Mike McGarvey, who led Lafayette on a thrilling run to the 2023 Patriot League Tournament championship game as acting head coach, has been named the head coach of the Lafayette men’s basketball program. McGarvey succeeds Mike Jordan, as the College has decided to move the program in a new direction following the conclusion of an outside investigation.
McGarvey, who is retaining the current assistant coaching staff, will be officially introduced on Wednesday, April 5 at a 9 a.m. press conference in Pfenning Alumni Center.
“Coach McGarvey is a first-class leader who is deeply dedicated to the College’s powerful combination of excellent academics and athletics,” said Director of Athletics Sherryta Freeman. “Given what we’ve already witnessed with him as acting head coach, I’m excited for his leadership and to see him continue what he started.”
McGarvey served as Lafayette’s associate head coach for the 2022-23 season before being named acting head coach, and led the Leopards to Patriot League Tournament victories over Lehigh in the quarterfinal round and American in the semifinal.
“I am thrilled to become Lafayette’s next head coach,” McGarvey said. “Lafayette is a truly special place, and we have a terrific group of young men with whom I’m eager to continue our championship level efforts both on and off the basketball court.”
McGarvey came to College Hill after a four-year tenure as the head men’s basketball coach at Lycoming College. He led the program to three-straight MAC Freedom Conference championship games, including two conference crowns. In his second year as the Warriors’ head coach, in the 2019-20 season, he guided the team to a remarkable resurgence, from a 5-11 conference record the previous year to a 10-6 mark with a roster featuring 11 freshmen. That team finished 20-9, won its third MAC Commonwealth title in five years, and earned McGarvey honors as Honorable Mention City of Basketball Love Coach of the Year.
McGarvey helped the Lycoming men’s basketball team repeat its success in 2020-21 despite facing a shortened COVID-19-plagued season. Finishing second in the regular season standings, the Warriors won the MAC Freedom Championship and had two players named to the all-conference team and two receive first-team selections.
In 2021-22, McGarvey led Lycoming to a third-straight conference championship game appearance and saw one player earn MAC Freedom Conference Rookie of the Year honors and another an all-first team selection.
In 2017-18, McGarvey served as an assistant at Colgate, which set a program record with 19 wins, competed in the Patriot League Championship game, and earned the Raiders’ first national postseason tournament appearance in two decades with a bid to the College Basketball Invitational. In seven seasons with the Raiders, McGarvey aided in the development of seven professional basketball players, nine all-league honorees, a Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, and a Patriot League Rookie of the Year.
McGarvey went to Colgate from his alma mater, Ursinus College, where he spent four seasons as an assistant coach and mentored one player to All-America recognition and another into a Jostens Trophy finalist.
As a player, McGarvey was a finalist in 2006 for the Jostens Trophy. He was also a consensus two-time All-American and two-time Centennial Conference Player of the Year.
Ursinus retired McGarvey’s No. 11 jersey in 2010, honoring a career in which McGarvey started every game across all four seasons, won three conference championships, and finished fourth on the school’s all-time scoring chart with 1,460 points. His total career assists (754) still ranks in the top 15 all-time for Division III. He also holds the Centennial Conference records for career assists and steals, and single-season assists and steals. He was inducted into both the Ursinus College Hall of Fame (2016) and the Sam Cozen Philadelphia Area Small College Hall of Fame (2015).
McGarvey earned a Bachelor of Arts in business and economics from Ursinus in 2006. He and his wife, Caitlin, have two daughters, Finleigh and Rowan.
