The College of the Holy Cross today named Bill Carmody as its new head men’s basketball coach, director of athletics Nathan Pine announced. Carmody becomes the 17th head coach in the history of the program and has 32 years of Division I coaching experience, including 17 seasons as a head coach. He will start his new responsibilities at Holy Cross immediately.
Carmody will be introduced publicly at a press conference on Monday, March 23, at 11:00 a.m. from the basketball court in the Hart Center on the Holy Cross campus. The press conference will be carried live via webstream, and can be seen by clicking here.
"I am thrilled to welcome Bill Carmody to Holy Cross to lead our basketball program and to have him join our exceptional team of coaches," said Pine. "He is a proven winner and his wealth of experience as a head coach at other rigorous academic institutions makes him an outstanding fit for our program and community. Coach Carmody is an enthusiastic mentor and developer of talent and he is a man of the highest integrity. I have no doubt our student-athletes and program will prosper under his guidance."
From 2000-2013, Carmody served as the head coach at Northwestern University. In the four years from 2008-2012, he guided the Wildcats to four consecutive winning seasons, with his 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 teams both recording a school record 20 victories. Carmody, who previously spent four seasons as the head coach at Princeton University from 1996-2000, had led his teams to eight postseason tournament appearances – two trips to the NCAA Tournament and six trips to the National Invitation Tournament. In addition, he was selected as the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year in 2003-2004.
"I am excited about the opportunity to become the head coach at Holy Cross, and I look forward to bringing the program back to the top of the Patriot League," said Carmody. "I would like to thank Rev. Philip Boroughs, S.J., and Nathan Pine for their confidence in me and for allowing me the opportunity to lead this storied program. I cannot wait to start working with our impressive student-athletes, who represent the College with pride and honor both on and off the court."
Over the years, Carmody has been nationally recognized as one of the top coaches in the college game. He has been labeled the best offensive coach in college basketball by Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated’s college basketball writers have also voted him one of the 15 best coaches in the college game.
During the 2014-2015 season, Carmody served as a special assistant / advisor to the head coach at Fairfield University. He previously spent 13 seasons at Northwestern, guiding the Wildcats to one of the most successful stretches in the history of the program. He won 192 games during his time at Northwestern, good for the second-most victories in school history behind only Arthur Lonborg (236 wins / 1928-1949). Carmody’s teams also made a school-record four straight postseason appearances from 2009-2012, with four consecutive trips to the National Invitation Tournament. In addition, the Wildcats won at least six Big Ten games in eight of his 13 years at the helm, after accomplishing that feat only six times in the previous 31 seasons.
Carmody’s Northwestern teams were widely recognized for their willingness to share the basketball, while not turning it over. In each of his last seven seasons with the Wildcats, the team ranked in the top 15 in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio. Carmody’s teams were also extremely proficient from beyond the three-point line during his time at Northwestern, with his squads occupying the top five spots in the school’s record books for three-point field goals made in a season. In addition, his 2009-2010 team set a Big Ten record with 170 three-pointers made in conference games.
In 2010-2011, the Wildcats made the deepest postseason run in school history, advancing to the quarterfinal round of the National Invitation Tournament before falling in overtime at Washington State. Along the way, Carmody picked up career win No. 250 in Northwestern’s Big Ten tournament victory over Minnesota.
The Wildcats’ 10-1 start in 2009-2010 allowed them to earn their first national ranking in 41 years, coming in at No. 25 in the Associated Press poll on Dec. 28, 2009. Later that season, a victory over No. 6 Purdue at home marked the highest-ranked team Northwestern had defeated in 31 years. The Wildcats would finish the year by averaging a Big Ten-best 68.7 points per game in conference play, marking the first time they led the league in scoring since 1966-1967.
In 2008-2009, Carmody guided Northwestern to one of the top turnarounds in the country, leading them from eight wins the previous season to a then school regular-season record-tying 17 victories. The Wildcats also raised their conference win total from one to eight, marking the largest Big Ten increase since Minnesota went from three wins in 2003-2004 to 10 the following season. Along the way, Northwestern defeated ranked opponents in consecutive games for the first time in program history. The Wildcats beat No. 18 Minnesota at home before going on the road to top No. 7 Michigan State. Coupled with a win at No. 19 Purdue, Northwestern defeated two ranked teams on the road in the same season for the first time. The three wins over ranked teams were the school’s most since the 1993-1994 campaign.
During the 2003-2004 season, Carmody earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors, after leading the Wildcats to an 8-8 mark in Big Ten play. The Wildcats’ fifth place finish in the conference standings that year was their best since 1968-1969, while their 8-8 record was their best in league play since 1967-1968.
Prior to his time at Northwestern, Carmody was the head coach at Princeton from 1996-2000. During his four-year tenure, he guided the Tigers to an overall record of 92-25 (.786) and an Ivy League mark of 50-6 (.893), while leading the team to the postseason each year. His squad went 24-4 record in his first season (1996-1997), the third best first year mark for a Division I head coach in 30 years. Carmody followed that up with an even better sophomore campaign in 1997-1998, when Princeton finished with a 27-2 record, a Top 10 national ranking and advanced to the second round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament.
Carmody’s Princeton team claimed the 1998 Rainbow Classic title in Hawaii with wins over Florida State, Texas and Charlotte on consecutive nights, and in the 1999 NIT they defeated Georgetown and North Carolina State before falling in the quarterfinal round. Princeton had winning streaks of 20 games and 19 games under Carmody (the two longest streaks in school history), and his teams set 31 school records during his tenure. He was also named the United States Basketball Writers’ Association District II Coach of the Year and the New Jersey Coach of the Year each of his first two years. In addition, Carmody is one of only five men to coach a team to a perfect Ivy League record (in both 1996-1997 and 1997-1998), and is the only coach to do so in his first year.
From 1982-1996, Carmody served as an assistant coach at Princeton under Pete Carril. The Tigers made seven trips to the NCAA Tournament during his first 14 years on the staff, which included a victory over defending national champion UCLA in 1996. Carmody was previously an assistant coach at Providence for one year (1980-1981) and at Union College for four years (1976-1980). He began his career as the head coach at Fulton-Montgomery Community College in Johnstown, N.Y., leading the team to a 17-10 record and conference title in his only season there (1975-1976).
A native of Spring Lake, N.J., Carmody graduated from Union in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree in history. A basketball standout, he led Union to a 59-11 record in three seasons as a starter. During his senior year, he captained the Dutchmen and was named first team All-ECAC as well as the school’s Most Outstanding Athlete.
Carmody and his wife, Barbara, have two sons, Michael (23) and Eddie (21).
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