Detroit, MI

Kiefer Haffey looks to take Detroit Mercy women’s hoops to next level: ‘We want more’

Published

8 months ago

April 23, 2025

Kiefer Haffey looks to take Detroit Mercy women’s hoops to next level: ‘We want more’

Detroit ― The last several times Detroit Mercy went looking for a new head women’s basketball coach, school officials were seeking a culture changer to oversee yet another rebuild.

This time was much different. The foundation had been laid by the work of Kate Achter and her staff, so when she left for Western Michigan last month, Detroit Mercy went through a national search ― but settled on continuity.

That led to the promotion of Kiefer Haffey to the head-coach’s office in Calihan Hall. Haffey, who at 31 is one of the youngest head coaches in Division I, was on Achter’s staff all three seasons with the Titans and he was an overwhelmingly popular pick among the players to succeed Achter.

“I’m excited that it’s not taking over a position somewhere where I’m trying to learn the lay of the land,” Haffey, in a gray Titans sweatshirt and a backward baseball cap, said the other day on campus. “You know, both with the roster, with the staff, with the university itself, with the people ― we get to pick it up and keep it moving.

“We have some consistency and some continuity moving forward. In my perspective of college basketball at every level, the teams who compete to win championships have consistency and continuity, right?

“We know what we’ve got and now we get to identify what we feel is the right way to do it to take it to the next level.”

In the five years before Achter arrived as head coach, Detroit Mercy women’s basketball had won just 11 games. The Titans won five in her first season, then went 17-16 in her second and 15-15 this past season, her third. She was a hot commodity in coaching searches after every season at Detroit Mercy, and finally was wooed away by Western Michigan, with a higher salary ($275,000) and pledges of more resources, including in the NIL landscape.

Detroit Mercy conducted a national search for her replacement, using the same firm that helped them land men’s head coach Mark Montgomery a year ago. There were 50 initial candidates, cut down to 10, then four, then two.

Haffey was a strong candidate from the get-go, as athletic director Robert Vowels learned in his first meeting with the players following Achter’s departure.

“Kiefer was always in that max,” Vowels said. “And what was important for us, he had been here through the start of the rebuild, and we knew that this wasn’t going to be a rebuild.

“He has everything we’re looking for.”

That “everything” started with his connections, particularly locally. He’s spent his entire life in Michigan, growing up in Novi, where he first got the bug to coach ― and debuted as an assistant coach for a youth parks-and-rec team at 14 or 15, as part of volunteer curriculum when he was attending Detroit Catholic Central. The team lost every game. but that didn’t discourage him. The next year, he had his own team, a fifth-grade church “B” team.

The journey continued, through high school and college (he graduated from Novi, then earned a bachelor’s at Wayne State). On the AAU circuit, he helped coach the Michigan Storm. At Wayne State, he was a student manager.

After graduating from Wayne State, though, Haffey didn’t have any imminent basketball opportunities, despite “having bugged as many people as I could.” So he went to work for Meritor, an automotive logistics company based in Troy. He was good at it. He made really good money. They offered to promote him. He told them not to. He knew the job wasn’t for him, it wasn’t his passion, it wasn’t basketball.

“I hated it,” Haffey said, who also has a master’s from Michigan. “For some reason, they thought I was really good at it.”

Haffey got connected with Thad Sankey, then the head women’s coach at Concordia University, an NAIA school in Ann Arbor, and gave Haffey a spot on the staff. It paid a $1,000 stipend, a “salary” Haffey was able to work with thanks to the support of his parents, with whom he was able to live. The leap of faith paid off, and not that far down the road. In 2018, Sankey took a job as head coach at Jamestown University in his home state of Nebraska, and Haffey, then 24, was promoted to head coach (which paid a little over $40,000).

Concordia was 8-23 in his first season, progressing to 19-12 in his last, before taking the job at Detroit Mercy. He was 61-58 in his four seasons as a head coach.

At Detroit Mercy, he proved key to Achter’s recruiting efforts. He had the relationships on the youth circuit, and he also proved quite good at building relationships with the players, pre- and post-commitment. As he said, “If we don’t win the relationship part of recruiting, shame on us.”

“He builds a personal connection off the court, and it just translates onto the court,” said guard Aaliyah McQueen, who will be returning for a sixth year of college ball. “(He’s good at) recognizing how everyone plays and how everyone is, in their own different way, and adjusting to that, coaching us to where it makes each person better individually.

“I think that’s really good for us, coming into this next season.

“It’s a positive outlook for us.”

Said Achter, on Haffey: “He’s well-liked with the players. He has a good rapport with the kids.”

McQueen, a Grand Blanc native who averaged 13.5 points and 7.3 rebounds last season, will be the leading scorer and rebounder returning for the Titans, but Haffey worked fast to secure commitments from the active roster. Eight players are set to return from last season’s team, including sophomore guard Makayla Jackson, who averaged 8.7 points and was contemplating making the move to Western Michigan with Achter.

