UHart is going to the Big Dance. How ’bout them apples?
WEST HARTFORD — This was after the clock had expired and the volume on “Brass Bonanza” had been turned up at Reich Family Pavilion. After it had begun to sink in that his Hartford Hawks had beaten UMass-Lowell, 6450, for the America East title and were headed to NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
John Gallagher had hugged his players, hugged tournament most outstanding player Austin Williams for so long that a crowbar to separate the two looked to be in order. He had bounded up the rows of the stands to a suite to embrace Moses Flowers, injured earlier in the season and lost to hip surgery.
The Hartford coach stood there on the floor now, arms raised, staring at the scoreboard. It still read 64-50. Yes, it was real. He let out a primal scream.
“They can never take it away from us,” Gallagher said when asked what his thoughts were in those moments. “They can fire me. They can do whatever they want with me now. We did it. I got here and they said you can never do it. You know how many coaches on the road said ‘Worst job in the league’? Nine state schools. Only one that’s not.”
Gallagher has preached “The Neighborhood” in recent years, and the fact that COVID-19, which had denied his Hawks a chance at the America East title last year, had denied them fans on this Saturday would not deter him.
He saw the custodial staff standing against the wall. He yelled “I need a hug!” He charged over, dodged a garbage can and embraced one of the workers. Gallagher couldn’t stop himself. He was joy, joy, joy wrapped up like a Philly cheesesteak and postmarked for March Madness in Indianapolis.
“My dad was a crane operator for General Electric,” said Gallagher, his voice cracking. “He worked seven years and put himself through college and law school. He became an international lawyer, but when he raised us, he raised us as a crane operator. He and my mom … how to do things the right way.
“The custodians are part of this. I know it sounds weird. I get it. But when you come to the University of Hartford, this is an actual neighborhood.”
They play the NCAA Tournament, of course, for the great champions and for the money. Yet if we are to believe in the glory of sports, we must believe the tournament also is for schools like Hartford, which had been waiting for nearly 40 years since moving up to Division I, for coaches like Gallagher and graduate transfer guards like Traci Carter.
Gallagher texted all his former players this past week and asked them to give three qualities that define The Neighborhood. For him, it starts with the university president, runs through donors to former coaches and players, the athletic department, his program and all through campus.
“You should have seen the responses,” he said. “Brotherhood. Love. One called me crying. Clayton Brothers from North Philly, my first team. As I said when I first got here, I don’t know how many championships we’re going to win, but we’re going to have two tables at your wedding.
“The custodians are part of this. If my players big-time a custodian, I won’t play them.”
Gallagher glanced down at his phone. There were 472 text messages awaiting him. That is the magic of March. No, Connecticut history was not made on this Saturday. Fairfield fell to Iona in the MAAC finals in Atlantic City. There will not be three state schools in the NCAA for the first time. Getting to the NCAA Tournament in one-bid leagues is hard.
“When you get a job at 33, you think you know everything,” Gallagher said. “The great things about jobs like this is they humble you. If you want to be a college coach, as one of my great mentors Fran O’Hanlon would say, you have to like pain. You have to be able to lie down in bed with pain. You have to really, really fight through it.”
So he has for 11 years. He won 17 games his third season. Six seasons have ended in winning records. Two years ago, the Hawks erased a 26-point deficit to take a one-point lead only to fall at UMBC in double overtime of the AEC semis. Gallagher sat in the locker room and wondered how they could ever get back. Well, they got to the finals last year against Vermont, only to have COVID kill their dream.
“We’ve had the four best years in program history,” Gallagher said. “They were firing me four years ago, rightfully so. I wasn’t getting it done. And we just buckled down. Maybe I need my back against the wall. Maybe that’s part of the Irish Catholic in me.”
He had his rosaries Saturday, like another mentor Speedy Morris always carried. Gallagher said his mom goes to Mass every morning and says the rosary every day. Prayers said. Prayers answered.
“I think Jack Phelan (who died last summer) is looking down upon us,” Gallagher said. “He took us to DI 36 years ago. When Jack went DI, the story goes that Central Connecticut, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart all laughed at us. Now, they’re Division I. Jack had a vision. Jack, Patti, the three boys, they’re part of this.”
Part of The Neighborhood.
It is a neighborhood that isn’t necessarily bound by geography or life’s events. Four players scored all but four points Saturday. Hunter Marks is from Australia. Miroslav Stafl is from Czech Republic. Williams is from North Jersey. Carter, who played in the NCAA Tournament with Marquette before transferring to La Salle and UHart, is from Philadelphia. The team’s leader had a scare less than three minutes into the game when he banged knees. Carter was able to return only a couple minutes later and led the Hawks with 19 points. He managed the game. The Hawks’ defense did the rest.
“We became legends, we’re the first in history to do this,” Carter said. “One of the most important things is experience. I had that. ‘I know you don’t feel like practicing today. But you got to tighten up. You say you want this championship. This is what it takes.’ Thankfully all the guys respect me.
Carter talked about his younger brother, Semaj Carter, who died last July to gun violence in Philly. He was 21.
“He was a genius,” Carter said. “Unfortunately, his life was taken away. So it means everything to get this championship. On top of that, you guys know, I went from school to school to school. It’s amazing to see your hard work, blood, sweat and definitely tears pay off.”
On Friday night, Gallagher had everyone on his team write down their emotions, put them in an empty shoe box and bring it to the game. They would open the shoe boxes afterward and talk about those emotions. In the meantime, it’s only one more 40minute game.
It’s a coach’s message, and no one loves college coaching any more than Gallagher. He loves the games, the practices, the kids, the stories. He treats his coaching mentors as if they were great Greek philosophers.
“I such reverence for people that have educated me,” Gallagher said. “Education sometimes isn’t in a book. Fran Dunphy, at 23, called me and said, ‘Meet me here. You can’t act like this.’ Fran O’Hanlon. I was like a wild horse. They literally made me who I am.”
A coach who says, “We’re not going to Indianapolis to say hello. We’re going to win.” A coach who cuts down the final cord of the championship net and yells at his players, “How ’bout them apples?” Here’s the backstory. The Hawks scored a big win at Northwestern last season. Former Hawk Jamie Schneck, 6-8, 250, charged into the Hartford locker room. He didn’t know any of the current players, but it didn’t stop him from yelling, “You like apples? How ’bout them apples?” It was classic.
That has become the winning battle cry of The Neighborhood. Apples.
Gallagher starts talking about how tight he was before the game and how Brown coach Mike Martin, whom Gallagher worked with at Penn, sent him a hilarious video to loosen him up. He grows more serious when he talks about going 666 games as an assistant and head coach without getting to the NCAAs, about mentoring a player like Carter and a team through COVID.
“Joe Mihalich at the hospital, he called me very day,” Gallagher said. “We have this running joke. The most underrated God of the trinity is the Holy Spirit. Joe is out on sick leave (as Hofstra coach). I would not be coach at Hartford if not for Joe. They would have fired me. He called me every day in years six and seven. The reason we’ve fought through everything is I was texting with all the time this year. He was such a rock for me.”
And with that, John Gallagher is off to Indianapolis in search of apples.