Assistant Professor of Journalism and Program Director of Sports Communications Nick Pietruszkiewicz hosted Quinnipiac senior men’s basketball forward Amarri Monroe Wednesday morning in the newest edition of “What’s Your Story?”
The 2024-25 MAAC Player of the Year is the first student-athlete to be featured in the YouTube series.
“I think when I first started this, it was a journalism thing,” Pietruszkiewicz said. “Then it evolved. And so we started this semester with (President Marie) Hardin. Last year, we brought along Greg Amodio, Director of Athletics here. I want (students) to walk away having gotten something from it.”
Every institution has its handful of athletic stars. Statistically, Monroe happens to be one of Quinnipiac’s. He transferred from Wofford College as a rising sophomore and will wrap up his third and final season in Hamden at the end of March.
After clinching two consecutive regular season championships in 2023-24 and 2024-25, Quinnipiac was upset in the MAAC Tournament, falling short of its elusive first NCAA Tournament berth.
Monroe entered the transfer portal as one of the most coveted players in the league last summer. Several decorated programs, such as the University of Connecticut, University of Miami and Kansas State University, offered significant Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals to the Newburgh, New York native.
In the end, Monroe opted to be the big fish in the small pond.
“At first, (my mom) said it was time for me to go,” he said. “‘What else can I do here?’ And I was like, ‘I can win a championship here.’ And after that, she just supported me.”
Quinnipiac’s window to the national tournament is closing. Monroe is the single holdover from those former MAAC regular-season winning teams. The same teams that returned from Atlantic City, N.J., empty-handed.
If there was ever a right time for the program to break through with Monroe at the forefront, it would be now.
“I want (people) to say, ‘Oh, Amarri Monroe, the player who led Quinnipiac to its first March Madness berth,’” Monroe said. “I don’t care about how many points I scored, any of that. I just wanted them to say, ‘Oh, he came back when Quinnipiac went to March Madness for the first time ever.’”
Monroe’s legacy won’t solely be basketball-related. Current faculty and staff will remember the name Monroe for years to come because of his character.
“I care about others a lot, and I don’t really think I fit this basketball stereotype, like cocky and cool,” Monroe said. “I talk to everyone, follow everyone on Instagram. (If you) see me in person, (I’ll) have conversations. I was a kid once, I’m a fan of many other people out there. I’d hate it if they ignored me.”
Monroe hopes to be one of those role models, someone who is the antithesis of the phrase, “Never meet your heroes.”
Post-basketball, Monroe doesn’t plan on playing professionally for the long haul because of the demand on the body — he sees himself on the sidelines as a coach, cultivating a culture that he learned at Quinnipiac.
“I think I kind of have the resume to go (Monroe proceeded to knock on the wooden table in front of him) straight to college to coach,” he said. “If I have to coach high school, I think that’d be pretty fun too, because I definitely took my high school career for granted. So I think coaching high school would be great, just to make sure kids don’t do the same (thing) I did. Because honestly, I got lucky.”
Luck or not, Monroe’s tenure with Quinnipiac has quite literally been historic. He recently hit the 1,500 point threshold on Feb. 12 and is on the heels of the program’s Division I all-time steals record, among other impressive accolades, in his last three seasons.
What the numbers don’t show is who Monroe is, why he was asked to sit down in front of people on a Wednesday morning to share his story.
“I like having genuine relationships,” he said. “You never know, someone in this room could end up bigger than I am. Never want to overlook anyone.”
Monroe played his final home conference game in a Quinnipiac uniform Feb. 22. And of course, the certified “mama’s boy” had his mother, Yuetta, in the crowd — most likely crying happy tears.
“I think too often we look at the people who play sports or are in politics or in entertainment, (like) they’re not people,” Pietruszkiewicz said. “(Monroe’s), just a guy, right? He just happens to be really good at what he does.”
