This former UCLA coach’s class provides a unique learning environment – Daily News
Valorie Kondos Field, retired UCLA women’s gymnastics team head coach and author of “Don’t Wait to Dance,” teaches a graduate level class on leadership on Monday, Mar. 10, 2025, at UCLA in Westwood. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Valorie Kondos Field, retired UCLA women’s gymnastics team head coach and author of “Don’t Wait to […]
Valorie Kondos Field, retired UCLA women’s gymnastics team head coach and author of “Don’t Wait to Dance,” teaches a graduate level class on leadership on Monday, Mar. 10, 2025, at UCLA in Westwood. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
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Life and death. Senior citizen sex. Alex Rodriguez and performance-enhancing drugs.
This is Education 472: Introduction to Philosophies of Coaching. Valorie Kondos-Field is in charge – and it’s a learning environment unlike any other.
“She’s just so … herself,” UCLA women’s basketball player Charlisse Leger-Walker said. “The very first class, I thought she was crazy.”
Kondos-Field, known affectionately as Miss Val, won seven NCAA championships and collected more than 800 victories in her 29 years as head coach of the UCLA gymnastics team. She’s returned to the school as an educator in the School of Education and Information Studies’ Transformative Coaching and Leadership graduate program.
A team of educators has developed a curriculum to give Bruins the tools they need to transition from student – or student-athlete – to coach. EDUC472 is a small but influential piece.
“The main point of the class is to get these young adults to start thinking about what their values are and instructing their leadership values, moral foundation, cultural foundation and style,” Kondos-Field said.
“You have to be authentic, otherwise you will never be a leader worth following.”
Bringing the outside in
On the last day of class, Kondos-Field stands with poise at the front of a classroom in Moore Hall as students and guests funnel in. Balenciaga pumps are on her feet, graffitied with fluorescent, inspirational words and the year “2019.”
A wedding ring is on her left hand and a 2010 national championship ring is on the other. Not a hair is out of place.
There are two main objectives for today’s three-hour class: discussion of Kondos-Field’s first book, “Life Is Short, Don’t Wait to Dance” – she has a second in the works – and final presentations. Each student has prepared a 2-minute speech explaining their coaching philosophy.
It feels more like a gathering than a class. Former UCLA gymnast and NCAA champion Katelyn Ohashi leans on a table while Kondos-Field’s 90-year-old roommate, Beverly, is seated on the other side of the room and looking refined in a turquoise sweater and sepia-tinted sunglasses.
“She has made me reframe my thoughts of what getting older is,” Kondos-Field tells the class, referring to Beverly.
Guests are critical to the course’s effectiveness. Students read a book per week about a particular coach, then guests are invited to discuss the subject matter with the group.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has made an appearance. Former Bruin and NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo and baseball icon Alex Rodriguez have stopped by.
“If we’re studying say, Pete Carroll, that week,” Kondos-Field said, “Alex doesn’t speak to Pete, but Alex Rodriguez comes in and talks about how to move from being a player, a student, to choreographing your life. Crafting your life.”
There is one regular face in the class – Director of New Initiatives Arif Amlani, who has a background in philosophy and philosophy of education. Amlani has co-taught the class for six years, although at this point he sees himself as playing more of a supportive role.
He teams up with Kondos-Field to connect leadership techniques with ancient philosophy passed down through centuries. The unexamined life is not worth living, as Socrates said.
“I have full confidence in her and the wisdom that she imparts,” Amlani said. “I am perfectly OK letting her do her thing.
“And conversely, there might be times when I do my thing. I have a very different style and I’ll talk about very different kinds of things. I might go more into philosophical issues. We have that understanding and, really, it’s by design. We have full confidence in each other.”
A strength space
UCLA running back Anthony Frias II is laughing and holding his phone in front of him, the screen facing the class.
Instagram’s algorithm showed him a postgame interview of classmate and former Bruins softball player Sharlize Palacios. Her teammates stacked bats in her arms and topped them with a Squishmallow before placing a box of Reese’s Puffs cereal on her head.
Palacios shakes her head as wide smiles spread to everyone who sees the clip.
Before class had even started, the group was applauding Leger-Walker and Angela Dugalić as they walked into the room. The women’s basketball players were returning to campus fresh off a Big Ten Conference Tournament victory over USC.
“Being in the grad classes, everybody is so curious about the other sports,” said Leger-Walker, who sat out this past season recovering from a torn ACL. “They’ve come out to our games and then the next day, they were all congratulating us. It just builds that sense of community at UCLA, and it’s pretty special. Everyone’s genuine about supporting each other.”
