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Montana
hires
top-notch coach
Nationally
respected basketball coach Pat
Kennedy has been hired to lead the Montana Grizzlies.
Kennedy
brings 22 seasons of head-coaching experience to UM, including
13 post-season appearances, eight in the NCAA Tournament
and five in the NIT. He coached the Florida State Seminoles
to the Sweet 16 in 1992 and the Elite Eight in 1993. He
coached the Blue Demons of DePaul in Chicago from 1998 to
2002. He was in Florida the previous 11 years.
Kennedy,
50, is Montana's 23rd coach in the Grizzlies' 98 seasons
of college basketball. He replaces Don Holst, who posted
a four-year record of 57-56 overall and 31-31 in the Big
Sky Conference.
In
just over two decades, Kennedy (393-276) is just seven wins
shy of reaching the prestigious 400-victory plateau. Earlier
in his career, he became only the fourth Division I coach
in NCAA history to win 100 games during his first five years
as a head coach.
"This
is truly a coup for The University of Montana," UM
Athletic Director Wayne Hogan said. "Pat brings instant
national credibility and acclaim and will be a tribute to
the great coaches who have preceded him here at Montana.
His energy and enthusiasm for the game of basketball are
infectious. His recruiting contacts and his ability to attract
the nation's best players are well-documented."
Kennedy
will retain UM assistant coach Wayne Tinkle. Hogan said
Tinkle will provide program continuity and play a vital
role in Kennedy's staff.
At
DePaul, Kennedy engineered the biggest one season turnaround
in school history. After winning seven games in his initial
campaign, the Blue Demons finished 18-13 and advanced to
the second round of the NIT. The following year, Kennedy
had DePaul in the NCAA tournament with a 21-12 mark, the
school's first NCAA berth since 1992.
"When
I stepped aside at DePaul there were three major criteria
in looking for another position," Kennedy said. "First
was the quality of people, next was the quality of the job
and then the quality of life. Those three things were paramount
for myself and my family.
"The
people I have met from Montana have been outstanding, the
potential for success in the basketball program is definitely
there, and the quality of life is a big, big plus,"
Kennedy said.
The way it is: Kennedy resigned last month after DePaul
went 9-19, mostly because those players are all in the NBA.
"With those four guys, Kennedy said with a sigh, "we
could have started a janitor at point guard and won the
national title."
Prior
to coming to Chicago, Kennedy spent 11 seasons at Florida
State University where he compiled a 202-131 (.607) mark.
In
39 seasons of Seminole basketball prior to Kennedy's arrival
in Tallahassee, Florida State had been to the NCAA Tournament
just four times. The FSU basketball program had never won
a conference championship, regular season or post-season.
Just three Seminole players had been selected in the first
round of the National Basketball Association's draft. Only
seven 20-win seasons dotted Florida State's basketball resume.
Only one FSU team had ever made it past the second round
of the NCAA Tournament.
Kennedy
met the challenges of rebuilding head-on and rewrote FSU's
basketball history. The Seminoles advanced to the NCAA Tournament
five times under Kennedy's guidance. He led his FSU troops
to a Metro Conference regular season and post-season title.
Five Seminole players were chosen in the opening round of
the draft, including a stretch of four straight years.
Kennedy also led FSU to five 20-win seasons and had two
more with 19 victories. The Seminoles advanced to within
a game of the Final Four in 1993 after going to the Sweet
16 the previous season.
FSU
drew more than 100,000 fans for the first time ever in his
first season and repeated the feat in all but two of his
seasons. In 1992-93, FSU set new school records for average
and total attendance.
In
his last season at FSU in 1996-97, Kennedy guided the Seminoles
to a 20-12 record and a return to post-season play. The
Seminoles advanced to the championship game of the NIT tournament
before falling to Michigan. In 1992-93, FSU finished just
one win away from a trip to the Final Four after losing
to Kentucky in the Southeast Regional final.
Kennedy's
most amazing feat as a coach may have been during the 1991-92
season, FSU's first in the ACC. That season the Seminoles
had six league road wins, including a stunning victory at
North Carolina in its league opener and finished 11-5; good
enough for second place behind eventual national champion
Duke. That team advanced to the Sweet 16.
Kennedy's
penchant for rebuilding jobs began in the Big Apple when
he spent six years as the head coach at Iona. In his tenure
with the Gaels, Kennedy led them to four 20-win seasons,
two trips to the NCAA Tournament and a pair of NIT appearances.
He got the Iona job after Jim Valvano departed for North
Carolina State.
Kennedy
was an assistant coach at Lehigh in 1977. He joined Valvano's
staff at Iona in 1978 and spent the next two seasons there
before getting the top job after the 1979-80 season.
Kennedy currently serves on the prestigious National Association
of Basketball Coaches Board of Directors and is third in
line for the presidency of that organization.
He
attended Kings College in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., on a basketball
scholarship. After two years as a player, while boarding
the team bus for a game at the Palestra in Philadelphia,
his coach asked him "to scout the next two opponents
tonight, here are the tickets and directions."
With
that Kennedy's career changed completely. He became head
junior varsity coach, finishing the year with a 17-4 record.
He was elevated to the school's top varsity assistant coach
as a senior.
In
addition to his youth camps throughout the Chicago area,
Kennedy has served as the state of Florida's honorary chairman
for the Special Olympics. In 1984, while at Iona, he was
named Special Olympics' Man of the Year.
Pat
made frequent appearances on radio and television talk shows
both in the Windy City and across the country.
A
native of Keyport, New Jersey, Pat and his wife Jeannie
have three children: son Joey,18, who will attend UM, and
two daughters, Kimberly, 14, and Kathryn, 9.
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