Patrick Sullivan (born December 15, 1971) 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, currently serving as the Director of Recruiting at his alma mater,
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 ...
. He joined the staff of former teammate
Hubert Davis
Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching career, Davis played for North Carolina from 19 ...
in April 2021, a move that was confirmed by the school that May. In his Tar Heel playing career, Sullivan was a member of three Final Four teams, including the
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...
team that won the national championship. After starting with stints at North Carolina and UNCW as an assistant, Sullivan spent the majority of his coaching career in the NBA before returning to Chapel Hill.
Playing career
Sullivan was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and was a highly recruited high school player at
Bogota High School
Bogota High School (formally known as Bogota Jr./Sr. High School) is a comprehensive public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grade from Bogota, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone seco ...
in
Bogota, New Jersey
Bogota is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 8,187,Parade Magazine''. The
small forward
The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger ...
ultimately chose to play for coach
Dean Smith
Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel H ...
at North Carolina (UNC), choosing the Tar Heels over
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 ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
Seton Hall
Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...
. Sullivan was a bench contributor and sometime starter for his most of career, and was on the floor for
Chris Webber
Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III (born March 1, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. Drafted number one overall by the Orlando Magic, though arguably best known and remembered as the star forward for the Sacramento Ki ...
’s infamous “time-out” at the end of the 1993 national championship game. He redshirted in what would have been his senior season in 1993–94 which allowed Sullivan to join the 1994–95 Tar Heels, where was able to become the first Tar Heel to play in three Final Fours since 1969.
Coaching career
In 1997, Sullivan was hired as an assistant coach at his alma mater, UNC under Bill Guthridge. He served in this role until 2000, when Guthridge retired and new coach Matt Doherty chose to bring in a new staff. Sullivan was then an assistant women's coach at UNC Wilmington for two seasons before leaving in 2003 for a video coordinator role with 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 ...
of the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
(NBA). After being a part of the staff for the NBA champion 2003–04 Detroit Pistons, Sullivan was promoted to a full assistant for the following year. Sullivan then held assistant roles with the
New Jersey Nets
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
, a repeat run with the Pistons, the
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...
and
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...
David Fizdale
David Sean Fizdale (born June 16, 1974) is an American professional basketball manager. He is currently the assistant general manager for the Utah Jazz. He previously was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, the head coach for the New ...
in 2018. After a few months on the Minnesota Timberwolves coaching staff in a development role, Sullivan was reported to join new head coach Hubert Davis' inaugural UNC staff in a player development role in April. He was officially announced as the Tar Heels' new Director of Recruiting in May 2021.