Thanks to great sources who had HoopDirt.com out in front of this one early this morning (DIII DIRT)…
After building the Colgate University men’s basketball team into the Patriot League finalists during a seven-year run as assistant coach, Mike McGarvey is set to become the ninth head coach in the Lycoming College men’s basketball program’s history, Director of Athletics Mike Clark announced on Tuesday, June 26.
“Thank you to President Kent Trachte and Director of Athletics Mike Clark for this incredible opportunity to lead the Lycoming men’s basketball team,” McGarvey said. “I am very excited to continue Lycoming’s proud tradition of athletic success while helping to guide our players to reach their full potential on and off the court. On behalf of my wife, Caitlin, and daughter, Finleigh, our family is thrilled to be joining the Lycoming community.”
McGarvey replaces Guy Rancourt, who will leave Lycoming on June 30 to become the head men’s basketball coach at his alma mater, Western Connecticut State University, after leading the Warriors to 179 wins and two MAC Commonwealth titles in 10 seasons. McGarvey is slated to start on July 2.
In 2017-18, McGarvey served as an assistant on Matt Langel’s staff for the Raiders, guiding the team to a program-record 19 wins, a Patriot League Championship game appearance, and Colgate’s first national postseason tournament appearance since 1996 when it earned a bid to the College Basketball Invitational. The Raiders finished a school-record 12-6 in Patriot League play, finishing in second place.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Mike as our men’s basketball coach,” Clark said. “He follows in a really grand tradition of Lycoming coaches who came from successful Division I programs in the past two decades in Terry Conrad, Don Friday (Bucknell) and Guy Rancourt (Stony Brook). Like all three of them, Mike comes to us with a history of making programs better by doing things the right way, on the court and off.”
In his seven seasons with the Raiders, McGarvey aided in the development of seven professional basketball players in Mike Venezia, Mitch Rolls, and Murphy Burnatowski, Damon Sherman-Newsome, Ethan Jacobs, Alex Ramon and Austin Tillotson. McGarvey has helped mentor nine all-league honorees, a Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, a Patriot League Rookie of the Year and more than 30 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll members.
The Raiders improved their win total in six of seven seasons with McGarvey on staff, jumping from an 8-22 season in 2011-12 to a 19-14 campaign in 2017-18. The team finished .500 or better in the Patriot League three times, including taking second twice.
McGarvey came to Colgate from his alma mater, Ursinus College, where he spent four seasons as an assistant coach. McGarvey assisted in all aspects of running the program and played a major role in recruiting, scouting, player development, film exchange, and fundraising while there. While with the Bears, McGarvey coached Nick Shattuck to All-American recognition in addition to mentoring 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 on Dec 1, 2010, honoring a career where his teams won three conference championships. He started every game of his career, and finished fourth on the school’s all-time scoring chart with 1,460 points and he is still 14th in the Division III record book with 754 career assists. McGarvey 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 a daughter, Finleigh.
