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Eric Konkol enters his fifth season as a member of Jim Larranaga's coaching staff at George Mason, but his second since 2004-05. He assists in all aspects of the program including recruiting, practices, individual player workouts and game preparation. Konkol was a member of the Mason coaching staff from 2002-03 through 2004-05 before spending two years coaching high school basketball in Minnesota. He returned to Mason after a short stint on the coaching staff at North Dakota State. In 2008, he helped lead the team to its second-highest win total in school history as Mason beat a nationally-ranked Kansas State team on national TV and won the CAA title for the first time since 2001. This is Konkol's seventh year of collegiate coaching experience after spending the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons on Buzz Peterson's staffs at Tennessee and Tulsa. He served as a graduate administrative assistant under Peterson at Tennessee in 2001-02, assisting in film breakdown and statistical analysis of games, practices and individual workouts and co-directing the Tennessee summer basketball camps and coaches clinics. He also organized the recruiting database and mailing system, and was a writer and editor for the official basketball newsletter. Konkol was a student assistant with Peterson at Tulsa in 2000-01 as the Golden Hurricane won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship. Konkol also has extensive experience running summer camps and was the director of the Jim Larranaga Basketball Camps at George Mason during his previous stint on the coaching staff. He was the camp coordinator in June-July 2000 at Francis Marion University and has worked over 45 sessions of camp, including four sessions as a coach/counselor at the Morgan Wootten Basketball Camp at nearby DeMatha Catholic High School in 1998-99. He also runs an annual camp in his hometown of Amherst, Wisconsin. A 2000 graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, Konkol received a bachelor's degree in kinesiology, with an emphasis in exercise management. He also earned a master's degree in sport management while at Tennessee. As a player at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Konkol appeared in 44 contests over three seasons at the NCAA Division III institution. UWEC was 62-21 during his three years, including a 27-6 mark and a trip to the Division III national championship game in 1999-2000. He received the team's Inspiration Award after his junior and senior seasons with the Blugolds, and was an honorary captain as a senior. Konkol shot 40.8 percent from the field, including 40.6 percent from three-point range, and hit 89.7 percent of his free throw attempts for his career. Konkol spent two years at the University of Wisconsin at Platteville (where he played for current Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan and was a redshirt in his first season) before moving on to UWEC. He was a three-sport athlete (basketball, baseball and cross country) at Amherst High School, graduating in 1995. In basketball, Konkol was a four-time all-conference and two-time all-state selection, and he helped lead Amherst to a 20-4 record and to the Wisconsin Division III "Sweet 16" as a senior. He finished his prep career as the all-time leading scorer at Amherst with 1,871 points. Konkol and his wife Meagan, married May 17, 2003, reside in Fairfax. |
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