PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Jim Connolly is in his third year as the head women's basketball coach at Division II Chestnut Hill College.
In a short time, he has turned the Griffins into one of the top teams in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. His coaching career follows his playing days where he starred at Jefferson University, scoring more than 1,500 career points for Hall of Fame coach Herb Magee.
Connolly talked about his life in basketball on the KYW Newsradio original podcast "1-on-1 with Matt Leon," covering his success as a head coach and his days at Jefferson learning under Magee. You can listen to the entire episode above. The following is a lightly edited excerpt from the conversation.
Matt Leon: What was it like to play for Herb Magee?
Jim Connolly: It was awesome.
You know, I've learned so much from him from playing for him for four years and things that I've learned now that I still use now that I'm a head coach. So ... playing for a Hall of Famer, no real complaints, especially being able to play, you know, almost 40 minutes a game. He always had confidence in me to shoot the ball.
So I loved it, all four years. He's won almost 1,200 games. He knows how to win and that's why, in the recruiting process when [Philadelphia University, now Jefferson University] came along, you know, I was pretty excited and it was kind of a no-brainer.
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You mentioned playing 40 minutes a game and that's one of the things Herb Magee's known for. He pretty much, for the most part, has his guys and he lets you play through rough periods. He accelerates when you're going good, but he keeps you out there.
Just from a playing standpoint, that is so unusual in basketball today, to just basically have a coach that that goes to work with with his starting five.
But what was it like to kind of not have to look over your shoulder if you miss two or three threes in a row or throw a ball away, stuff like that? I would just guess that has to do so much for your confidence.
Yeah, absolutely. I think my freshman year, for the beginning of the year when I wasn't really in a rotation, you know, they would put me in. I would get in at times and you know, I'd miss two shots and come right back out. Then once I got in the starting lineup, started playing well, you know, you missed two or three shots in a row and you know, you're not coming out. So it definitely, really boosts your confidence.
There's games where you shoot one for 10 from three, but you're not coming out of the game because Coach Magee has that confidence in you. You just got to keep shooting the ball.
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And he knows, you know, he always had the confidence that you were going to shoot your way out of any slump that you had. Even if that slump was two or three games long, he was still putting you in for 35 to 40 minutes a game and then, same time, you get hot for a few games.
So it definitely helps your confidence knowing you don't have to worry. You missed three shots, and then you start thinking about, "I can't shoot the next one, I might get taken out." So like you said, Coach Magee's coaching style, it's worked for him. But it definitely helps your confidence knowing that you don't have to look over your shoulder, about coming out for one or two mistakes.
We talked about that freshman year NCAA Tournament run. You went to the NCAA Tournament again, I think, your junior year. You guys go deep into the CACC conference tournament, you scored more than 1,500 points at Jefferson.
Are there any moments that when you think about your college basketball career that come flooding back that we haven't talked about? Any other games, or even practices or things that just will always stick with you?
I think definitely my freshman year, the year that we always talk about whenever I meet up with old teammates. There's just something special about playing NCAA Tournament games, and not only just playing in them, but winning them. So my freshman year, you know, the only two NCAA Tournament games we won in my four years. We win on back to back days and get to the regional final. Lost to a very good Bentley squad.
I think that week stretch of being in the NCAA Tournament, getting to the regional finals, is definitely the number one memory that me and my old teammates always talk about, like how much fun that was, how exciting it was. And we were that close to making an Elite Eight.
For more "1-on-1 with Matt Leon," subscribe on the Audacy app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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