The dialogue flows freely in Education 472 but Kondos-Field is always at the forefront. She requires that all students stand up when they speak and if there are guests in the room, they introduce themselves and name the sport that they play.
Even in the Zoom-based first class of the semester, Kondos-Field asked the students to unmute themselves as she called on each of them. Leger-Walker recalls being good-naturedly pestered by her instructor until she turned her camera on during that class, a purpose she now understands.
“It’s very interactive, very discussion-based, very opinion-based and because it’s a graduate class, people aren’t afraid to speak up and share their opinion and share their perspective,” Leger-Walker said.
“Honestly, it’s probably one of the top three classes I’ve had in my entire college career so far. And that’s five years, so that’s a lot of classes.”
Athletes of the same sport sit together in the U-shaped seating arrangement but intermingle with each other during group work, asking questions about others’ sports or what their future might hold.
Casual conversations swirl into silly ones and juxtapose themselves with words of emotional depth, revealing to students that vulnerability doesn’t have to be a weakness.
An in-class anecdote from Kondos-Field: She once declined a dinner invitation from a group of gymnastics friends because she thought gymnastics gossip might end up dominating the conversation.
Instead, she planted herself on the couch beside Beverly. They worked on knitting projects in their pajamas, watched tennis and “talked about older people having sex,” she recalled.
Later in the class, Beverly reflects on her experience with cancer and Kondos-Field adds details about her own challenges while going through breast cancer.
Dugalić shares that she and her brother didn’t always have a basketball to play with while growing up. In another class, Joshua Swift delved into the hurt of being cut from the football team two days after the season had ended.
“It was riveting,” Kondos-Field said. “It was one heartbeat in that class, listening to Joshua Swift stand up and share his pain with everyone.”
Even Alex Rodriguez lets down his defenses when he enters Moore Hall.
“He always knows I’m going to throw him hardballs,” Kondos-Field said. “I start every time he’s in class – I go, ‘Why did you do it? Let’s talk about the performance-enhancing drugs. Why did you do it?’ And he gets really vulnerable, he gets really humble.”
Gray areas brighten and blurred lines in communication snap into focus. Tough conversations aren’t just unavoidable – they’re welcomed. But don’t call it a safe space. In the words of Kondos-Field, it’s a strength space.
Not just a degree
Colleges and universities across the country offer many coaching-related degrees, but none are as intensive as the Transformative Coaching and Leadership program at UCLA.
It was launched in fall 2019 and built on former UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden’s adage that coaching is teaching, creating a win-win situation for the university.
The master’s program was a perfect match for graduate student-athletes who wanted to pursue coaching or leadership positions. On the other side, it allowed UCLA to attract and retain student-athletes.
“After hearing about that program, it was definitely another check box that I could put for UCLA,” said Leger-Walker, who transferred from Oregon State a year ago.
Jessica Clements, the leadoff hitter on the Bruins’ softball team, had a similar experience. The 2024 Big West Player of the Year at Cal Poly had her pick of schools, but Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said the Transformative Coaching and Leadership experience made UCLA a top choice.
Clements will finish playing this season, then be a graduate manager next season before beginning her search for a coaching job.
“It’s everything she could possibly want,” Inouye-Perez said. “Academics, athletics, the experience as an athlete, the experience as a grad manager, transformative coaching, a leadership master’s program.
“And then she wants to be able to fly it out there and figure out where she could land a coaching position, which I believe is going to be very, very easy for her.”
There are two UCLA gymnasts in the program who are taking Kondos-Field’s class: Carissa Clay and Chae Campbell – or “Chae girl” as Kondos-Field affectionately calls her during class.
“I’ve seen them both grow in the way that they communicate and the confidence that they hold themselves with and also how they show up as a leader,” Bruins gymnastics coach Janelle McDonald said.
“It’s a great opportunity for people to be able to continue their education and their sport, but also just learn a lot about life.”
Transactional vs. transformative
Sue Enquist was a transactional head coach when she helmed the UCLA softball team for 18 seasons. She was tough on her players but empowered them, and won 10 NCAA championships between 1982 and 2004 as a result.
“I loved it,” said Inouye-Perez, who won three national championships as a player under Enquist.
“She’s, like, man, if I were to coach the way I did back then versus understanding what’s needed today, I’d be a whole different coach today than I was back then,” Inouye-Perez recalled.
Enquist, along with Kondos-Field, is now embracing transformative coaching, which emphasizes athlete growth while still putting emphasis on success.
Transformative – sometimes called transformational – coaching sees sports beyond winning and losing, supporting athletes as they undergo difficult situations in order to create personal growth.
