Joe Mihalich

American basketball player-coach
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroAmerican basketball player-coach
PlacesUnited States of America
isSports coach Basketball coach
Work fieldSports
Gender
Male
Birth29 August 1956
Age68 years
The details

Biography

Joe Mihalich (born August 29, 1956) is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Hofstra University.
Mihalich was named head coach on April 10, 2013. Prior to that, he led Niagara to two NCAA tournaments, in 2005 and 2007, and three National Invitation Tournament, in 2004, 2009 and 2013.
He received the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award in 2013.

Career

Assistant Coach

LaSalle

Mihalich spent 17 years, from 1981-1998, at his Alma Mater as an Assistant Coach under Head Coaches Dave “Lefty” Ervin and the legendary William “Speedy” Morris. Mihalich was a part of 8 postseason appearances including 5 NCAA Tournament teams. Mihalich coached several players at La Salle who would go on to play professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA); including Simmons, Doug Overton, Randy Woods and Tim Legler.

The son of a LaSalle professor, his basketball career began as a guard on the LaSalle Explorers team as a walk-on, playing from 1974 to 1978. Mihalich literally was raised up the street from the LaSalle campus, on Chew Avenue in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia. He was in the right place at the right time, playing on teams coached by Paul Westhead. The Explorers made the NCAA tournament in Mihalich's freshman year. Their star was Joe Bryant, Kobe's dad. La Salle eventually lost in overtime to Syracuse, which made the Final Four.

Basketball and sports were already in his family blood. His late father, Joseph C. Mihalich, was a pitcher in the New York Yankees farm system in the late 1940s, rooming with Whitey Ford before arm troubles sent him on the road to college studies and LaSalle, where the elder Mihalich became a professor in philosophy, carving an academic niche in the subject of sports philosophy, while his son, Joseph A., played for Westhead before starting his coaching career.

The Explorers made the NCAA tournament again his senior year. By then Mihalich knew he wanted to coach. He moved to the Maryland suburbs of Washington after graduation to be an assistant at DeMatha High School to legendary coach Morgan Wootten.

Head Coach

Niagara

Mihalich took his first head coaching opportunity by the horns and became the most steady program in the MAAC, earning a slew of honors, awards and postseason appearances in his 15 years at the helm of Niagara. At Niagara Mihalich amassed 265 victories making the NIT in 2003, 2008, and 2012 winning a game over Troy State in 2003. Mihalich's Niagara squads made the NCAA Tournaments in 2004 and 2006 winning a game versus Florida A & M in 2006. Mihalich's teams are known for their up-tempo style scoring 70 points per game in nine of the last 10 seasons. Mihalich himself said "I played for Paul Westhead in college, coached with Morgan Wooten and Speedy Morris I think the up-tempo style is fun. Fun to play that way, fun to coach that way, it’s fun to watch." This up-tempo, fun to watch style has earned Mihalich accolades to numerous to fully list however a few of his honors are; MAAC Coach of the Year in his first season at Niagara (1998–99), 2008 NABC District Coach of the Year, 2005 United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District II Coach of the Year, 2007 Basketball Coaches Association of New York (BCANY) Coach of the Year Award, and 2013 MAAC Coach of the Year Award.

Hofstra

A year of turmoil on and off the court led to Head Coach Mo Cassara being relieved of duties on March 22, 2013. After a nationwide search, on April 10, 2013, Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz and Athletic Director Jeffrey Hathaway announced the hire of Joe Mihalich. Mihalich brought over to his staff Assistant Coaches Mike Farrelly and Shane Nichols from Niagara. Mihalich later added Hofstra legend Craig "Speedy" Claxton as special assistant to the head coach.

Coaching Record

SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Niagara University Purple Eagles (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) (1998–2013)
1998–99Niagara17-1213-51st
1999–00Niagara17-1210-84th
2000–01Niagara15-1312-62nd
2001–02Niagara18-1410-64th
2002–03Niagara17-1212-64th
2003–04Niagara22-1013-52ndNIT tournament
2004–05Niagara20-1013-51stNCAA tournament
2005–06Niagara11-187-117th
2006–07Niagara23-1213-52ndNCAA tournament
2007–08Niagara19-1012-63rd
2008–09Niagara26-914-42ndNIT tournament
2009–10Niagara18-159-96th
2010–11Niagara9-235-138th
2011–12Niagara14-198-107th
2012–13Niagara19-1413-51stNIT tournament
Niagara Purple Eagles:264-203 (.565)164-104 (.612)
Hofstra Pride (Colonial Athletic Association) (2013–present)
2013–14Hofstra10–235–118th
2014–15Hofstra20–1410–85thCBI First Round
2015–16Hofstra24–1014–41stNIT First Round
2016-17Hofstra9-101-5
Hofstra Pride:63–57 (.525)29–28 (.509)
Total:327–260 (.557)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.