Three men, from three distinctly different paths, have arrived at the University at Buffalo with the same goal-turn a struggling Buffalo athletics program into a Mid-American Conference powerhouse.
Over the summer, Athletic Director Warde Manuel tapped Ron Torgalski, Sharif Zaher, and Andy Bashor to turn around the embattled baseball, men's tennis, and women's swimming and diving teams, respectively.
Each coach arrived at Buffalo in their own different way.
Zaher is the only one among them with Division I head coaching experience, having coached men's tennis at his alma mater, Sacramento State, for the past three years. Zaher's teams never finished outside the top three in the Big Sky Conference and his team won the Big Sky championship in 2003. The team returned to the conference finals in 2005. Before coaching, Zaher earned a national championship as a freshman at the University of Georgia. After transferring to Sacramento State, he earned Big Sky Conference player of the year in his junior and senior seasons, after leading the Hornets to the NCAA championships both years.
With that type of playing and coaching experience in hand, Zaher believes that the best way he can lead the teams he coaches is by example.
"Whenever we set up drills, I try to get involved and get my assistant Nick (Zieziula) involved and have a high intensity practice," Zaher said. "They see the coaches getting involved and try to raise their level."
As for why he was chosen, Zaher joked that the board can answer that better than he could but believes his record speaks for itself.
"I think it's my playing background, playing in tournaments all over the world, developing my connections for recruiting," Zaher said. "My background at Georgia, winning a national championship; Warde (Manuel) definitely looks for a successful playing past."
Bashor came to Buffalo from Rutgers University, where he spent the past four years as an assistant head coach for both the men's and women's swim programs. With the help of Bashor in 2005 the women's team finished second in the Big East Conference and qualified seven swimmers for the Women's NCAA Championships. In total, Bashor has had 10 years of coaching experience at the Division I level, including two as a graduate assistant swim coach at Ohio University.
It's that success and experience that Bashor believes separated him from other candidates in the eyes of Manuel.
"It's my eleventh season and I have experience working at a high level," Bashor said. "Everywhere I've been it's been a winning program. I think the biggest thing I have is the experience working with elite NCAA qualifiers."
In order to turn the Bulls into a winning program, Bashor is going to have to apply his own style to a program that has struggled to win a MAC dual meet.
"I think there's no substitute for hard work, for consistency," Bashor said. "Those two things are key to success. Also, taking a personal approach to each athlete, each one is different and needs different things to make them better."
The third new hire for the Bulls came to his position by way of a promotion. Having been an assistant coach with the baseball program since it's reinstatement in 2000, Torgalski took the reigns of the program after Bill Breene steered the program for six years.
Having headed up Buffalo's baseball camps as well as serving as the team's recruiting director, Torgalski knows exactly what needs to change for Buffalo to be successful.
"I think on the field our whole approach to the game needs to change," Torgalski said. "We have talented athletes but it's our approach to practice, the little things, the details that I think in the past have come back and hurt us in games. Our whole attitude needs to change."
In order to make that change, Torgalski has hired an entirely new staff, bringing in western New York natives, Jim Koerner and Joe Hesketh. Koerner spent the past last three seasons with Marshall, while Hesketh, a UB alumnus, spent 11 years in the major leagues, pitching for the Boston Red Sox and the Montreal Expos.
"I'm excited about my staff," Torgalski said. "I think I've added two quality individuals who have tremendous baseball knowledge. On the pitching side, one who is a UB alum, and a guy who played 11 years in the majors. I couldn't be happier to have someone of that level working with our pitchers. Every one of the pitchers in our program would love to work with a guy who's been there. Jimmy Kerner comes in as a tremendous recruiter and is great with the hitting aspect. I think that both of them bring a lot to the program as far as being hard working disciplined guys."
Torgalski, Zaher and Bashor, will need to be dedicated in all their efforts to turn these three struggling programs into yearly contenders. However, with their past experience, personal beliefs, and dedicated assistants, it may only be a matter of time.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