“Everybody coaching today should definitely understand what transformative means,” Inouye-Perez said, “because if you’re not, you put yourself at risk of not only not succeeding, but also being fired for not getting the fact that you no longer can be transactional. Everyone’s looking for everyone to have a quality experience, to learn and grow and be better people.”
The current generation of college students has likely experienced a mix of the transactional, do-as-I-say coaching style and transformative coaching. The future, as Inouye-Perez and those in the Transformative Coaching and Leadership Program believe, is the latter due to its ability to meet the mental and physical needs of this generation’s student-athletes.
“If we were teaching this class in the ’80s, a lot of people in the class would not have experienced what transformational leadership feels like,” Kondos-Field said.
“But this generation has experienced both. And now, guess what? Since you’ve experienced both, you get to choose. You don’t get to just say ‘because that’s how I was coached.’ Or ‘that’s how I was parented.’ It’s a choice.”
Philosophies built to last
It’s time for the grand finale of Education 472. The last task of the last class is for each student to present their personal coaching philosophy in 2 minutes.
Kondos-Field proudly tells the class that Cam Brown, a former student and women’s basketball player, had secured a job offer by reciting her philosophy during an interview. Dugliać, equally proud, films her instructor retelling the story on her phone to send to Brown.
“The interesting part is I tend to overcoach,” Kondos-Field said. “I tend to give them too much information. And Dr. Amlani, he’s like, let them figure it out.”
The ways in which this group of students figured out the coaching philosophy assignment are myriad.
Swift has a central theme – “Keep it G” – and involves pillars that all begin with the letter G. Beach volleyball player Natalie Myszkowski talks about the importance of preparation and how “the dumbest you can look in the rain is wet.”
Swimmer Joanie Cash shows a graphic of a blue-and-yellow bridge that she had created to demonstrate the pillars of her philosophy. Leger-Walker gives an energetic and clear presentation, but not before she discloses that she struggled to decide which leadership style they learned about was her favorite.
“I don’t think that I’ve ever sat down to this extent and thought about leadership the way I have this quarter,” Leger-Walker said. “It can be such a general term thrown out there. Like, what is a leader? Everybody has a different perspective on it, but I didn’t realize how complex it truly was.”
Each student’s face is the future of leadership, and its powerful ideals are felt in the presence of and passed down from the instructor.
Kondos-Field tells them in a brief, spirited lecture that she was never afraid of getting fired while she was coaching at UCLA and that she would still hold true to her own coaching philosophy today – which includes no chewing gum and no hair ties on wrists, of course.
And she is steadfast in that as an educator, which will forever resonate with her students.
“Everyone is different 100%,” Leger-Walker said, “but there are so many different ways and different skills and different experiences that you can draw from to really have your own philosophy so that you stay true to that.
Nationals’ front-office upheaval injects even more uncertainty into MLB draft
The Washington Nationals are at a pivotal point in their rebuild to relevance, owning the No. 1 overall pick in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft that begins on Sunday night in Atlanta. There are multiple intriguing prospects they can choose from, including prep shortstop Ethan Holliday, the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday and […]
The Washington Nationals are at a pivotal point in their rebuild to relevance, owning the No. 1 overall pick in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft that begins on Sunday night in Atlanta.
There are multiple intriguing prospects they can choose from, including prep shortstop Ethan Holliday, the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday and brother of Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in 2022 and is now in the majors with the Baltimore Orioles.
Washington this week fired longtime general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez.
Bold choice.
The Nats’ head-scratching move — more for the timing than the actual decision — injected another layer of uncertainty to a draft that might be one of the most unpredictable in recent years. The first three rounds of the 20-round draft will take place on Sunday with the rest of the selections on Monday.
Washington promoted Mike DeBartolo to interim GM and he’ll supervise the team’s selections. He was previously the team’s assistant general manager and has been with the franchise since 2012.
DeBartolo said he’ll lean on the evaluations of the team’s scouting department but also has his own opinions about the process and will be the decision maker. Money will also be a factor, as teams have to work within their bonus pool.
The Orioles are at the high end this year with more than $19 million to spend. The Yankees — who don’t pick until No. 39 — are at the bottom with roughly $5.3 million.
“They’ve been working hard for this moment, almost even before the last draft ended,” DeBartolo said. “So, I’ll bring my own voice to that process, and I’ll work collaboratively with them, and take what they have to say and ultimately be responsible for making the picks.”
