Jim Jabir finds his way back to Siena women's basketball

Siena athletic director John D’Argenio chose Jabir, who spent the past four years at Florida Atlantic, to rejuvenate a program that has had only two winning seasons in the past 17 years. He succeeds Ali Jaques, whom Siena chose not to extend last month after nine seasons.

He convinced Jabir, 58, to come back to Loudonville after a 33-year head coaching career with 514 victories, including an NCAA Elite Eight appearance with Dayton in 2015.

"Especially looking at somebody that's built programs, I think that's the important thing, and how they built it," D'Argenio said. "He's certainly done that. We've had pockets of success, not the sustained success we want, so you can we get in here who can help us build that?"

Even though they have a relationship that goes back to the 1980s, when Jabir was Siena’s head coach and D’Argenio was the sports information director, D’Argenio figured Jabir was out of his reach this time.