Thomas Sullivan (born April 18, 1950) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and college coach.

Playing career

Sullivan grew up in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He played collegiately at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

and was a four-year letterwinner from 1968 to 1969 through 1971–72, playing the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

, Sullivan was the

Rams In engineering, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS)MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

. He guided Fordham to a berth in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

where they would lose in the first round to

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. At the end of that season, Sullivan was presented with the

Haggerty Award __NOTOC__ The Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award is given to the top men's college basketball player from an NCAA Division I school in the New York metropolitan area. The Haggerty Award is presented by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MB ...

, given annually since 1935–36 to the top male collegiate basketball player in the greater New York City area. He was the co-recipient with

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

's Richie Garner, becoming the first duo to share the award in its history up to that point. Following his career at Fordham, Sullivan was chosen in the 1972 NBA draft by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

. He was taken in the ninth round (139th overall). Although he was drafted, Sullivan never played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. Instead, he went to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to play professionally in 1972–73, took the following year off to coach back in the United States, and then spent the 1974–75 playing again, only this time in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. After two seasons in three years playing as an

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

professional basketball player, Sullivan returned to the United States to pursue coaching full-time.

Coaching career

Sullivan began his coaching career as an assistant at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

during the interim year between professional seasons. His next job came as an assistant coach at New Hampshire College (now

Southern New Hampshire University Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private university between Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire, United States. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, along with ...

) during 1975–76, and after only one year at the school he became its full-time head coach in 1976. Sullivan stayed at New Hampshire College from 1976 to 1977 through 1984–85 and also concurrently served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

for much of his tenure. During his nine-year career at the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

school, he compiled an overall record of 152–99, including three 20-win seasons. Sullivan led the team to two Division II New England Region championships (1980, 1981) as he earned regional coach of the year honors both of those years. He left New Hampshire College to take the reins at

Manhattan College Manhattan University (previously Manhattan College) is a private, Catholic university in New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools) as an academy fo ...

in which he compiled a 2–26 overall record his first year there. Sullivan only stayed one season, however, and left to become P. J. Carlesimo's assistant at

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

between 1987–88 and 1993–94. During this seven-year stretch, the Pirates made six NCAA Division I Tournaments, including a national championship game appearance in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, which they lost to

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, ...

in overtime. When Carlesimo left after 1993–94, Sullivan was a finalist for the head coaching vacancy. The position ultimately went to

George Blaney George R. Blaney (born November 12, 1939) is an American former basketball player and coach. Blaney played high school basketball at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City. After playing basketball at the College of the Holy Cross during ...

from

Holy Cross Holy Cross or Saint Cross may refer to: * the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus * Christian cross, a frequently used religious symbol of Christianity * True Cross, supposed remnants of the actual cross upon which Jesus was crucified * Feast o ...

. After a one-year absence from coaching, Sullivan became the new head coach at UMBC in 1995. Over the course of his nine-year coaching career at UMBC, he compiled an overall record of 106–145, becoming the second coach in program history to amass 100 wins. He named the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), ...

Coach of the Year in 1998 after an eight-game improvement from the season before, and in 1999 was named the

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

Coach of the Year. The school had switched conferences between years, and the 1998–99 season saw the Retrievers set a league record for consecutive wins to begin a season (15) en route to the conference regular season title. Three years later, and for the first time in the program's Division I history, UMBC won 20 games in a season under Sullivan's guidance. After that season he signed a contract extension to be effective through the 2006–07 season. However, after a 7–21 year in 2003–04, Sullivan resigned. His career college head coaching record is 260–270 in 19 seasons.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Tom 1950 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Switzerland American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Centers (basketball) College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Fordham Rams men's basketball players Hunter Hawks men's basketball coaches Manhattan Jaspers men's basketball coaches New York Knicks draft picks Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball coaches Southern New Hampshire Penmen athletic directors Southern New Hampshire Penmen men's basketball coaches Basketball players from Baltimore Basketball players from the Bronx UMBC Retrievers men's basketball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen