Keith Urgo was named Fordham males's basketball's subsequent head coach.
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Keith Urgo’s first guess was flawed, and so was his second.
Kyle Neptune had simply knowledgeable him of that gorgeous information: Neptune had signed a contract with Villanova, and the then-Fordham affiliate head coach’s first intuition was the Rams had secured a big-time non-conference sport.
“What, to play within the Backyard subsequent 12 months?” Urgo recalled. “He began laughing, and he was like, ‘no, to be their subsequent head coach.’ I used to be like, ‘yeah, OK, It’s Apr. 1.'”
Narrator: It was not April Fools Day.
It was then that Urgo realized how a lot his life was going to alter. He simply didn’t know what course it was headed in on the time, that a week later he can be a head coach for the primary time, at The Bronx college his father attended, after working for 16 years as a Division I assistant at Villanova, Penn State and Fordham.
“It’s indescribable,” the 42-year-old Urgo advised The Put up forward of his Friday press convention that formally introduced the rent. “My father’s been crying for a number of days since we heard the excellent news. My father’s from Brooklyn. My mom’s from Brooklyn. We grew up listening to about Fordham, the Fordham Rams and Fordham alumni, and delight all of them have on this place.”
Urgo beat out numerous certified candidates, an inventory that included Vermont coach John Becker, Kentucky affiliate head coach Bruiser Flint, Windfall assistant Ivan Thomas, Rutgers affiliate head coach Brandin Knight and Connecticut assistant Kimani Younger.
Urgo obtained overwhelming help for the job after serving as Neptune’s right-hand man of their one 12 months collectively. That season, Fordham surpassed expectations with a 16-16 file, a 14-win enchancment from the earlier winter, and reached the Atlantic 10 Event quarterfinals for the primary time since 2007. Present gamers and recruits, their households and coaches reached out to athletic director Eddie Kull and different members of the athletic division.
By protecting Urgo, Fordham ensured its robust three-man recruiting class remained intact, a gaggle led by three-star prospects Will Richardson and Angel Montas, together with your entire teaching employees. It meant there wouldn’t be a mass exodus — that the Rams wouldn’t be beginning over once more.
However that isn’t what led to Kull’s choice, he insisted. It’s not like Fordham was coming off an NCAA Event run or returning a staff that might be ranked within the preseason.
“I like that our fan base is worked up in regards to the 12 months, however 16 wins is .500. We would like extra,” Kull stated. “I need to put that in perspective. We try to be higher than that.”
No, Urgo acquired the job on his personal deserves, on his huge expertise and training chops. In his one 12 months at Fordham, Urgo lived as much as his advance billing as a top-notch recruiter and stellar coach.
When the Rams created the teaching employees upon hiring Neptune, Kull envisioned sooner or later shedding Neptune, he thought a lot of him. He noticed Urgo as a robust alternative sooner or later, somebody Fordham was solely in a position to rent within the first place as a result of it was now placing more cash into this system.
“As we continued to speak to candidates, their imaginative and prescient, their concepts, it all the time went again to Keith,” Kull stated. “I needed any person that needed Fordham. Not somebody who was trying to make use of us as a stepping stone. Not somebody that needed to leap into the Atlantic 10. Not somebody that simply needed a pay improve. Not somebody I needed to overpay to get them to be right here.”
“This was all the time the plan,” the athletic director added. “I simply thought it might be 4 years from now.”
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