There is little consensus about whom the Nats might select at No. 1, though some of the top prospects are a pair of left-handed pitchers — LSU’s Kade Anderson and Tennessee’s Liam Doyle — along with Oregon State shortstop Aiva Arquette and prep shortstops Holliday and Eli Willits.
“There are several really talented players that are going to be in the mix for us,” DeBartolo said. “We have to decide how to strategize with our bonus pool money and what the player bonus pool demands are and run through all those scenarios over the coming days.”
After the Nationals, the Los Angeles Angels have the No. 2 selection. The Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals round out the top five.
Left-handed college pitchers lead the pack
Several of the top prospects are left-handed college pitchers, including Anderson, Doyle and Florida State’s Jamie Arnold.
Anderson helped LSU win the College World Series title last month, throwing a complete-game shutout in Game 1 of the championship series. He finished 12-1 with a 3.18 ERA with 180 strikeouts in 119 innings.
Anderson had Tommy John surgery in high school.
Doyle rocketed up mock drafts with a terrific season for the Vols, finishing 10-4 with a 3.20 ERA and 162 strikeouts in 95 2/3 innings. Arnold was a breakout star for Florida State in 2024 before regressing a bit last season, but he still finished with 8-2 with a 2.98 ERA and 119 strikeouts.
“Obviously, college left-handers are kind of a premium right now,” Mariners vice president of amateur scouting Scott Hunter said. “There’s a few of those at the high end of the draft.”
Corona stars
Corona High School — about 45 miles from Los Angeles — could have three players drafted in the first round.
The prep powerhouse is led by right-handed pitcher Seth Hernandez, regarded as a potential top five pick. Shortstop Billy Carlson is also expected to be selected early in the first round.
Third baseman Brady Ebel isn’t quite as highly-regarded — he’s the No. 64 prospect according to MLB.com — but there’s potential that he could still sneak into the opening round.
A fourth Corona player, Ethin Bingaman, is a two-way player committed to Auburn but could be drafted in the top five rounds.
IDA Chairman Expands on Deal with New Potential Owners for Elmira’s LECOM Event Center
“The place is beautiful, it’s been cleaned up, it’s been fixed. There have been a lot of improvements on it… I think with the turf [field] and the ice with the type of style of hockey we have, (which is more family-friendly), the Buzz team coming, youth program, 16U program, 18U program, I think it opens […]
“The place is beautiful, it’s been cleaned up, it’s been fixed. There have been a lot of improvements on it… I think with the turf [field] and the ice with the type of style of hockey we have, (which is more family-friendly), the Buzz team coming, youth program, 16U program, 18U program, I think it opens up a lot of opportunity because those kids are going to be living in this community. Their families are going to come here. They’re gonna spend money here, and I think that’s the exciting thing for the community. It’s going to have an economic impact on this community like it hasn’t been before,” said Margeson.
Fallston resident Charlie Cerrato becomes NHL draft pick
When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Charlie Cerrato in the second round of last month’s NHL draft, the Fallston resident smiled when he realized he was the 49th overall pick. That seemed fitting considering his father, Vinny Cerrato, was a former executive of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington franchise. “It was a funny coincidence because […]
When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Charlie Cerrato in the second round of last month’s NHL draft, the Fallston resident smiled when he realized he was the 49th overall pick.
That seemed fitting considering his father, Vinny Cerrato, was a former executive of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington franchise.
“It was a funny coincidence because the 49ers are all over our house, like all of his stuff,” the younger Cerrato said. “I mean, 49 is a number we use a lot. So it was definitely funny seeing that.”
Added the elder Cerrato, a sports talk radio host for 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore: “His agent thought he was going to go between 40 and 50, and he went 49, which is pretty cool.”
The past 12 months have been a whirlwind for Charlie Cerrato. Shortly after enrolling at Penn State, he turned in an eye-opening season that resulted in him earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and then becoming the second-highest draft pick in school history.
Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said that the Hurricanes swooped up one of the more impressive players he has ever mentored.
“What he is going to add is an incredible competitor and I don’t care what team you are or what league, but everybody can use that no matter how good and successful you are,” he said. “He’s going to raise the competitive nature of that team. That, I can guarantee, and then I think he’s going to bring a lot of other things to the table, too.”
Football might have seemed to be a natural path for Cerrato. After all, his father played quarterback and wide receiver at Iowa State, served coaching stints at Minnesota and Notre Dame, and worked his way up the ladder to become the director of player personnel for San Francisco from February 1995 to July 1999 and Washington from July 1999 to January 2001 and then vice president of football operations for Washington from January 2002 to December 2009.
But growing up in Minnesota, Vinny Cerrato was an avid hockey player himself who met famed coach Herb Brooks when the latter was coaching the Golden Gophers in the late 1970s. He introduced Charlie to the sport when he was 3 years old, coordinating weekly 6 a.m. hockey sessions at a rink in Northern Virginia.
“Before he went to work, he would take me to McDonald’s — I’d always get pancakes there — and then he’d take me over to the ice rink and then drop me off at preschool,” Charlie Cerrato recalled. “It was totally normal.”
After Vinny Cerrato was fired, the family moved to Fallston, and Charlie began playing with club teams in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That meant round-trip drives of almost 200 miles after school, but also moments of father-son bonding.
Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit. (Photo by Mark Selders)
“We’d have to drive three days a week, and he’d be doing his homework in the car, and we’d get home at 10 o’clock and he’d be sleeping in the back,” Vinny Cerrato said. “We’d be driving to Boston, Toronto. So it was a lot of driving, but it was great.”
Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit as a sophomore and then the United States National Team Development Program as a junior and senior.
Initially worried about leaving home, Cerrato learned how to cook and clean, purchased his own gym membership, and bought a bike for travel.
“I think it was the best decision that me and my parents could’ve made because at 15, I grew up, and I learned how to live on my own,” he said. “I think it benefited me a ton because at 18 or 19 years old, most kids are moving away to college and they get homesick. But at 15, that was already done.”
For two years, Cerrato was committed to Michigan. But a coaching change there forced him to re-evaluate his options, and he chose Penn State.
In his first year with the Nittany Lions, Cerrato had 12 points by Christmas. After the holiday, he racked up 30 more points, ranked second nationally among freshmen in both assists (27) and points, won 57.2% of his faceoffs, and contributed to the team’s first run to the NCAA Tournament’s Frozen Four.
“He exceeded our expectations,” Gadowsky said. “He’s a quick learner, a quick study. I think he really took to heart a few of the suggestions that we had which were going to help him with his transition to college hockey, and I think he did a really good job with little things like playing without the puck and shift management.”
As winter turned to spring, Cerrato talked to 27 of the NHL’s 32 teams, including several occasions with 10 of those clubs. But he interviewed with Carolina only once, which added to his shock when the Hurricanes drafted him on June 28.
“It is so unpredictable how the NHL draft goes, and it was definitely a surprise, a great surprise,” he said. “I’m grateful to be drafted by them, but I don’t know if I was expecting that.”
For Vinny Cerrato who spent many years delivering the good news to players selected by the 49ers and Washington, sitting on the other side of the draft process was a bit unsettling.
Fallston resident Charlie Cerrato becomes NHL draft pick
When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Charlie Cerrato in the second round of last month’s NHL draft, the Fallston resident smiled when he realized he was the 49th overall pick. That seemed fitting considering his father, Vinny Cerrato, was a former executive of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington franchise. “It was a funny coincidence because […]
When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Charlie Cerrato in the second round of last month’s NHL draft, the Fallston resident smiled when he realized he was the 49th overall pick.
That seemed fitting considering his father, Vinny Cerrato, was a former executive of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington franchise.
“It was a funny coincidence because the 49ers are all over our house, like all of his stuff,” the younger Cerrato said. “I mean, 49 is a number we use a lot. So it was definitely funny seeing that.”
Added the elder Cerrato, a sports talk radio host for 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore: “His agent thought he was going to go between 40 and 50, and he went 49, which is pretty cool.”
The past 12 months have been a whirlwind for Charlie Cerrato. Shortly after enrolling at Penn State, he turned in an eye-opening season that resulted in him earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and then becoming the second-highest draft pick in school history.
Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said that the Hurricanes swooped up one of the more impressive players he has ever mentored.
“What he is going to add is an incredible competitor and I don’t care what team you are or what league, but everybody can use that no matter how good and successful you are,” he said. “He’s going to raise the competitive nature of that team. That, I can guarantee, and then I think he’s going to bring a lot of other things to the table, too.”
Football might have seemed to be a natural path for Cerrato. After all, his father played quarterback and wide receiver at Iowa State, served coaching stints at Minnesota and Notre Dame, and worked his way up the ladder to become the director of player personnel for San Francisco from February 1995 to July 1999 and Washington from July 1999 to January 2001 and then vice president of football operations for Washington from January 2002 to December 2009.
But growing up in Minnesota, Vinny Cerrato was an avid hockey player himself who met famed coach Herb Brooks when the latter was coaching the Golden Gophers in the late 1970s. He introduced Charlie to the sport when he was 3 years old, coordinating weekly 6 a.m. hockey sessions at a rink in Northern Virginia.
“Before he went to work, he would take me to McDonald’s — I’d always get pancakes there — and then he’d take me over to the ice rink and then drop me off at preschool,” Charlie Cerrato recalled. “It was totally normal.”
After Vinny Cerrato was fired, the family moved to Fallston, and Charlie began playing with club teams in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That meant round-trip drives of almost 200 miles after school, but also moments of father-son bonding.
Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit. (Photo by Mark Selders)
“We’d have to drive three days a week, and he’d be doing his homework in the car, and we’d get home at 10 o’clock and he’d be sleeping in the back,” Vinny Cerrato said. “We’d be driving to Boston, Toronto. So it was a lot of driving, but it was great.”
Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit as a sophomore and then the United States National Team Development Program as a junior and senior.
Initially worried about leaving home, Cerrato learned how to cook and clean, purchased his own gym membership, and bought a bike for travel.
“I think it was the best decision that me and my parents could’ve made because at 15, I grew up, and I learned how to live on my own,” he said. “I think it benefited me a ton because at 18 or 19 years old, most kids are moving away to college and they get homesick. But at 15, that was already done.”
For two years, Cerrato was committed to Michigan. But a coaching change there forced him to re-evaluate his options, and he chose Penn State.
In his first year with the Nittany Lions, Cerrato had 12 points by Christmas. After the holiday, he racked up 30 more points, ranked second nationally among freshmen in both assists (27) and points, won 57.2% of his faceoffs, and contributed to the team’s first run to the NCAA Tournament’s Frozen Four.
“He exceeded our expectations,” Gadowsky said. “He’s a quick learner, a quick study. I think he really took to heart a few of the suggestions that we had which were going to help him with his transition to college hockey, and I think he did a really good job with little things like playing without the puck and shift management.”
As winter turned to spring, Cerrato talked to 27 of the NHL’s 32 teams, including several occasions with 10 of those clubs. But he interviewed with Carolina only once, which added to his shock when the Hurricanes drafted him on June 28.
“It is so unpredictable how the NHL draft goes, and it was definitely a surprise, a great surprise,” he said. “I’m grateful to be drafted by them, but I don’t know if I was expecting that.”
For Vinny Cerrato who spent many years delivering the good news to players selected by the 49ers and Washington, sitting on the other side of the draft process was a bit unsettling.
Blues prospect Justin Carbonneau chooses QMJHL return over college hockey
Blues first-round pick Justin Carbonneau will play junior hockey again in Quebec with Blainville-Boisbriand, the team announced on Friday afternoon. Carbonneau was weighing whether to return to the QMJHL or transfer to Boston College to play hockey collegiately. The 18-year-old winger will return to Blainville-Boisbriand after ranking second in the league in both goals and […]
Blues first-round pick Justin Carbonneau will play junior hockey again in Quebec with Blainville-Boisbriand, the team announced on Friday afternoon.
Carbonneau was weighing whether to return to the QMJHL or transfer to Boston College to play hockey collegiately. The 18-year-old winger will return to Blainville-Boisbriand after ranking second in the league in both goals and points in 2024-25.
The Blues drafted Carbonneau with the 19th pick in this summer’s draft, adding the power forward to their stable of wingers in the pipeline. Carbonneau impressed Blues management with a strong development camp, and, with his decision to play junior hockey, will get more chances to do so in the near future.
Carbonneau will likely be part of the Blues roster for their annual prospect showcase against Chicago and Minnesota in mid-September, he’ll follow that with training camp participation and then NHL exhibition games.
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Carbonneau is also a candidate to sign his entry-level contract, as signing an ELC as a collegiate player would have ended his NCAA career. If Carbonneau shows enough in camp to make the NHL roster, he can play up to nine NHL games before using a year of his contract.
None of those opportunities would have been afforded to him had he gone to college.
College hockey likely would have been a greater draw if Carbonneau wasn’t already listed at 6-1 and 205 pounds.
“College hockey is beneficial in some ways because of the training,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said at development camp. “You get to get bigger, stronger, more days in the gym, less games. He’s a big man, though, now. Junior hockey, to me, has a lot of benefits, too. If you’re on a good team, you get seven-game playoff series. In college, it’s one and done.”
The Blues’ 2025 first-round pick made an impactful first impression, dropping highlight-reel goals and displaying a physical side to his game despite the laid-back setting.
The Blues drafted Justin Carbonneau in the first round on Friday night, picking the right-handed winger with the 19th selection of the evening.
The camp will be four days of on-ice work, beginning each day at noon and concluding with a three-on-three scrimmage session. It is free and open to the public.
