After piloting the Hawks to their first-ever Division I postseason appearance, the University of Hartford has signed head men’s basketball coach John Gallagher to a new contract that will keep him as the head men’s basketball coach through the 2017-18 season, President Walter Harrison and Director of Athletics Pat Meiser announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Gallagher took a team that went 0-13 to start the 2011-12 season and turned things around for the 2012-13 campaign, making an eight-win improvement from the previous year’s mark while leading the team to an invitation to play in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The Hawks hosted Rider in their first-ever postseason game last March, but came up short of defeating the Broncs.

Coaching one of the youngest squads in the nation, Gallagher led Hartford to a 17-14 overall record including a 10-6 mark in the America East in 2012-13, tying the program record for most regular season wins while posting the most victories in league play in four years. The only other time the Hawks won 17 games in the regular season was in 1989-90, when Vin Baker was a freshman.

Hartford was just as successful in its non-conference slate, wrapping up its 13-game schedule with a 7-6 mark, the program’s best record outside of league games since 1996-97. Furthermore, it was just the fourth time in the program’s Division I era that it posted a winning record in non-conference play.

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