William Michael Curley (born May 29, 1972) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Emerson Lions men's basketball team. Curley has two brothers and one sister, with both brothers, Matty and Mickey, having played professional basketball overseas.

High school/college career

A 6'9"

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

with a reputation for being a solid outside shooter in spite of his size, Curley led his Duxbury High School Green Dragons basketball team to a

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

State Championship in 1989. He was selected as a

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger s ...

in 1990, and was one of the most highly recruited, sought after by Notre Dame,

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

, Villanova,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

and the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

. He accepted a scholarship offer from the Boston College Eagles. There, Curley led a renaissance of the school's basketball program. He was the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

Rookie of the Year in 1991, and was twice selected as a first team All-Big East player. A four-time team MVP, Curley was the team leader on the 1994 squad which advanced to the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...

of the NCAA basketball tournament. In 1994, he received the BC "Eagle of the Year" award as the school's top athlete (subsequently inducted into the Boston College Hall of Fame on November 12, 2006). His college coach, Jim O'Brien called him "...one of the best players ever at Boston College."

NBA career

Selected by the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

in the first round (22nd overall) of the

1994 NBA Draft The 1994 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1994, at Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Two NBA rookies of the year were picked in the first round, as Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were co-winners of the award for the 1994–95 NBA season. Kidd and Hill ...

, Curley played in five NBA seasons, for five different teams: the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks. His professional career was blighted with injuries, and he missed the entire schedule from 1995–97, playing a maximum of 53

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

contests, in his rookie year. Upon retiring, with averages of 2.7 points in two

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, in only 147 games, Curley settled with his wife and three children in his hometown of

Duxbury, Massachusetts Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 20 ...

, running summer basketball camps.

Coaching career

In 2011, he became an assistant at Emerson College in Boston under his Boston College coach Jim O'Brien. Upon O'Brien's retirement in 2014, Curley was named interim head coach of the Lions. In 2019, he led Emerson to its first NEWMAC championship and its first NCAA tournament appearance.

References

External links

Emerson coaching bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curley, Bill 1972 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Massachusetts Basketball players from Massachusetts Boston College Eagles men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Dallas Mavericks players Detroit Pistons players Emerson Lions men's basketball coaches Golden State Warriors players Houston Rockets players McDonald's High School All-Americans Minnesota Timberwolves players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Duxbury, Massachusetts Power forwards (basketball) San Antonio Spurs draft picks Sportspeople from Plymouth County, Massachusetts Duxbury High School alumni