‘We’re all Penn State’ | Commonwealth campus closures erase years of athletics history | Penn State Sports News
Over the past several months, rumors have circulated about potential closures of several Penn State Commonwealth campuses. Those rumors were confirmed on May 22, as the Penn State Board of Trustees voted to close seven Commonwealth campuses at the end of the spring 2027 semester. Along with those seven schools across the Commonwealth, 58 sports […]
Over the past several months, rumors have circulated about potential closures of several Penn State Commonwealth campuses.
Those rumors were confirmed on May 22, as the Penn State Board of Trustees voted to close seven Commonwealth campuses at the end of the spring 2027 semester.
Along with those seven schools across the Commonwealth, 58 sports teams will be discontinued following the end of the 2026-27 academic year.
“It’s almost like our legacy is going to die,” LeShawn Hammett, the Wilkes-Barre men’s basketball coach, said. “As the campuses close, we’ll have the memories, the banners will always hang in the rafters and the trophies will always be in the trophy case, but the Penn State program won’t live on.”
Some teams have experienced great success in the last few years, between national championships, athletes going on to play professionally and much more. Others have less to celebrate.
Regardless, the decision to close the seven campuses ended the athletic careers of some, caused many to transfer and closed the books on several historic chapters.
A team no more
Hammett came to Penn State Wilkes-Barre in 2016 to build an everlasting legacy.
“I dreamed of building my own Duke, my own Kansas, my own North Carolina,” Hammett said. “Where the tradition was rich, the players come back and they support the program. That is why we’re one of a kind, and we had that special product that we created.”
When he arrived at Wilkes-Barre, the Nittany Lions were a mediocre team with a record of 63-66 all-time. Over the last nine years, however, he’s brought the team to new heights with a record of 201-77 under Hammett and three national championships — the only school in the PSUAC with a national championship.
While Wilkes-Barre experienced success as a team, Hammett helped several players reach individual laurels as well. Fourteen players graduated from Hammett’s program and embarked on professional careers.
Three trophies won by the Wilkes-Barre men’s basketball team under LaShawn Hammett’s tenure as head coach sit on the floor in the Penn State Wilkes-Barre gymnasium.
Courtesy of LaShawn Hammett
“I think the tradition and culture that I had at Penn State (allowed this to happen),” Hammett said. “We made professional athletes out of guys who probably would’ve never thought to be professional athletes.”
However, Hammett’s tenure as a coach at Wilkes-Barre was soon coming to an end.
When the university announced its plans to close Commonwealth campuses in February, Hammett figured he wouldn’t have his job at Wilkes-Barre much longer. Hammett left Penn State and accepted a coaching job at Paul Quinn College, giving the Penn State job to his assistant Mike Riddle.
“My first thought was trying to figure out how to resolve this,” Riddle said. “No one ever contacted Coach or I to ask how we felt, what we could do, for any insight.”
As Riddle began taking over for the team, talking to his players and understanding the effects of the campus closure, he realized Penn State wasn’t allowing him to recruit for the final season.
With a roster of five incoming seniors, two juniors and one sophomore, Riddle knew he’d be looking at a very small and maybe not even full team in 2026.
“I made a decision early to resign from that position to give those five seniors a chance to go look for somewhere else,” Riddle said. “I helped them with (transferring) and I helped the five who committed to get somewhere else.”
While Riddle ultimately gave his returning players a chance to finish their eligibility playing basketball elsewhere, the decision stunned many athletes who were leaving a career behind at Wilkes-Barre.
“It kind of was a curveball,” Dashon Lewis, a junior on the men’s basketball team, said. “(It) threw me off guard because I was planning on coming back.
Penn State’s decision to close Wilkes-Barre didn’t just close a university of around 350 students, but ended a legacy in the Penn State Wilkes-Barre men’s basketball program.
“I won a national championship with my father (coaching) in 2019 and got to win a championship with my son in 2024,” Hammett said. “It’s very heartbreaking to see it all fold now because it was the house that LeShawn Hammett built, and now it’s no one’s house.”
More than just family
Sisters Miakoda and Aiyana Young committed to Penn State Mont Alto to play their final years of softball together.
“Going to college with my sister is like such a big deal to me,” Miakoda said. “She’s my best friend, my role model, and us going to different colleges never felt right to me.”
After hearing of Mont Alto’s closure while at the USCAA Small College World Series tournament, Miakoda had a decision to make — take additional classes and graduate a year early with her sister or transfer away from Mont Alto and finish her softball career without her.
