SXU Basketball's Tom O'Malley Retiring After 55 Years Of Coaching

CHICAGO (MT. GREENWOOD) — Wednesday night, Feb. 19, at Saint Xavier University's Shannon Center will mark the end of an era at the school as longtime SXU men's basketball Head Coach Tom O'Malley will lead the Cougars in his final regular season home game after 23 seasons at the school. If the Cougars win the game against the University of Saint Francis, O'Malley will get his 1,000th career basketball coaching victory in his final home game.

Earlier this year, O'Malley announced he will be retiring at the end of the season to spend more time with his family. His coaching career will end after 55 consecutive years serving as a head coach at either the high school or college level.

"It's tough to pick out a particular moment, or a particular player who has stuck out over the years because it's dissenting to others," O'Malley said. "But the whole quest of my career I've been involved with great kids. I've also been very fortunate to have worked with great people and have been given good enough help."

O'Malley came to SXU in 1997 and has since become the school's all-time winningest men's basketball coach. But he had already amassed a highly successful coaching career at the high school level before then.

O'Malley became a head coach in 1965, at his alma mater Leo High School, and coached there for nine years after two seasons of being an assistant for the Lions. After Leo, he held successful stints at Reavis (1974-1983) and Evergreen Park (1983-1997) high schools.

"I was close to retiring age at Evergreen Park," O'Malley said when "a nice job opportunity" opened up less than a mile away at SXU.

"A friend of mine was an assistant (at SXU) and called me up to see if I'd be interested," the longtime coach remembers. "I interviewed for the job, the people I interviewed with were cooperative and I was fortunate to already get a few recruits so I was happy about that."

What followed was 23 years of success at the college level. O'Malley's SXU Cougar teams won more than 500 games, seven CCAC conference championships and several NAIA National Tournament games in his tenure.

The team was ranked as high as No. 2 in the entire nation at one point and in 2005 reached the NAIA Division I Elite Eight. On four separate occasions, the O'Malley-led Cougars notched 30 wins in a season.

"We also won at least 20 games 12 other times, so we've been pretty proficient the whole time," he said.

But even more important than the success on the hardwood, O'Malley said, is the high numbers when it comes to GPA and graduation rates.

"The basis of going to college is to get an education and prepare for the future," the coach said. "I'm proud of the fact that I've been told of no tales of problems with any players after graduating from here and that in the last decade we've been able to raise our average GPA.

"The focus for me has always been to get good students and good athletes who become good people."

In retirement, O'Malley plans to spend more time with his family. That includes his wife of 54 years, Carol, three adult children and 13 grandkids.

"I'm so entirely thankful to my wife," O'Malley said. "A coach's wife realizes more than anyone the sacrifices that go into this. I want my family to know they are uppermost in my mind and want to make up the time I've spent coaching to my wife."

"My life has been a success due to a great wife, family, and friends, and I hope to continue to help others during my retirement years."

A Career Celebration

O'Malley will be recognized at a reception at the Shannon Center after his final home game, which is set to begin at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19 against the University of Saint Francis.

The game takes on additional significance as O'Malley is sitting at 999 total career wins when combining victories at Leo, Reavis, Evergreen Park and SXU. A Cougar win over the Saints Wednesday night would mean the coach gets his 1,000th career victory in his final home game.

He will then be inducted into the Saint Xavier Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the 2020 class during a ceremony on April 18.