Off The Bench
By John W. Gearan
Holy Cross Magazine
Forever he has been the kid lingering at courtside, waiting to
be asked to play. As a high school and college player, he sat on
the edge of the bench a lot, eager to get the minutes that he had
earned in practices. Every season, he would fear getting cut. As a
coach, he has served as an understudy for 22 seasons, wondering if
his chance for a lead role would ever come.
There is, however, no quit in Sean Kearney. He would not give up
on himself at Cardinal O’Hara High. He couldn’t be
shooed away from playing at Scranton University. He believed hard
work and determination would be rewarded. Someday, someplace.
About to turn 50 this November, finally Kearney knocked on a door
of opportunity and somebody said, “Come in.”
Now he is the head basketball coach at Holy Cross, trying to fill
the huge sneakers of departing Ralph Willard ’67. Athletic
Director Dick Regan ’76 selected Kearney from a field of more
than 50 applicants when Willard made a sudden decision in June to
join his pal Rick Pitino at the University of Louisville. Willard,
after coaching at his alma mater for 10 years, warmly endorsed the
candidacy of Kearney, a longtime friend. He gave Regan an
enthusiastic thumbs-up, praising the choice on his Web site.
Willard “texted and e-mailed” his players, telling them
not to fret, that they were in “terrific hands.”
There were no naysayers, says Regan, as he made scores of calls to
basketball insiders while vetting Kearney’s credentials and
character.
Kearney had paid his dues. He had proven his big-time acumen as a
top assistant to Notre Dame’s Mike Brey for nine seasons (ND,
167-86 record). Peers cheered his selection. Well-liked and highly
respected, the personable Kearney is being called “the
perfect fit” by many in the coaching fraternity and
beyond.
“I think I represent countless longtime assistants who have
toiled long and hard to get a chance,” says Kearney. “I
think they want me to succeed, and use me as a blueprint for the
argument that a blue-collar guy can run a winning
program.”
Then Kearney adds a note of caution. “I still have to prove
I can win.” Indeed Willard will be a tough act to follow
(192-116 record, four trips to the NCAA tournament).
He grew up like so many who have found their way to Holy Cross.
Sean was one of five Kearney kids in an Irish-Catholic family.
Springfield, Pa., outside Philadelphia, has no mean streets and
playgrounds aplenty. His brother, Jim, a year older, loved baseball
while Sean had an early passion for hoops. His sisters, Kathleen,
Eileen and Molly, enjoyed books, sports and extracurricular
activities of every description.
Alice Kearney, at times a stay-at-home mom and a teacher, had a
master’s degree in dramatics from Catholic University and a
flair for community theater. His dad, Jack, who fought in the
Battle of the Bulge during World War II, worked for the federal
Office of Personnel Management helping veterans find jobs. Jack had
played some youth ball and encouraged his children to do the same.
Both Alice and Jack hailed from Scranton, Pa., where neighborhoods
were synonymous with parishes—Alice was Holy Rosary, Jack was
Nativity.
Sean recalls biking to local playgrounds, looking for games and
having to wait his turn until older kids would give him a chance.
As he improved, he got to play longer stretches.
At Cardinal O’Hara, back then a high school of nearly 4,000,
Sean was cut after trying out for the freshman team. That rejection
only fueled his desire to succeed. He played junior varsity as a
sophomore and junior. When Bud Gardler became the varsity coach
before his senior year, rumors swirled that all the seniors would
be cut. “I was thinking about transferring to public
school,” Kearney says. But he stuck it out. And Coach Gardler
became his lifelong mentor and inspiration.
“My senior year (1976-77), we played St. Dominic’s, a
Long Island team coached by Ralph Willard. I’m pretty
positive we lost,’’ says Kearney. “Ralph had
become a good friend of Coach Gardler at summer camps. That
prompted a longtime friendship between Ralph and me. We stayed in
touch and even roomed one summer together while working a camp.
Ralph has always been gracious and helpful to me.”
Kearney considered himself an “OK” guard. Despite
evidence to the contrary, Kearney convinced himself he could play
college basketball somewhere. He wrote letters pleading his case.
From his parents’ hometown arrived a nibble of interest from
the University of Scranton, a Jesuit school and a Division 3 NCAA
title contender.
He played junior varsity ball at Scranton as a freshman and
sophomore. Each spring he would ask head coach Bob Bessoir what he
could do to improve his game. Each summer Kearney would help at
camps, play in leagues, play pickup games in playgrounds, sweat and
toil. “Coach Bessoir even suggested I become a volunteer
assistant coach. But I told him I’d rather play,”
Kearney recalls.
He got his minutes, even starting as a senior for the first half
of the season as Scranton made the NCAA tournament. “I have
zero complaints about playing time. I understood my abilities,
fulfilled my passion for the game and played with great
guys,” Kearney adds.
After college, Kearney worked for five years in insurance for
CIGNA, where he met his future wife, Kim. He remained involved in
basketball as an assistant under Coach Gardler at O’Hara
High. In 1986 he plunged back into basketball full time, arriving
at Rick Pitino’s office at Providence College to volunteer as
an assistant. From dawn until noon, he worked the headphones at the
Providence Journal answering complaints and filling newspaper
orders. From noon to midnight, he was at Pitino’s beck and
call during a magical season when Providence College with Billy
Donovan advanced to the 1987 NCAA Final Four.
His climb continued. To Northwestern. To Division 2 Philadelphia
Textile under Herb Magee. To Delaware for nine years, before moving
with Mike Brey to Notre Dame.
He married Kim and they now have two daughters: Erin, a high
school senior who plays clarinet and competed with Penn High in the
Indiana State Marching Band championships, and Shannon, a talented
swimmer.
Kearney admits he jumped at the opportunity to coach at Holy
Cross. For him, it was a “wow” job: a top-notch
academic school with an impressive athletic tradition. Being an
Irish-American Catholic, Kearney knew he would be a good fit on the
Hill and that he would be comfortable recruiting student-athletes
with such an excellent product to pitch. His father, Jack, attended
Holy Cross for a year before heading off to war. Indeed, Fr. John
E. Brooks, S.J., ’49, Holy Cross president emeritus, welcomed
Kearney with a photo of his dad from the 1941 Purple Patcher.
He has many boosters from the Scranton area, including family
friend and former Holy Cross player, Ward FitzPatrick ’82.
Scranton native P. Kevin Condron ’67 serves as the
College’s Board of Trustees chair while his brother
Christopher “Kip” Condron is board chair at the
University of Scranton. Inside basketball and out, it appears
Kearney has more connections than Verizon.
In July, he got off to a fast start, hopscotching the country to
meet his returning players, the four incoming freshmen and their
families. He bounced around to a half-dozen all-star showcase camps
from Foxboro to Las Vegas looking for Crusader recruits.
Now he is trying to match the talents of his players to his
preferred style, more up-tempo and offensive-minded than
Willard’s dogged defense approach.
How will he do here? Time will tell. One thing is for certain
though: Sean Kearney won’t quit trying.
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of
Holy Cross Magazine.
John W. Gearan, was an award-winning reporter and columnist at the
Worcester Telegram and Gazette for 36 years. He resides in
Woonsocket, R.I., with his wife, Karen Maguire, and their daughter,
Molly.