Aiyana Young stands at bat at the Penn State Mont Alto softball field on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Mont Alto, Pa.
Noah Aberegg
“I will probably just continue to take summer courses to graduate early with my sister and just finish at Penn State Mont Alto,” Miakoda said. “It’s still upsetting though to know that I still had another year to play.”
However, the emotions started way before the USCAA tournament and the official announcement of Mont Alto’s closure. When the university sent a mass email regarding potential campus closures, the sisters had a feeling Mont Alto might be on the list.
“It blew my mind hearing the news right before we left for our opening tournament during spring break,” Aiyana said. “ It was truly gut wrenching for the president to release this information and throw us into a confused state of mind throughout the entirety of our season.”
For both of the sisters, playing at Mont Alto has been a dream come true between the campus, the athletics and the experience. Aiyana said playing for Mont Alto has “truly been a blessing” and has fallen in love with the atmosphere of the athletic program.
While the Young sisters were impacted by the school’s closure, several other athletes on the team have also faced struggles as a result of the campus closing.
Freshman Kassidy Nester committed to Mont Alto from Whitehall, Pennsylvania, a town over two hours away from campus.
Nester chose the Commonwealth campus over some of her other top schools, including James Madison. Like Miakoda, Nester will now graduate a year early and miss out on a year of softball because of the closure.
“I want to graduate where I started,” Nester said. “I want to play where I started.”
For the three athletes, Mont Alto’s campus has given them a softball experience in a more relaxing setting than Division I while still being competitive.
“We’re all very much a family and know what we’re fighting for,” Nester said. “It’s great fighting against these other (Commonwealth) campuses because we’re all Penn State.”
While Miakoda and Aiyana are actually sisters, the rest of the team has provided a similar feeling to Aiyana as she hopes to cherish that bond for the last two years.
“They’ve all been sisters to me on and off the field since I stepped foot onto this campus,” Aiyana said. “We’re gonna continue to make the best of these last two seasons together, and we’re gonna continue to work hard and work for one last championship in the PSUAC together.”
From the beginning to the end
Pat Lewis was working as a guidance counselor at Cameron County High School when he was asked to be the first head coach for Penn State Dubois women’s basketball in 2007.
When Lewis agreed to the position, he did so with the guarantee he could recruit locally. Since his arrival to Dubois, he has recruited only District 9 and 10 athletes — regions that are often too small to get much scouting — including his most recent recruit from Austin Area School District, the smallest district in Pennsylvania.
For many of the athletes on Lewis’ team, Dubois was the one school where they could continue their basketball career. According to Lewis, eight of the ten athletes were only recruited by him.
“As far as impacting kids from this area, we’re very rural,” Lewis said. “(The closure) has negative connotations for the rural students of north central Pennsylvania.”
While on his 110-mile round trip to campus for practice, Lewis never considered Dubois as one of the possible campuses to close due to its increase in enrollment and recent $17.3 million project to the gymnasium.
“I guess I might have been a bit naive, but I thought Dubois would be safe,” Lewis said. “I thought we had some unique things going on where we might have had a chance to remain open.”
Even Lewis’ athletes couldn’t believe the campus was closing after the success of the university and its athletics programs over the years.
“(We were saying) we did really good and we put our name on the map,” Hailey Theuret said. “It’s not like we were terrible and nobody knew who we were. We were the one team this year that people were like, ‘Look out for.’”
Guard Hailey Theuret (4) dribbles the ball during a Penn State Dubois women’s basketball game.
Courtesy of Hailey Theuret
Basketball is the primary reason many of the athletes went to Dubois or even college at all.
“There’s a high possibility that I never would have continued my education into college if it wasn’t for that opportunity to play basketball,” Frances Milliron said.
For others, that situation is reversed, with Lewis giving many athletes an opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have.
“When I was in high school, I never thought that I would get the chance to play college basketball,” Theuret said. “It’s pretty disheartening, especially for the coaches who’ve built up this tiny program into something that has history.”
Over the 18 years Lewis has coached the team, he’s secured 10 PSUAC playoff appearances and helped the team to a No. 4 USCAA National Coach’s Poll ranking.
However, Lewis’ coaching abilities or success isn’t what stands out most to his athletes. It’s his love and passion for the game and for his team.
“He has so much passion for a program,” Milliron said. “He treats us like his daughters.”
While the campus closure is causing many athletes at Dubois to transfer to new schools or graduate early, its effect on Lewis is much more profound.
“I’ll be 71 or 72 when it’s all done, so it might be time for me to say I’m not going to be coaching anymore,” Lewis said. “Not by choice, but by necessity.”
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