Also back are junior guard Myonna Hooper (West Bloomfield), who started 17 games last season; graduate-student forward Jasmine Edwards (Westland), who started 25 games; and senior guard Katie Burton, who started nine games. He’s kept the commitment of freshman forward recruit Cameron McMaster, from Canada, and added a commitment from freshman guard/forward recruit Rayven McQueen, Aaliyah’s sister. They will play together for the first time.

Haffey also is keeping much of the coaching staff in place, including assistants Juanita Cochran and Antonio Capaldi, and adding Kevin Mondro, a longtime staple in the Metro Detroit hoops community who has had long stints on staff at Eastern Michigan and Detroit Mercy. Most recently, he was head coach at Cleary University, an NAIA school in Howell.

Walking through the coach’s corridor on the upper level of Calihan Hall, not a whole lot seems to have changed ― except, of course, Haffey is in the bigger office, across the hall ― and that’s by design. The program, unlike four years ago, is in a good place, even if there always will be obstacles, including outdated facilities and a lack of NIL resources. Achter barely had $10,000 to work with on that front. Haffey should have more to work with, through additional buy games and designating a couple of back-end scholarships toward that fund, but it’s still Detroit Mercy, a program that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1997. Haffey and Co. aren’t selling history, though recent history ain’t bad.

“We are all obsessed with the game of basketball,” said Haffey, who lives in Plymouth with wife Eliza, a dietician at the University of Michigan. “And the fun part is when kids say ‘yes’ to that.

“Like, 15-15, four years ago that probably would’ve been great, right? But for us, it’s just enough. It’s just not enough.

“We want more, and I think we always will.”

Haffey signed a four-year contract as head coach, with a salary believed to be worth at least $200,000 a year. Detroit Mercy is a private institution and, thus, doesn’t have to disclose contract terms.

Division 1 women’s basketball coaches in Michigan

➤ Michigan: Kim Barnes-Arico, hired in 2012

➤ Michigan State: Robyn Fralick, 2023

➤ Central Michigan: Kristin Haynie, 2023

➤ Eastern Michigan: Sahar Nusseibeh, 2024

➤ Western Michigan: Kate Achter, 2025

➤ Detroit Mercy: Kiefer Haffey, 2025

➤ Oakland: Keisha Newell, 2025

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984

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Detroit, MI

Lions fan says DK Metcalf swung at him after he used star’s full name

Published

6 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

Lions fan says DK Metcalf swung at him after he used star’s full name

Pittsburgh Steelers star wide receiver DK Metcalf took a swing at a Detroit Lions fan at the game at Ford Field on Sunday, Dec. 21.

In the second quarter, CBS cameras caught Metcalf getting into an altercation with a Lions fan holding some Steelers attire while hanging over the ledge.

It’s not clear what led up to the incident, but Metcalf eventually threw a punch in the direction of the Lions fan. It wasn’t a direct hit, but there was some contact.

The Free Press tracked down the fan in the stands, who said he was “a little shocked. Like everyone’s talking to me. I’m a little rattled, but I just want the Lions to win, baby.”

“My words don’t matter because it was on camera,” they added.

When initially asked what his name was, the fan said, “My name is ‘Biggest Detroit Lions Fan Ever that got attacked by DeKaylin Zecharius Metcalf.’”

After getting further pressed, the fan said his name was Ryan Kennedy and that he’s from Pinckney, Michigan.

“What, my full name isn’t is DeKaylin Zecharius Metcalf,” Kennedy said. “He doesn’t like his government name. I called him that and then he grabbed me and ripped my shirt. I’m a little shocked. Like everyone’s talking to me. I’m a little rattled, but I just want the Lions to win, baby.”

The fan was not thrown out of the game, per the Lions. Lions officials talked to him about the incident.

The NFL said in a statement it cannot intervene for an ejection of Metcalf.

“There was no flag on the field, so New York cannot weigh in with regard to a potential disqualification,” the NFL said in the statement.

CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson was watching the area when the incident happened.

“He came over because the fan in the stands was holding a ‘4’ Pittsburgh jersey, he went over and the fan said something to him,” Wolfson said on the broadcast. “Obviously, Metcalf did not like what he said and you saw the swipe there. No Steelers came over to him and mentioned anything, we’ll see if the league takes action, guys.”

After the Lions scored a touchdown in the second quarter, CBS rules official Gene Steratore said referees can’t do anything to remove Metcalf from the game or penalize him.

It’ll be “delivered to compliance,” which could potentially suspend or fine him in the future.

Free Press Lions reporter Dave Birkett contributed to this reporting.

Andrew Birkle is an assistant sports editor for the Free Press. Contact him via email at abirkle@freepress.com.

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Detroit, MI

Detroit Tigers drop young hitter to make room for bullpen signing

Published

18 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

Detroit Tigers drop young hitter to make room for bullpen signing

DETROIT — When the Detroit Tigers formally added right-handed reliever Kyle Finnegan to the roster on Saturday, it prompted a tough decision: Who would get dropped in the corresponding move?

Less than halfway through the winter, the Tigers are running out of easy cuts.

The Tigers elected to designate for assignment Justyn-Henry Malloy, a popular young designated hitter who was consistently excellent in Triple-A and had bursts of success in the big leagues.

Although the Tigers can keep Malloy in their system if he clears waivers, it’s far more likely that he’s claimed or traded in the coming days.

Finnegan’s contract is a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $19 million.

He’ll earn $8.75 million in 2026 and $8 million in 2027. There’s a mutual option for 2028 worth $10 million that can be bought out for $2.25 million.

Finnegan was acquired by the Tigers from the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline and rattled off 14 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, striking out 19 and walking just three. After a brief stint on the injured list, he was less effective upon his return in late September, striking out only three of 30 batters he faced in the postseason.

Finnegan, 34, was born in Detroit but grew up in Texas. He had spent his entire big-league career with the Nationals before the trade in July.

Drafted by the Oakland Athletics out of Texas State in 2013, Finnegan never reached the majors in that organization. He signed with Washington as a minor-league free agent before the 2020 season and posted a 3.66 ERA over 329 innings with 108 career saves with the Nats.

Malloy, who turns 26 in February, hit .322 with a .955 OPS in 329 plate appearances with Toledo in 2025, but never got on track during sporadic big-league opportunities.

Most notably, he hit only one home run in 127 MLB plate appearances in 2025, compared to eight in 230 in 2024.

His lack of power, lack of a defensive position, and the emergence of Jahmai Jones as a right-handed platoon bat all combined to make Malloy expendable.

Malloy’s outfield defense has always been a question mark, so the Tigers gave him extra work at first base in spring training. But the resurgence of Spencer Torkelson closed off any opportunity at that position, and Malloy remained largely a DH and pinch-hitter in 2025.

Malloy was acquired from the Atlanta Braves in the Joe Jimenez trade after the 2022 season. The New York native was a sixth-round draft pick out of Georgia Tech in 2021.

TIGERS’ 40-MAN ROSTER (40)

Left-handed pitchers (6): Tyler Holton, Bailey Horn, Brant Hurter, Jake Miller, Tarik Skubal, Drew Sommers.

Right-handed pitchers (15): Drew Anderson, Beau Brieske, Kyle Finnegan, Jack Flaherty, Sawyer Gipson-Long, Brenan Hanifee, Kenley Jansen, Jackson Jobe, Ty Madden, Troy Melton, Casey Mize, Keider Montero, Reese Olson, Dylan Smith, Will Vest.

Catchers (4): Dillon Dingler, Thayron Liranzo, Jake Rogers, Eduardo Valencia.

Infielders (9): Javier Báez, Trei Cruz, Jace Jung, Colt Keith, Hao-Yu Lee, Zach McKinstry, Trey Sweeney, Spencer Torkelson, Gleyber Torres.

Outfielders (6): Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene, Jahmai Jones, Parker Meadows, Wenceel Pérez, Matt Vierling.

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Detroit, MI

Lions place Kerby Joseph on IR, make 2 OL moves for Steelers game

Published

1 day ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Lions place Kerby Joseph on IR, make 2 OL moves for Steelers game

The Detroit Lions have finally placed safety Kerby Joseph on injured reserve, effectively ending the All-Pro defender’s season.

Joseph has been dealing with a knee injury for essentially the entire season, but there was some brief hope he’d be able to return to the field. After suffering a setback during a recent practice, Joseph has been sidelined, and Detroit finally decided to end his season after he had missed the past eight games. Technically, Joseph would be eligible to return to the field if Detroit advances to the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs, but that seems unlikely. Joseph’s season ends with 18 tackles in six games and three interceptions.

Additionally, the Lions have made several offensive moves to address current injuries. Notably, they have activated guard Christian Mahogany, who has been on injured reserve for six weeks after suffering a leg fracture against the Vikings. It’s quite possible he’ll return to his starting position at left guard, although coach Dan Campbell offered some caution on Friday.

“Yesterday, I thought he looked pretty good. Wasn’t perfect, but I thought he looked pretty good,” Campbell said. “And some of it’s going to be, I know he’s a little sore today, and how he feels in today’s practice. That’s what a lot of it’s going to come down to.”

The Lions have also elevated offensive lineman Kingsley Eguakun from the practice squad. That could be a bad sign for the availability of starting center Graham Glasgow. He’s been dealing with a knee injury that caused him to miss two practices this week and landed him with a questionable designation. The Lions now have several options at center, including Eguakun, Trystan Colon (who is dealing with a wrist injury of his own), and Michael Niese. Campbell said the team has been exploring all options in practice this week.

“We’ve obviously worked Colon because he’s been there. I know he’s got the wrist, but he was out there working with it yesterday,” Campbell said. “Just trying to get Graham off his feet. But I mean, we’ve worked Niese, we’ve worked Kingsley. We’ve kind of just hit all around, and we’re rolling the guards, too. So, it’s really been a little bit of a revolving door trying to get a number of guys ready because there’s a lot of flex going into this game right now.”

Lastly, the Lions also elevated tight end Giovanni Ricci from the practice squad for the second straight week as the Lions continue to be short-handed at tight end in the wake of injuries to Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright.

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