Gregory delighted to be at Dayton

Brian Gregory has been around those wandering-eye types, the coaches whose dream jobs are never the ones they have.

He sees them bouncing from school to school, uprooting their families, keeping a realtor on speed dial, searching for something greater. More money? Fame? Superior players? Maybe a better fit, whatever that means?

"Coaches sometimes make that mistake and then realize how good they had it," Gregory said. "I do realize it."

Gregory has it pretty good at Dayton right now. Led by underrated senior guard Brian Roberts, the Flyers entered the week ranked No. 17 in the AP poll after posting a 12-1 preconference record that included wins against Louisville and Pitt. They are ranked in January for the first time since 1969.

Dayton opened Atlantic 10 play Wednesday night with a 92-83 win at home over No. 22 Rhode Island, giving the Flyers 12 straight victories.

Gregory, in his fifth season as Flyers coach, laughs when asked if he saw the hot start coming.

"I don't know about that," said the Mount Prospect native who starred for Hersey High School's Elite Eight basketball team in 1985. "But I'm not complaining."

What Gregory did envision was the program's gradual growth.

"I knew that the first year we were going to be good," he said, "but it was going to take a few years to build it back up. I also knew I was going to have the support and the patience to be able to do it the right way."

Dayton reached the NCAA Tournament in Gregory's first season, but it failed to reach the postseason in 2004-05 and went 14-17 the next year, the school's first losing mark since 1998-99.

The struggles didn't stop Gregory, particularly in recruiting, an area where he had excelled as an assistant at Michigan State.

Gregory's first recruiting class at Dayton ranked in the top 20 nationally, and his 2007 collection, headlined by forward Chris Wright, got glowing reviews. Wright, rated the nation's 49th-best prospect by Scout.com, drew heavy interest from Michigan and other Big Ten schools.

"We've recruited guys that are all good enough to play in the Big Ten," Gregory said. "That doesn't mean that they'd all be great players in the Big Ten or they'd play right away, but Brian Roberts could play anywhere in the country. A player as good as Chris Wright, there is no real blending in. And the other guys mature and develop at different rates.

"It's made a big difference in terms of our depth."

Despite being located in a region going through a basketball boom with Ohio State, Xavier and Wright State, Dayton has held its own.

"If you want good players, you've got to be willing to get into some recruiting wars," Gregory said. "I've lost more kids than I've gotten. The good thing for me is the kids I've gotten have turned out pretty good.

"For various reasons, Dayton was a better fit for them than some other, bigger school."

Gregory launches into his recruiting pitch for Dayton: small class sizes, professors who can double as tutors, a renovated 13,409-seat arena that is usually near capacity for games. Since 1979, the Flyers have graduated all but one senior on their roster, Gregory said.

He uses that word again: fit.

"I talk to the recruits about a fit," he said. "It's a great fit for me and my family. There's just something to be said about that."

Dayton is home for Gregory, but he and his family maintain their ties to Chicago. They own a condo on the city's North Side at Irving Park Road and Lake Shore Drive, eight blocks from where Gregory's wife, Yvette, grew up.

Yvette spends most of the summer at the condo with the couple's two daughters while Brian is away recruiting.

"We wanted our girls to be close to their grandparents and to have a taste of the best city in the world," Gregory said. "It's the best thing that we've ever done."

Would Gregory ever consider a permanent return to the area?

He was the leading candidate for DePaul's head-coaching vacancy in 2002 before removing his name because of the uncertainty surrounding the school's athletic director. Gregory, who grew up a DePaul fan, again was rumored for the position after Dave Leitao left for Virginia in 2005, but he removed his name from consideration.

If Dayton continues to surge, Gregory's name inevitably will be mentioned for openings, but he isn't looking to leave.

"I'm happy where I am," said Gregory, 40. "One day I'm going to live back (in Chicago), but it won't be coaching."