The 2024 American Athletic Conference (AAC) Media Day marks Florida Atlantic University’s second year, as well as AAC Commissioner Tim Pernetti’s first year in the conference.
Under former head coach Dusty May, Florida Atlantic men’s basketball program secured back-to-back National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament appearances, a first in school history. This streak looks to be continued by current head coach John Jakus and his self-constructed roster of 11 new players.
Last year, the team finished with a 25-9 overall record and 14-4 conference record. The Owls entered the AAC tournament as the No. 2 seed and were knocked out in the semifinals by No. 11 Temple University. However, the team was able to secure an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament as the No. 9 seed in the East regional, where they lost in the first round to No. 8 Northwestern University.
Florida Atlantic women’s basketball program is entering their fourth year under head coach Jennifer Sullivan’s leadership. She came to the Owls back in 2021, marking her first head coaching job and played at the University of Memphis, a fellow AAC school.
The women’s team finished last season with an 11-19 overall record and a 6-12 conference record. They were the No. 12 seed in the AAC tournament, where they lost in the first round to No. 13 Wichita State University.
MBB was ranked fifth out of the 14 AAC teams in this year’s preseason coaches poll, falling four spots from their number one ranking in the 2023-2024 preseason coaches poll. WBB was ranked last out of the 14 AAC teams in back-to-back seasons.
Here are our key takeaways from 2024 AAC Media Day:
The state of the conference in regard to FAU
After the Pacific 12 Conference (Pac-12) lost a majority of its schools to other conferences, either due to more money or exposure, reports stated that the Pac-12 was interested in poaching schools like the University of Memphis and Tulane University. Other schools in the American Conference were being looked at as well.
This led to a statement being released by the AAC, along with some of the aforementioned schools, stating that the schools are committed to the American Conference.
“It’s a threat across the entire industry, for everyone,” said Pernetti. “You know when it’s going to happen. When someone’s about to be in the market with their media rights, expansion typically rears its head.”
Pernetti elaborated by speaking about the AAC’s own criteria for accepting new teams into the conference to emphasize that conference realignment looks different for each conference and school.
“It just brings a lot of questions into the equation for everyone about ‘who’s going to be where and when, and how is that going to impact one over the other,’” said Pernetti.
In regards to the current teams in the conference, Pernetti emphasized that the American and the schools in it have “a blue-collar mindset.”
“Across the board, nobody has any illusions that there are participation trophies in this conference,” Pernetti said.
Pernetti continued on that point in talking about Florida Atlantic, citing Athletic Director and Vice President Brian White and Interim President Stacy Volnick’s leadership in elevating athletics on the campus ever since the Final Four run in 2023.
“Florida Atlantic has tremendous potential. Not only where it’s located, in a big market, but also it’s clearly an institution that is serious about investment in athletics,” said Pernetti. “[FAU] clearly has a leadership all the way to the top that is serious about success.”
Pernetti went on to cite the coaching talent that the league has obtained, specifically Jakus and his experience with Baylor University and Gonzaga University, two basketball programs that have seen major success.
Coach Jakus’ reputation in the AAC
Coach Jakus was on Baylor’s coaching staff during their 2021 National Championship run. He’s coached under or alongside well-respected coaches around college basketball at different points in his career, like Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang, Baylor’s Scott Drew and Gonzaga’s Mark Few.
With all these pit stops, Jakus has created a positive reputation amongst his peers in the college basketball world.
“Coach Jakus is one of the best basketball minds in the country,” said University of North Texas’ head coach Ross Hodge. “I knew it was just a matter of time before he would get his opportunity that made sense. When they decided to hire him at FAU, I thought it was a tremendous hire.”
Hodge stated his connection with Jakus formed because Hodge was an assistant coach at North Texas under current Texas Tech University head coach Grant McCasland. McCasland was an assistant coach at Baylor with Jakus at the same time.
Jakus’ popular reputation goes beyond basketball for some, like Wichita State University head coach Paul Mills.
Mills chuckled when first being asked what he knows about Jakus, sharing that “he is as good a person as you’ll meet.”
“I don’t know how he does it with his demeanor. When he was with us at Baylor, Jerome Tang would get worked up, Grant McCasland would get worked up, [I] would get worked up,” said Mills. “and Jakus was the one who was even-keeled and rational, and [I] have a great deal of admiration for him.”
Mills also stated, like Hodge, that it was only a matter of time until Jakus got his shot as a head coach in college basketball.
“A couple of those teams, I would say, are Baylor family,” said Jakus as he names every coach listed above. “So I don’t get to this spot without them.”
