Merokean leads LIU squad to March Madness tourney

The Long Island University Blackbirds basketball team clinched its first NCAA tournament “March Madness” bid in 14 years on March 9, and leading the squad was its head coach, Merokean Jim Ferry.

The team, playing on its home court in Brooklyn, defeated the defending Northeast Conference champion, Robert Morris University, in an overtime thriller, 85-82, to claim the title.

"It was an unbelievable environment,” said Ferry, who has made his home in Merrick since 2001. “The place was sold out, and we had a ton of people from Merrick who came in to Brooklyn to support us, which was great. I want to thank all of those friends from Merrick for doing that."

It was a great moment for Ferry, who accepted the head coaching position at LIU in 2002, after the team came off a five-win season. Since then, the squad has steadily improved, reaching the conference semifinals last year before losing to Quinnipiac by five points. This year, the team won its conference after finishing the season 27-5.

"Each year we've gotten better and better, and the program has gotten to a whole new national level now,” said Ferry. “We rebuilt it from scratch, which is really rewarding."

Ferry played basketball growing up in Elmont. He started on his high school basketball team at Valley Stream North High School, and was good enough to earn a scholarship to play Division II basketball at Keene State in New Hampshire.

Even while playing college basketball, Ferry thought he would follow in his father’s footsteps and become a police officer. His dad, Jim, is a retired transit police officer. During his senior season, however, Ferry blew out his knee and had to have it surgically reconstructed. “So I was unable to become a police officer and jumped right into college coaching,” he said.

Ferry joined the coaching staff at his alma mater, Keene State, right after graduation. He then coached at Bentley College in Boston for seven years before becoming head coach at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire. He coached there for a year before returning to Long Island to become head coach at Adelphi University.

"It was a great opportunity for me to come back to Long Island, where I'd grown up,” he said.