Joey Flannery is back home.
Flannery – who led Babson to the Division 3 national championship in 2017, its first in program history – returned to his alma mater this summer as the associate head coach alongside longtime head coach Stephen Brennan.
Soon after his legendary career at Babson – where he became the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,620 points and was named the Division 3 Player of the Year as a senior – Flannery embarked on a coaching career. Through a connection, Flannery joined Basketball Hall of Famer Jay Wright’s staff at Villanova as a graduate manager in 2018 and worked his way up to become the director of basketball operations the last two seasons.
Flannery spent six seasons with the Wildcats, helping them capture three Big East regular season championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a run to the Final Four in 2022. When Matt Droney, his close friend and former Babson teammate, left his post this summer as Babson’s associate head coach to become the head coach at Dexter Southfield, Flannery returned as the ideal replacement.
As he prepares for Babson’s season, which begins Nov. 9 at NYU, Flannery joined the HoopWise podcast to discuss his return and what the transition has been like. He also talked about his experience at Villanova, the lessons he learned from Wright and reflected on his Babson playing days and brief professional career.
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Highlights
What has the transition been like at Babson and reuniting with head coach Stephen Brennan?
Flannery: “It’s funny. It’s kind of a full circle moment in the sense of Coach Brennan and I going way back to I guess about 2012 when he started recruiting me and became obviously my coach and a mentor to me, dear friend, and now of course my boss and someone I’m really excited to be teaming up with again and working for. We’ve clicked like I think we expected, but certainly the Division 3 landscape has changed, the transfer portal has trickled down a little bit, some of the rules have changed. They now allow some extra practices in the fall and the spring that didn’t exist when I played. Some minor tweaks and changes, but for the most part it’s been amazing to see kind of the brotherhood and commitment that all the alums and supporters have had over the years, maintained over the last seven years. … Really excited, and it’s just been amazing to see the strength of the Babson brotherhood remain and continue to grow.”
What was the experience like working with Jay Wright at Villanova?
Flannery: “I learned so much from him. What immediately stuck out was the attention to detail and just the high character that he had and how he treated everyone in the program, from manager to the best player to grad assistant to assistant coach. So, that was incredible and just amazing to work for and learn from and (he) made it really not a job to wake up and give all you had and late nights, like it was really enjoyable and just something that was so special to be around and be a part of and be able to contribute in any way. But I think the attention to detail really speaks to me and what I believe I took from him and the program the most, but at the end of the day, he’s a great person. There are great people there and that’s what they did. They brought in other great people, so it was amazing to be around that for six years and four with Coach Wright.”
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The HoopWise podcast can be streamed here and on major platforms, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