Jakus went on to give props to his peers who were a part of the Baylor coaching tree and who have gone on to find their own head coaching positions across college athletics.
“I won’t love coaching against them because I count them as brothers, but [Mills and Hodge] are both great coaches and good humans,” said Jakus.
Women’s Basketball
As Sullivan and her team enter their second year in the AAC, Sullivan shared that she was excited to be returning and be a part of her second AAC media day. This time around, she knew what to expect and used that experience to help guide her players in the large-scale event.
Entering a season with eight new players, five of them being freshmen, is no walk in the park but Sullivan intends to use the returners to create a “foundation to build upon.”
“A lot of the things we’re doing, you’ve got five returners that are kind of aware of our expectations, how we wanted to look, how we wanted to go, good leadership to kind of help build on. We’re hoping that will allow us to kind of pick up where we left off late this season last year,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan’s expectations are for guards Mya Perry and Jada Moore to continue their success from last season and “leave a bigger mark this year.” As for the new players, she believes that transfer sophomore guard from the University of Georgia Bulldogs, Stefanie Ingram, will be a special addition this year.
Ingram, from Orlando, Fla. redshirted her first year with the Bulldogs. Last year, she played in 28 of 30 games and brought in 67 points, 27 rebounds and 16 steals for the season. Ingram had a career-high of 12 points against Troy University.
“We got a chance to recruit each of them for at least a year, which was neat, kind of being a part of their family before they came here…,” said Sullivan about the five freshmen. “They want to keep up with the veterans as much as they can and we fully expect them to contribute for us this year on the court.”
Perry provided words of advice for the newcomers on the team as she was in their shoes just last year after transferring to FAU from Ohio State University.
“This is a very talented league and everyone’s willing to work in it. You really don’t know what to expect when you’re coming into it…For the freshman, just go in there confident, do what you do and they also have our help throughout the season, practice everything like that to be at the highest level of competition,” she said.
In her first year with FAU, Perry led the team from an offensive standpoint. She had 18-double digit games and set a career-high of 24 points against Florida International University on Dec. 14. Perry had the most three-point shots made, averaging 2.8 per game for a season total of 66.
“Coming from OSU, I think I definitely took a backseat [spot] and I had a lot of players to be able to watch and you know, give me some knowledge,” Perry said. “I think this year, being my second year in the American and at FAU, that I’m going to be more of a leadership role…Doing whatever I can to help my team win, no matter what the circumstances [are].”
At the tail end of last season, FAU finished out 6-5 after beginning AAC play 0-7. “We finally figured it out,” Moore said. She wishes that they could have figured it out sooner but now that the team understands what they need to do in order to succeed, they’ll continue with that.
“We’re starting all the way back in spring, when the minute season really ended. So just really building on that and working hard every day,” said Moore about the start of this season.
Moore, one of two returning seniors, intends to use her seniority to help guide the team. She battled with a nose injury, adorning a nose brace for a large portion of the end of last year and wasn’t confirmed to play in their final regular season game till hours before.
Despite the injury, Moore proved to be a valuable piece of the defensive end of the team. She led FAU with 57 assists and came in second for rebounds per game, 5.9, and 2.28 assists. On Jan. 7 against the University of North Texas, Moore had her first 20-point game after scoring 21 points and tallying five rebounds.
“I think the time I spent in the gym, it really started to show up. Just continuing to do that. I mean, you never want to be the same. You always want to improve. So just having that mentality, knowing that every single time I step in the gym, I want to get better every day,” Moore said.
Other schools’ thoughts on Florida Atlantic
With the Florida Atlantic women’s team coming in last in the preseason coaches poll ranking, some may take that information and assume that they won’t be a strong team. However, conference head coaches think otherwise and don’t believe that the polls mean anything heading into gameplay.
“Jennifer does a great job and you know, all of us in this conference, it’s a dog fight every single game. So we can’t take anybody for granted. It’s a very competitive league. The parity is there and so you can’t count anybody out. I know they have rankings one through 13 but we can’t, as a coach, you can’t even look at those rankings,” said Diana Richardson, the head coach of Temple University women’s basketball team.
Karen Aston, head coach of the University of Texas at San Antonio, shared a similar sentiment that preseason polls don’t mean much. Aston believes the Owls’ two returning guards, Mya Perry and Jada Moore, will bring FAU success.
“The league is and most basketball teams kind of go as their guards go…anytime you have guards with experience, you have a chance to win,” said Aston.
For more information regarding this or other stories email JD Delcastillo, the Managing Editor, at [email protected] or email Megan Bruinsma, the Sports Editor, at [email protected] or DM them on Instagram: @jd.delcastillo or @megan_bruinsma.
