opposition.

“In the half-court, we usually play man. But where I have grown as a coach the past five years is that when new players arrive, I have to figure out what’s best for the roster that season.”

4. THE SCHEDULE

Cantens admitted that it will be difficult to get a Power Five program to visit a mid-major such as FIU.

“If we’re going to get a home-and-home with a Power Five, it will be a school we have a prior relationship with,” Cantens said.

Cantens said he will try to get a deal with coaches from SMU (Andy Enfield) and Florida State (Luke Loucks). Cantens coached with Enfield at Florida Gulf Coast and at Southern Cal. Cantens, a former graduate assistant at Florida State, knows Loucks from his time in Tallahassee.

5. THE RECRUITS

Cantens is busy working on hiring his staff, and he has said he wants at least one assistant coach with deep ties to South Florida recruiting.

“Our staff has to be different pieces,” Cantens said. “Everyone can’t be the same.”

Cantens, who has coaching experience in Germany and the Dominican Republic, has had success recruiting internationally. Last season at Daytona State, Cantens’ roster included players from Angola, England, France, Puerto Rico and Senegal.

“I’ll definitely tap into the international market at FIU,” Cantens said. “I’ve had success there, and I have the relationships.

“There are six different levels (overseas). If you are evaluating the wrong level, you may get tricked or make a bad evaluation. But since I understand the levels, that’s where I have an advantage.”