When men’s basketball head coach Jason Leone stepped foot on the Oswego State campus in September of 2011, the men’s basketball team had just gone 24-5 and went to the second round of the NCAA Div. III tournament the season before. Expectations were sky high and yet Leone found a way to exceed them. 

Oswego State went 26-4 in Leone’s first season. It did not stop there for the new head coach though. After four 20-win seasons, two Sweet 16 appearances and 21 SUNYAC postseason victories, Leone was named the SUNYAC Men’s Basketball Coach of the Decade. Success has been the theme for Leone the past nine seasons he has put on the suit and tie to lead the Lakers. 

Under Leone, Oswego State has won a total of 181 games overall, with 114 of those wins coming within the SUNYAC. His winning percentage of 70.7% is the highest of any Oswego State men’s basketball coach, a program that has season by season records dating back to 1921. An even more impressive feat is Leone’s number of winning seasons and 20-win seasons compared to the coaches before him. As far as winning seasons, he has nine of the programs 20 over the past 30 year in just nine seasons. Twenty-win seasons are a rare occurrence in the men’s basketball team’s history. There were only five prior to Leone arriving in 2011. He has almost matched a total from 90 years in just nine. 

Leone has been given the opportunity to mold many talented basketball players over the past decade. Players that have stuck out to the coach over the past decade include his former All-Americans but also captains that did not always have primary scoring roles but provided consistent leadership. It is hard to single out players though when he has coached 30 All-SUNYAC players while at Oswego State. 

“One of the things I have noticed over the time I’ve been here is how we won a lot of different ways,” Leone said. “I’m not sure there is one particular player. I would say I have had some really, really good captains over the years. Guys that maybe weren’t the [All-SUNYAC] players. It has really been a program based around teamwork and I’ve had so many great assistant coaches, too.” 

Oswego State had not won a SUNYAC Championship since 1965 before Leone won it in his first season. Dr. John V. Glinski  was the head coach that season, and ironically the only men’s basketball coach in the Oswego State Athletic Hall of Fame outside of legendary multi-sport head coach Max G. Ziel, the namesake of the gym in which Leone coaches his home games. It is plausible to consider Leone is going to have his name next to Glinski one day in the Oswego State Athletic Hall of Fame in Laker Hall. 

That is not Leone’s worry at the moment though, it is not even the next time his Lakers take the basketball court. With COVID-19 taking away the 2020-21 SUNYAC season, Oswego State will have a full 18 months between their 2020 SUNYAC semifinal loss to SUNY Brockport and a potential November 2021 return to action. The coach’s thoughts and energy at the moment are dedicated to the pandemic and feeling empathy for those who have experienced death and heartache. Leone stressed giving context to the current situation, he said basketball is not important when compared to the overall toll of COVID-19 around the world. 

“It will mean a lot to get back but I think it is important that we keep perspective,” Leone said. “[COVID-19] really is the biggest concern. We have a group of guys that really understand that this is a global pandemic and there are more important things than basketball.”

Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics