With 14 years of Division I collegiate coaching experience, John Gallagher enters the 2013-14 season in his fourth year at the helm of the University of Hartford men’s basketball team. Tabbed the America East Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com, Gallagher and his Hawks reached new heights in 2012-13, matching a school record in Division I regular season victories while becoming the first team in program history to earn a Division I postseason bid.
Also a finalist for the prestigious Skip Prosser Award in 2013, Gallagher led the 2012-13 Hawks to one of the most successful seasons in recent history. Finishing with a 17-11 overall record, including the most league wins since 2007-08, Hartford earned a postseason berth, facing off against Rider in the 2013 CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
Coaching the 11th youngest squad in the nation, Gallagher’s Hawks also showed success outside of the America East, posting the program’s best mark in non-league games since 1996-97 after wrapping up their 13-game slate with a 7-6 record. It was just the fourth time in the program’s 28-year Division I era that it posted a winning record in non-conference games.
Despite Gallagher holding the reputation of being an offensive mastermind, one attribute to the Hawks’ success this past season was their effort on the defensive side of the court. In 2012-13, Hartford held opponents to 60 points or less 15 times and went 12-3 in those contests.
Most importantly, last year’s defense proved to be the best in the program’s Division I history as it set a school Division I record by holding its opponents to just 61.2 points per game. Forcing opponents into turnovers on 24.4 percent of their possessions, the Hawks were 11th in the nation in 2012-13 while ranking 21st nationally, forcing 16 turnovers per contest, a league-high. Hartford also finished on top of the America East in steals, snagging 8.2 per game.
Academic achievement has also been a priority for the Hawks under Gallagher’s tenure. He has pushed his student-athletes in the classroom, and the hard work as paid off as the men’s basketball team has been a recipient of the NCAA Public Recognition Award the last two years while helping Hartford Athletics claim two-straight America East Academic Cups.
In addition, nine of Gallagher’s student-athletes were placed on the America East Academic Honor Roll in 2012-13 with three of those athletes garnering Commissioner’s Honor Roll recognition.
Although the 9-22 record may not show it, the 2011-12 campaign was a giant leap in the right direction for the future of the program. The Hawks were picked to finish sixth in the America East preseason poll, but ended up nearly upsetting the second-ranked Vermont Catamounts, the eventual conference champions, in the semifinal round.
Hartford began that season with only six returners – and just one starter – from the previous year, a group that accounted for just 20 percent of the team’s scoring in 2010-11. Seven newcomers joined the program at the beginning of the season, including four who finished in the team’s top-five in points per game. Furthermore, for the first time in school history, a pair of Hawks earned spots on the conference’s all-rookie team as Mark Nwakamma and Nate Sikma each earned the distinction.
Nwakamma and Sikma led Gallagher’s first recruiting class as a head coach, a group that accounted for over 60 percent of the team’s scoring that season. With five rookies surpassing the 200-point mark in 2011-12, Nwakamma and Sikma put up scoring averages that appear on the top-10 list among Hartford’s freshmen during its Division I era.
Gallagher, who was named head coach by Director of Athletics Patricia H. Meiser in the spring of 2010, is the 10th coach in the 62-year history of the University of Hartford men’s basketball program.
“In John Gallagher we have someone whose passion for the game is unparalleled and someone who has devoted his life to the sport of basketball,” said Meiser at the time of his hiring. “He brings a high energy level, tireless work ethic and a set of values we believe our players will emulate. Coach Gallagher knows the University and believes in what we are trying to accomplish here. We are fortunate to be able to bring an individual of his character and basketball resume on board.”
Gallagher’s return to the Hartford sidelines came in 2010 after he logged two seasons as the Hawks’ associate head coach from 2006-08. Following his first stint at Hartford, he served two seasons as an associate head coach under Glen Miller at the University of Pennsylvania. After the 2010 Final Four, Gallagher left Penn to serve as the Associate Head Coach for Steve Donahue, who had recently been named the head coach at Boston College. Gallagher was released from that position when the opportunity to return to Hartford arose.
During his tenure as an assistant at Hartford, the Hawks compiled a 31-34 mark, including a Division I record 18 wins in 2007-08. That season, the Hawks went on to finish second in the America East regular season and made the program’s first trip to the America East Championship game.
Gallagher spent his two seasons at Hartford implementing a new motion offense for the Hawks. The result was a scoring average of 62.1 points per game in his first year and 70.8 points per game in his second year, both of which led to double figure wins in each season. Hartford’s perimeter offense also accounted for 206 three-pointers in his first season and a school-record 312 in his second season, which set an America East Conference record.
"I am delighted we have been able to attract John back to the University,” said University of Hartford President Walter Harrison when Gallagher was hired. “He is one of ours, and as associate head coach here he distinguished himself through his character, his leadership, his energy, and his infectiously positive spirit."
Prior to his first stint at Hartford, Gallagher was the top assistant for Fran O’Hanlon’s staff at Lafayette College. At Lafayette he served as the program’s top recruiter, while he was responsible for developing the team’s guards.
Gallagher arrived at Lafayette by way of La Salle University where he coached five seasons, two of which came under Big 5 legend Speedy Morris and the final three under Billy Hahn. He jumped right into coaching upon graduating from Saint Joseph’s University in 1999.
His coaching tenure followed a successful playing career at Saint Joseph’s, where he was a guard for three seasons and a member of the 1996 squad that advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
Gallagher is one of four siblings in a basketball-rich family, as his sisters Ann and Joan both played college basketball at La Salle and Boston College, respectively. Gallagher and his wife, Geneva, have two daughters, Kenna (4) and Alanna (2) and recently welcomed their first son, John “Jack” Gallagher, in August of 2013.
