William D. Carmody (born December 4, 1951) is an American retired men's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach, formerly the head coach at the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. ...

. He was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

men's basketball team at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

from 2000 through 2013. From 1996 through 2000, Carmody was the head coach at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Early life and education

Carmody was born in

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city (New Jersey), city in southern Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway River, Rahway Valley region, in the New ...

, and grew up in Spring Lake, where he attended St. Rose High School, a Roman Catholic private school, in nearby Belmar. He attended and graduated from

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

Schenectady, New York Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1975. He led Union's basketball team to a 59–11 record in his three years as a starter.

Career

After graduating from Union College, Carmody served as head coach of Fulton-Montgomery Community College in Johnstown, New York, and led the team to a 17–10 record and conference title in his only season there. He returned to Union the following year as an assistant coach under head coach Bill Scanlon. In 1980, Carmody became a part-time assistant at Providence College, where he worked for 2 seasons under head coach Gary Walters.

Princeton

From 1982 through 1996, he was an assistant basketball coach at

under the Tigers' legendary coach,

Pete Carril Peter Joseph Carril (; July 10, 1930 – August 15, 2022) was an American basketball coach. He is best known as head coach of Princeton University for 30 years and for his use of the " Princeton offense". He also coached at Lehigh University a ...

. After fourteen years, he became the head coach in 1996 when Carril retired. Despite not being able to offer athletic scholarships due to Ivy League rules, Carmody's 1997–1998 team reached a ranking as high as 7th nationally, and was ranked 8th nationally going into the NCAA Tournament. This led to a number-five

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

in the NCAA tournament. That team lost in the second round of the tournament to #4 seed (and eventual 10th ranked) Michigan State, and was ranked 16th nationally at the conclusion of the tournament. He is considered one of the leading practitioners of the Princeton offense. While coaching

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

, he established the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

career winning percentage record of 78.6%, going 92–25.

Northwestern

In 2000, he succeeded Kevin O'Neill as the head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team. One of his top assistants from 2000 to 2006 was Craig Robinson, the brother of former First Lady

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

. From 2008 to 2014, Robinson was the head coach at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

. In 2003–04, Carmody led the Wildcats to an 8–8 record in Big Ten play, their first non-losing record in conference play since 1967–68. On January 18, Northwestern defeated the then-number-seventeen

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

. On January 21, 2009, Carmody's Kevin Coble-led

defeated number-seven

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

at the Breslin Center in

East Lansing East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

earning their second consecutive win over an opponent ranked in the AP top 25, marking the first time in school history for such a feat. The 2008–09 unit became the first in school history to win 20 games and briefly flirted with the first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. On December 28, 2009, Northwestern was ranked number 25 in the Associated Press Basketball Poll, marking the first time Northwestern had been ranked in the AP Poll since 1969. The 2009–10 team also notched the school's second-ever 20-win season. Despite Carmody's efforts to upgrade the Wildcat program, his teams never finished higher than fifth in the Big Ten, and his 2003–04 team was the only one that finished with even a .500 record in conference play. After the Wildcats suffered their first losing season in six years, Carmody was fired on March 16, 2013. He left as the second-winningest coach in school history, behind only Dutch Lonborg.

Holy Cross

After spending the 2014–15 season as a special assistant and advisor to Fairfield coach Sydney Johnson, Carmody was hired as the head coach of the

Holy Cross Crusaders The Holy Cross Crusaders are the athletic teams representing the College of the Holy Cross. They compete in NCAA Division I, primarily as members of the Patriot League. In ice hockey, a sport not sponsored by the Patriot League for either sex, th ...

in March 2015. In Carmody's first year with the Crusaders, his team won the Patriot League Tournament Championship. After going 0–9 on the road in league play, he completed a magical conference tournament run of 4–0 on the road to claim the crown. Carmody would coach three more seasons at Holy Cross before ultimately retiring after the 2018–2019 season.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Holy Cross profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carmody, Bill 1951 births Living people Basketball coaches from New Jersey Basketball players from Monmouth County, New Jersey College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball coaches Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Rahway, New Jersey People from Spring Lake, New Jersey Sportspeople from Wilmette, Illinois Princeton Tigers men's basketball coaches Providence Friars men's basketball coaches St. Rose High School alumni Union Garnet Chargers men's basketball coaches Union Garnet Chargers men's basketball players American men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen