The Patrick Callahan Story: Starting from Zero

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The first few weeks after Patrick lost his grandmother, he went to daily Mass on campus and showed up a few times a week to a rosary group for coaches in the staff lounge. They were profound experiences. His grandmother felt close. God felt real. His life felt centered.

But as basketball season peaked and Patrick’s team surged in the standings in late January and February, his Mass and rosary group attendance became much more sporadic. It bothered him at first. Then it became easier and easier to do something other than head to the chapel or thumb his rosary beads.

As long as he went to Sunday Mass – an obligation for all Catholics – he would be OK, right? That’s what he told himself. He didn’t have to go every day after all. He was a busy man, with important things to do.

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Stonehill ran with St. Francis for a half, trailing 49-45 and feeling good heading into the locker room. But the dream of spoiling senior day for the Red Flash ended once play resumed. St. Francis cruised home 96-77.

Despite the improved play of interior players during the back half of the season, Stonehill was no match for the Red Flash in the paint. St. Francis certainly cemented itself as the class of the NEC.

But Stonehill, with a surprising 19-10 overall record, had made its presence known over the course of the winter too, claiming the No. 3 seed for the upcoming conference tournament. NXT Hoops magazine couldn’t claim this was a zero-prestige school any more, could they?

On the bus trip home from St. Francis, Patrick Callahan kept pumping up his players with this one thought: they had proved they could play with anyone in the league. They could win the conference tournament the next week and steal an NCAA berth.

“The Big Dance, fellas. The Big-Freaking-Dance!”

He really believed it. And fell asleep that night with visions of hearing the name “Stonehill Skyhawks!” called on Selection Sunday while TV cameras showed his players celebrating wildly at the campus watch party.

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No movement on the recruiting front. Patrick was hamstrung by the lack of a recruiting budget. He hadn’t spent his resources well earlier in the cycle. Imagine trying to fill 3-4 more spots at this point. Yikes.

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They don’t call it March Madness for nothing. The quarterfinal round of the Northeast Conference tournament was pure mayhem. Only fourth-seeded Central Connecticut survived the gauntlet among the higher seeds with home-court advantage.

Eighth-place Wagner stunned regular season champ St. Francis, jumping to a 52-35 first-half lead and then holding off a furious rally for an 83-79 triumph. A shame. The shocking result likely knocked St. Francis out of the NCAAs altogether. They could have made noise as the 13th, 14th or 15th seed.

Second-seeded Long Island also went down, losing 83-65 to No. 7 Fairleigh Dickinson. Long Island’s early 13-point lead evaporated, and the Sharks became minnows.

Alas, add Stonehill to the upset mix. The Skyhawks scored 86 points but the lack of defensive acumen resulted in a nine-point defeat to Sacred Heart. You just can’t fall behind by 22 points in the first 15 minutes and hope to have a chance.

Now, Patrick had to wonder if any of the lesser postseason tournaments would be interested in an upstart program from Easton, Mass. Probably not. They were zero prestige, remember?

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Patrick and a handful of his players watched the NCAA selection show together on campus. They saw Sacred Heart as the very first team announced, at 16-16 and tournament champions of the Northeast Conference.

The Pioneers were slated for the First Four in Dayton, facing Southern Indiana, another conference tourney upset winner. Whoever won that matchup would draw top-ranked and top-seeded North Carolina (32-2) in the round of 64.

“That should have been us,” Callahan kept muttering under his breath. “That could have been and should have been us.”

St. Francis didn’t make the field of 68. Being a one-bid league can be cruel.

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Patrick Callahan had mentally moved into off-season mode after the Selection Show. But his athletic director was waiting in his office for him early Monday morning.

“I pulled some strings. Called in some favors. I got us into the CollegeInsider Tournament! You’ve got a game to prepare for. And a championship to go win.”

The CIT was the fourth out of four postseason events. It featured 32 teams, grouped into four regions of eight. Stonehill garnered the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region. The Skyhawks’ first opponent would be seventh-seeded Tennessee State – at HOME!

The winner would get either Memphis or Robert Morris.

