The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
JEFF JACOBS
Hawks finally soaring under Gallagher
WEST HARTFORD — The hottest college basketball team in Connecticut turned in a clunker against UMBC on Tuesday night and John Gallagher knew he needed a post-game plan. The Hartford coach would execute it perfectly.
“I yelled at the guys for one minute and I walked out of the room,” Gallagher said. “I counted for 30 seconds. Then I went back in and made everybody cheer.
“I said, ‘Eighteen and twelve, baby! Eighteen and twelve!’”
Gallagher, in his eighth season at Hartford, needed 15 wins to save his job. All winter, that was the word around state basketball circles. Coming off a 9-23 season, starting out 3-6, 15 wins looked tall, his future ominous. And then Gallagher and his Hawks did the damnedest thing.
They started winning. They won five of six. They won 15 of 21. They won successive road games at Florida International, Rutgers and Albany. While the Scarlet Knights have had their struggles under Steve Pikiell, the win at Piscataway opened some eyes. The win at Vermont on Feb. 18 dropped jaws.
Vermont had won 31 America East games in a row. The Catamounts had a 22-game home winning streak. They had a 15-game winning streak, longest in
the nation. They all came crashing down.
“In my opinion, we had the three biggest road wins in succession we’ve had here, then in the same season we beat Vermont at Vermont,” said Gallagher, whose team won seven of eight before losing, 62-53, at home to UMBC. “This is a team, people are telling me, that if next year’s team remains intact, we can win a game in the (NCAA) tournament. That’s how good these seniors will be next year.”
Gallagher, the forever optimist, caught himself swallowing too many of his happy pills. He laughed. He knows Hartford is one of 43 schools among 351 never to advance to the NCAAs.
“I just want to get in the tournament,” Gallagher said. “The school, that’s what we deserve.”
Gallagher, named America East Co-Coach of the Year alongside Vermont’s John Becker on Thursday, obviously deserves a contract extension. Athletic director Mary Ellen Gillespie, who has been on the job since May, has said she won’t comment on personnel matters and will meet with Gallagher at the end of the season. Attempts to reach her Friday were unsuccessful.
Fortunately, we can comment. And here’s the message to a new president and new AD. Get it done. The Hawks are finally, finally, within 13 months of something considerable. Ride the momentum. Send a message to Gallagher, his staff, his players, the alumni.
Good grief, if they had an all-Connecticut tournament next week, including UConn, Hartford could win it. When was the last time we could say that? Unlike Kevin Ollie, Gallagher jumped off the hot seat.
“To start out where we did and to go 15-6 on the back end, and it really could have been better, I’m just so proud about the growth of the program,” Gallagher said. “Obviously, the seven juniors are really key for our run. I think we have a chance to win three games here (in the America East tournament) in March. That’s the goal.”
These are the days when dreams become reality and the reality is most schools will not reach those NCAA Tournament dreams. There are many one-bid leagues. It’s all or nothing in the league tournaments.
Central Connecticut, trying to rebuild under second-year coach Donyell Marshall, fell Wednesday at Wagner in the NEC. Quinnipiac, starting over with Baker Dunleavy, beat Sienna and Fairfield beat Marist on Thursday in the opening round of the MAAC in Albany.
The Bobcats faced Canisius on Friday night in the quarterfinals, while the Stags face Niagara Saturday. After seven years, there have been some questions about coach Sydney Johnson’s future at Fairfield, but a late-season surge had to help his status. Yale, solid with James Jones, will play next weekend in the Ivy League tournament in Philadelphia. Five years in, Sacred Heart’s Anthony Latina is 55-101 after a 10-21 season that saw the Pioneers miss the NEC playoffs.
It’s hard to build a winner. So how does a school like Hartford, a mid-major without real pedigree, succeed?
“It takes time to recruit,” said Gallagher, 105-146 overall. “If you look at the great models, Butler, it took them eight years to get to the NCAA. Steve Donahue, eight years (before a terrific three-year run at Cornell). Eight, that’s sort of the magic number to build a foundation.”
The Hawks open the America East tournament at home Saturday against New Hampshire and a 19th win would stand alone of the most in the school’s D-I history. The league plays all its post-season games on the court of the higher seed, so potentially winning at UMBC and Vermont would be a tall order.
It also should be pointed out Hartford was picked eighth of nine teams in the league coaches preseason poll. What did they miss?
“They didn’t see a healthy John Carroll,” Gallagher said . “They didn’t see the effect he has on games. Also Jason Dunne and J.R. Lynch developed into that rock solid backcourt I was looking for.
“New Hampshire was picked way ahead of us (fifth) in the preseason poll. So we should have a major chip on our shoulder.”
The Hawks, who graduate only Hassan Attia among their starters, did not have that chip against UMBC.
“We were not in sync all game, and, to be honest, I’m glad we got the clunker out of the way,” Gallagher said. “We can’t play that way again if we tried. We started out the season we didn’t believe as much as we should have and it cost us in games. Now our belief, for the first time in my career, maybe it was too high. As a result, we were sloppy. It’s a place we have never been. We have to handle it better.”
And just like that, he mentally walks out, waits 30 seconds and returns as pumped as ever.
“This run is not going to stop, hopefully,” Gallagher said. “This is the best record in school history, but it’s also the best team and the best shape the program has ever been.”
The Hawks are carrying a 3.46 GPA. Grades unfortunately don’t save coaches. This does. Eighteen and 12, baby! “I’m more excited than ever to be the head coach at Hartford … and we return 95 percent of our scoring.”
Well, not quite 95 percent.
This part isn’t hyperbole. John Gallagher obviously deserves an extension and surely Hartford is smart enough to make it happen.