George Washington University Men’s Basketball Coach Has History in Central New York

Before the George Washington University Colonials take the court against Memphis in the NCAA tournament, it's a pretty good bet that Colonials head coach Mike Lonergan will be thinking about the late, great coach at Colgate University, Jack Bruen. Before Lonergan embarked on a very successful head coaching career, he was an assistant at Colgate under Jack.

Bruen, who passed away in 1997 as a result of pancreatic cancer, had quite a history with Lonergan. He was head coach at Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, leaving before Lonergan's junior year, and then was his head coach at Catholic University before giving him his coaching start.

In an article a couple of years ago, Coach Lonergan spoke of what Bruen meant to him and his family and the influence Jack has had on his coaching career. To say Lonergan has been successful would, perhaps, be an understatement. He coached the University of Vermont Catamounts for 6 seasons where he averaged 21 wins a year and guided them to 4 post season appearances. This was after taking Catholic University to 9 D-3 NCAA tournaments.  His first year at George Washington, the Colonials were 10-21. This year they are 24-7 and a 9 seed.

Though he was only at Colgate for three years, all of us who had the opportunity to work with and meet Mike Lonergan are certainly happy to see how far he has come since his days at Cotterell Court, and I'm sure we will all be rooting for the Colonials. Unless, of course, they play Syracuse, which could happen in the quarterfinals..............if the Orange make it that far.