OK, so it wasn’t the Big Dance. More like a middle school prom. But it was a dance! And Patrick Callahan was pumped, especially to play in Merkert Gymnasium in front of the home fans at least one more time.

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Growing up in North Carolina, Patrick Callahan heard plenty of stories about Jim Valvano and NC State’s magical run to the 1983 NCAA championship. Survive and advance.

Stonehill did just that in its CIT opener. But it was more like Thrive and Advance. The Skyhawks had the Merk jumping from the opening tip and rolled to a 93-74 win over visiting Tennessee State.

Stonehill swished more three-pointers (12) than free throws (9). Ramsey Henderson dropped in 20 points. Point guard Tim Strong added 18, while Will Lucas pumped in another 17. Callahan got everyone into the game, even the walk-ons. It was a fun night.

This was Strong’s best game in a while. Aside from a breakout against Long Island, he had been sluggish through much of the conference campaign. So, Callahan lit a fire under him by giving backup Charlie “Crabby” King some of Strong’s minutes at the point.

This move didn’t sit well with Strong at all, and he took out his frustrations on Tennessee State. Strong buried a trio of three-pointers and made 6-of-7 shots from the field. King, who had been a pill all season – let’s be honest, no one on the team liked him – served his purpose. He even cracked a smile in the locker room afterward.

The pleasing night gave Callahan something he desperately wanted, a 20th win for the season - and his resume. That’s quite a benchmark for a brand new college basketball coach – with only a few years of high school experience – taking over a program no one had ever heard of.

Next up for Stonehill: the mighty Memphis Tigers.

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Mighty Memphis indeed. Stonehill might have been the higher seed for this second round CIT showdown. And the Skyhawks might have had home court advantage. But Patrick Callahan’s group was no match for the run-and-gun Tigers.

Stonehill had beaten Northwestern and Virginia Tech earlier in the season but got run out of its own gym by Memphis 97-73. Everybody struggled. Shots weren’t following. Memphis guards Steve Houston and Kenny Bergman rained down threes for the visitors. The Merk had that eerie silence much of the night, with the only cheers coming from right behind the Memphis bench - the handful of fans and family members who had made the trip to Easton, Mass.

It was an ugly end to what otherwise was a solid first season of coaching college basketball for Patrick Callahan.

Final tally: Stonehill College 20 wins, 12 losses. One post-season victory. Not bad. The AD who had hired Callahan and just told him not to finish last in the conference could finally relax. He had met expectations.

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It was about four hours before the NCAA championship game between UNC and Florida. Patrick Callahan sat at a desk at his modest home in Easton, Mass., staring at a spreadsheet featuring his program’s recruiting budget. The account was literally down to pennies.

If the recruiting process drew out any more, he wouldn’t have any way to entice players. It was panic time.

Callahan’s phone buzzed. He assumed it was one of his assistant coaches. They were all heading out to a local dive in a bit to watch the game and cheer on the Tar Heels – and share dreams of one day being on the bench for such a monumental contest.

The text, though, wasn’t from an assistant coach. It was from high school point guard prospect Isiah Denson.

“Who are you rooting for tonight?” Denson wrote.

“Mostly, I’m rooting for you to come be our next star point guard at Stonehill and get us into the dance,” Callahan texted back.

“Let’s go!” Denson replied back.

And he meant it. That night, as the Tar Heels were cutting down the nets as 2024 national champs, Denson was posting about his commitment to Stonehill College on social media. “I’m home! Go Hawks!”

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Patrick Callahan slept late the next morning and found a message awaiting on his phone when he finally rolled out of bed close to noon. It was his agent.

Boston College was reaching out to gauge Patrick’s interest in being the lead assistant for the Eagles in 2024-25.

Patrick Callahan in the ACC.

That had a great ring to it. He hadn’t even considered a job move this off-season (just as he hadn’t even considered being a college coach at all the year before).

This was a big deal. He was starting to learn the state and the region. It would be a huge leap for his career. He'd be in a power conference ... But he wouldn’t be the head man. Patrick liked being in charge.

He had a lot to think about...