Jordan King, who starred at guard in his one and only season at the University of Richmond, returned home to Albany, New York, for parts of his collegiate offseasons. There, he met a young big man who was a member of the Albany Great Danes program, Jonathan Beagle. The two occasionally worked out together.
When Beagle determined this year that he would enter the transfer portal following his sophomore season, he contacted King and asked for his impressions of Richmond. King gave the Spiders a thumbs-up. That endorsement, blended with everything else the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Beagle knew of UR, resulted in Beagle becoming a Spider, he said.
Beagle committed on April 7, and has two seasons of eligibility remaining. UR coach Chris Mooney prefers transfers with more than one season left, when possible.
Beagle also entered the transfer portal following his freshman season, during which he averaged 12.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists, and then returned to Albany. Sickness in his family helped keep Beagle with the Great Danes for a second year, he said. His home in Hudson Falls, New York, and Albany are 54 miles apart, and he said he felt he needed to be close to family.
Beagle, the 2023 America East rookie of the year, as an Albany sophomore this season averaged 12.5 points (58.5% shooting), 9.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists for the 13-19 Great Danes. Beagle played in 22 games (19 starts) and left the team for personal reasons on Feb. 1. This week, Beagle declined to elaborate.
Beagle’s rebounding knack is rooted in his belief that to succeed in that area, a player needs to “take it personally. Every game, I just know that’s a stat I feel people can take selfishly,” Beagle said. “You can just go after as many rebounds as you can. I go into every game trying to get as many as I can. It’s about putting your mind to it.”
A-10 members Loyola Chicago, George Washington and Saint Louis were among other schools that reached out to Beagle after he entered the portal. “But I always thought (Richmond) was the best thing for me,” he said.
Beagle intends to arrive in Richmond in mid-May for summer school and workouts. In terms of basketball development priorities, Beagle said his intention is to follow the instruction supplied by the UR staff. He is well aware of how former Spiders forwards T.J. Cline, Grant Golden and Neal Quinn progressed while at Richmond.
“I’m going to trust (UR coaches). I know that they’re very good with developing their bigs. Coach has done it before. He’s seen it,” Beagle said of Mooney. “Hearing them out, whatever they think is best for me, what they think they can see me doing. Whatever they’ve got going on, that’s what’s going to be best for me.
“For my game right now, I’m just kind of working on a little bit of everything, watching (Spiders’ video), seeing what they did last year, working on stuff like that to transfer over. I feel like going in, it will be a transition that obviously I need to work hard to make, but (Mooney) knows how to do it, and he knows how to do it fast.”
Beagle, who said he considers himself “kind of a late-bloomer,” played locally in Hudson Falls, and then during the pandemic shifted to Connecticut’s St. Thomas More, which played a high level of competition, for two seasons.
“I didn’t even really develop into a Division I player until I got there,” Beagle said. “We didn’t have a season at Hudson Falls, so I decided to go prep. I went there, and it was really like its own bubble for five months. I didn’t leave campus for five months. It was just you and basketball, and that’s it.
“Looking back on it, it was like the best thing I could’ve ever done. Really got me ready for college basketball. There isn’t anything I’d change on my high school route because I learned so much, even thought it was tough some times.”
Beagle is the third newcomer, to this point, for the Spiders. In the fall, they signed incoming freshmen Bryson McGlothin (6-7 from Plano, Texas) and Jaylen Robinson (6-6 from Jacksonville, Florida).
Basketball gallery: Richmond vs. VCU, Feb. 3, 2024
As an Albany freshman, 6-10 Jonathan Beagle (with ball), being guarded by UMBC's Jarvis Doles in a 2023 game, was named America East Conference rookie of the year after the 2022-23 season.
Jonathan Beagle: “I’m going to trust (UR coaches). I know that they’re very good with developing their bigs. Coach (Chris Mooney) has done it before. He’s seen it."
In his one and only season at the University of Richmond, guard Jordan King averaged 18 points. He transferred after two years at East Tennessee State, and two at Siena.