COMING BACK HOME
Walsh returns to Friars after reconnecting with Cooley
PROVIDENCE – How do reunions get staged? For Bob Walsh, the road back to Providence College started in most fitting setting – on the recruiting trail.
It’s late June and Ed Cooley along with his entire Friar coaching staff are in a Washington, D.C. gym watching an AAU event. Walsh was also present in his capacity as technical director for IMG Academy, a Florida-based prep school. Sitting in the stands while watching a game on the same court, Cooley turned to Walsh, who was in the row behind him.
“Let me ask you something, would you be interested in such-and-such position?” was how Walsh remembered Cooley phrasing it. “I didn’t even know he was talking about his staff or somewhere else.”
Cooley knew that Walsh wanted to get back in the college game and back on a path that would hopefully lead to becoming a head coach aga. Dating back to the early 2000s when Cooley and Walsh were Division I assistant coaches at Boston College and Providence, respectively, the pair had always enjoyed a relationship that was built on mutual admiration.
Now, Walsh was trying to read between the lines regarding what Cooley was asking him, with the nation’s capital serving as the backdrop.
“He didn’t mention PC, but I said that I would be interested. He said, ‘Alright, call me later,’” said Walsh.
A few weeks and several phone conversations later, Cooley and Walsh were back under the same roof. This time, Cooley was busy recruiting IMG Academy product Alyn Breed, a 6-foot-3 guard from the Class of 2020 who later verbally committed to the Friars. Initially, Breed was slated to play for Walsh during the upcoming season at IMG Academy.
The key word is … initially.
In late July, Walsh spent time around Cooley in conjunction with the Pan-Am Games. That allowed him to get reacquainted with a PC campus that’s been renovated several times over during the 14 years since he left the Friar basketball staff.
By August, Walsh made his return to PC official. Cooley had hired him with a new title – Associate Director of Player Development, Scouting and Recruiting Coordinator. Just like that, Walsh was back working at a Big East school that enabled him to cut his teeth for eventual head coaching runs at Rhode Island College (2005-14) and the University of Maine (2014-18).
“It felt like a perfect fit because it felt like home from a career standpoint,” said Walsh prior to PC heading out to Chicago for a9 p.m. Wednesday night game against Northwestern. “Providence is where I grew up as a coach and learned to be a head coach.”
From 1998-05, Walsh was a PC assistant under then-head coach Tim Welsh. It was a time in Friar basketball history when you had standout players (Ryan Gomes, John Linehan) and mixed in a couple of NCAA Tournament berths (2001, 2004).
Despite the success, you always got the sense that the Friars during Walsh’s first foray as a basketball staffer were just treading water.
“There wasn’t enough land. There wasn’t enough money,” said Walsh, referring to the early 2000s desire to build an on-campus basketball facility that always seemed to fall on deaf ears. “Providence back then was ‘Well, this is always how we’ve done it.’’
These days, Walsh has an office \in the coaches’ suite of the Ruane Friar Development Center. The way his desk is positioned, you can look through the glass and catch a glimpse of the facility’s most important feature – the two practice courts. It’s a view that reminds Walsh that it’s not the PC he worked for during his first go-around – not even close.
“It’s been incredible leadership and vision to not only accomplish it but to change the mentality that, hey, we can do this here at Providence College,” said Walsh, noting the tireless efforts and forward thinking of Cooley along with President Rev. Brian J. Shanley and Athletic Director Bob Driscoll.
“The people who have gone to PC, worked at PC and been around PC understand what makes this place special,” Walsh added. “They want high expectations. That mentality has certainly changed.”
***
The timing of the Pan-Am Games offered Walsh a prime opportunity to get to know the members of Cooley’s staff he wasn’t as very well acquainted with, specifically assistants Jeff Battle and Ivan Thomas.
“I asked them how I would be able to help them and what they needed in case I came onboard,” said Walsh.
Spending nearly two weeks in Peru in early August – it was wintertime in the South America country when the Pan-Am Games were held – enabled Walsh to have many in-person conversations with Cooley.
“When you’re stuck in small dorm room, you have a lot of time to talk,” said Walsh. “A big part of this was Ed saying to me for years that he’d like us to work together. He said, ‘Look, these are the things I think you can help me with and where you can have an impact.’ It wasn’t, ‘I have a spot and I know you like the area.’”
At RIC and Maine, Walsh ran the show. At PC under Cooley, he’s privy to a coaching approach that he says, “is really fascinating in terms of how he sees the game and how he deals with leadership. It’s a great chance for me to grow.”
When asked about the responsibilities that fall under his job title, Walsh replied, “Essentially, it’s about helping Ed and the staff with anything that needs to get done that allows them to coach, recruit and develop relationships with our players. It’s about helping with anything, whether it’s coordinating recruiting visits, editing film, keeping stats or preparing that day’s practice plan.”
***
Early in his initial Friar stint, Walsh lived in Pawtucket; he now commutes in from Newport. At Rhode Island College, he developed close bonds with many of his players. To be back working in the Ocean State has provided an avenue to keep closer tabs on individuals who were essential to the eight Division III NCAA Tournament appearances he guided the Anchormen to over his highly successful nine-year run.
“It’s been a great opportunity to reconnect with so many guys,” said Walsh, noting that come January, a reunion with many of his former RIC hoopsters will be staged in accordance with his induction into the Little East Conference’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
“You spend 16 years in Providence, you develop plenty of relationships,” said Walsh.