Quick Facts
Biography
Joseph Patrick "Pat" Kennedy (born January 5, 1952) is a former American college basketball coach. He was previously the men's basketball coach at Towson University, Iona College, Florida State University, DePaul University, Pace University and the University of Montana. Currently, Kennedy is a senior advisor for the Hoop Group and Be The Beast Recruiting. The Hoop Group is the leading grassroots basketball company in the country and Be The Beast is a nationwide high school recruiting service for boys and girls.
Early life
Kennedy was born in Keyport, New Jersey and attended Red Bank Catholic High School in Red Bank, New Jersey. Kennedy's father Joseph William emigrated to the U.S. from Tralee, Ireland.
Coaching career
Pat Kennedy graduated from King's College, Pennsylvania in 1975 with a B.A. in political science. He was a player for his first two years, then coached the junior varsity team for his last two years. In 1975, he became an assistant coach at Lehigh under Brian Hill. After three years at Lehigh, Kennedy joined Jim Valvano's staff at Iona in 1978. Valvano left for NC State in 1980, after which Kennedy was promoted to head coach. In six years, he led the Gaels to two NIT and two NCAA tournament appearances. He compiled a 124–60 record while at Iona.
After Iona, Kennedy went to Florida State. He would spend 11 years in Tallahassee, leading the Seminoles to two NIT and five NCAA tournament appearances, including Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight appearances. During his tenure at FSU, Kennedy compiled a 203–130 record.
He was appointed to succeed Joey Meyer as head coach at DePaul on June 12, 1997. The Blue Demons had won 5 games in the final Meyer season. In 2000, Kennedy led the Blue Demons to their first NCAA appearance in eight years. Kennedy was one of the youngest coaches to ever take three programs to the NCAA tournament. While in Chicago, Kennedy compiled the number one recruiting class in the country and took the team to the NIT and NCAA in his second and third season. DePaul was the first program to lose five underclassmen in a two-year period to the NBA in 2000 and 2001.
In 2002, Kennedy was hired to coach Montana. While at Montana, Kennedy served as the President of the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches). His two-year record with the Grizzlies was 23–35 before he left to take the head coaching job at Towson University in 2004. After a 5–24 record in his first year, Towson improved to 12–16 in 2005–06 and 15–17 in 2006–07. Towson extended Kennedy's contract, originally set to end in 2008, through the 2010–11 season.After a 2010–11 season with a 4–23 record, Kennedy stepped down as Towson's head coach.
On May 7, 2013 Kennedy accepted the head coaching job at Pace, a Division II school who competes in the Northeast-10 Conference. During his second year at Pace, Kennedy won his 499th game against Stonehill College on January 10, 2015. Pace parted ways with Kennedy on March 2, 2015 after multiple years of sub .500 seasons.
After 40 years as a college basketball coach, Kennedy coached 23 players who played in the NBA. These players include multiple first round draft picks like Jeff Ruland, George McCloud, Charlie Ward, Doug Edwards, Bob Sura, Sam Cassell, and Quentin Richardson.
Awards and Recognitions
- National Association Basketball Coaches (NABC) President
- 1992 ACC Coach of the Year
- 1985 MAAC Coach of the Year
- 1984 NABC District Coach of the Year
- MAAC Hall of Fame
- Iona College Hall of Fame
- Kings College Hall of Fame
- New Rochelle Hall of Fame
- Red Bank Catholic HS Hall of Fame
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iona Gaels (Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Metro) (1980–1981) | |||||||||
| 1980–81 | Iona | 15–14 | 6–2 | ||||||
| Iona Gaels (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) (1981–1986) | |||||||||
| 1981–82 | Iona | 24–9 | 7–3 | 3rd | NIT First Round | ||||
| 1982–83 | Iona | 22–9 | 8–2 | 1st | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 1983–84 | Iona | 23–8 | 11–3 | T–1st | NCAA First Round | ||||
| 1984–85 | Iona | 26–5 | 11–3 | 1st | NCAA First Round | ||||
| 1985–86 | Iona | 14–15 | 9–5 | 2nd | |||||
| Iona: | 124–60 (.674) | 52–18 (.743) | |||||||
| Florida State Seminoles (Metro Conference) (1986–1991) | |||||||||
| 1986–87 | Florida State | 19–11 | 6–6 | T–3rd | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 1987–88 | Florida State | 19–11 | 7–5 | 2nd | NCAA First Round | ||||
| 1988–89 | Florida State | 22–8 | 9–3 | 1st | NCAA First Round | ||||
| 1989–90 | Florida State | 16–15 | 6–8 | T–5th | |||||
| 1990–91 | Florida State | 21–11 | 9–5 | 2nd | NCAA Second Round | ||||
| Florida State Seminoles (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1991–1997) | |||||||||
| 1991–92 | Florida State | 22–10 | 11–5 | 2nd | NCAA Sweet 16 | ||||
| 1992–93 | Florida State | 25–10 | 12–4 | 2nd | NCAA Elite Eight | ||||
| 1993–94 | Florida State | 13–14 | 6–10 | T–7th | |||||
| 1994–95 | Florida State | 12–15 | 5–11 | T–6th | |||||
| 1995–96 | Florida State | 13–14 | 5–11 | 8th | |||||
| 1996–97 | Florida State | 20-12 | 6–10 | 7th | NIT Runner-up | ||||
| Florida State: | 202-131 (.607) | 82–78 (.513) | |||||||
| DePaul Blue Demons (Conference USA) (1997–2002) | |||||||||
| 1997–98 | DePaul | 7–23 | 3–13 | 6th (American) | |||||
| 1998–99 | DePaul | 18–13 | 10–6 | T–3rd (American) | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 1999–2000 | DePaul | 21–12 | 9–7 | 3rd (American) | NCAA First Round | ||||
| 2000–01 | DePaul | 12–18 | 4–12 | 6th (American) | |||||
| 2001–02 | DePaul | 9–19 | 2–14 | 7th (American) | |||||
| DePaul: | 67–85 (.441) | 28–52 (.350) | |||||||
| Montana Grizzlies (Big Sky Conference) (2002–2004) | |||||||||
| 2002–03 | Montana | 13–17 | 7–7 | T–3rd | |||||
| 2003–04 | Montana | 10–18 | 6–8 | T–6th | |||||
| Montana: | 23–35 (.397) | 13–15 (.464) | |||||||
| Towson Tigers (Colonial Athletic Association) (2004–2011) | |||||||||
| 2004–05 | Towson | 5–24 | 2–16 | 10th | |||||
| 2005–06 | Towson | 12–16 | 8–10 | T–7th | |||||
| 2006–07 | Towson | 15–17 | 8–10 | T–7th | |||||
| 2007–08 | Towson | 13–18 | 7–11 | 9th | |||||
| 2008–09 | Towson | 12–22 | 5–13 | T–10th | |||||
| 2009–10 | Towson | 10–21 | 5–13 | 8th | |||||
| 2010–11 | Towson | 4–26 | 0–18 | 12th | |||||
| Towson: | 71–144 (.330) | 39–78 (.333) | |||||||
| Pace Setters (Northeast-10 Conference) (2013–2015) | |||||||||
| 2013–14 | Pace | 7–19 | 5–15 | 6th (Southwest) | |||||
| 2014–15 | Pace | 5–23 | 1–19 | 7th (Southwest) | |||||
| Pace: | 12–42 (.222) | 6–34 (.150) | |||||||
| Total: | 499–497 (.501) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||