Tim O'Shea (born January 13, 1962) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach, most recently the head coach of the men's basketball team at Bryant University. He was previously the head coach at

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

Playing career

Born in

Woodbury, New Jersey Woodbury is the county seat of Gloucester County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the South Jersey region of the state.Wayland High School Wayland High School is the public high school for the town of Wayland, Massachusetts, United States. During the 2021-2022 school year, there were 831 students enrolled at the high school. Wayland High School is consistently ranked as one of the b ...

Wayland, Massachusetts Wayland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was founded in 1638, and incorporated in 1780 and was originally part of neighboring Sudbury (incorporated 1639). As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was ...

. He played college basketball at Boston College from 1980 to 1984 under

Gary Williams Gary Bruce Williams (born March 4, 1945) is an American university administrator and former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Maryland, the Ohio State University, Boston College, and American University. I ...

. During his time at BC, O'Shea and the Eagles won two Big East regular-season titles. O'Shea also earned four postseason tournament berths during his career, with BC advancing twice to the NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen and once 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 ...

. O'Shea earned a bachelor's degree in communications with a minor in English from Boston College in 1984, then added a master's degree in counseling/psychology from BC two years later.

Coaching career

Upon graduation from Boston College, O'Shea became a graduate assistant at the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...

(URI) for the 1984–85 season before returning to The Heights as a grad assistant at BC from 1985 to 1986. After a two-year stint as an assistant at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, O'Shea returned to URI, joining Al Skinner's staff, where he stayed for nine seasons. While on the Rams' staff, O'Shea was a part of two NCAA tournament bids along with two NIT bids. He is credited with recruiting

Cuttino Mobley Cuttino Rashawn Mobley (born September 1, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association from 1998 to 2008. He played college basketball for the Rhode Island Rams, earning conference p ...

among others to URI. O'Shea followed Skinner and returned to his alma mater once again after Skinner accepted the Boston College job in 1997. He remained on the staff until 2001, when he landed his first head coaching gig at Ohio, just a year after the Eagles won both the Big East regular season and tournament titles, finishing with a 27–5 record and earning three-seed in the NCAA tournament.

Ohio

In his first season in charge of the Bobcats, O'Shea guided the team to a 17–11 record, including wins over DePaul and

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 ...

. A year later, O'Shea and Ohio posted a 14–16 record, with the season highlighted by a victory over

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 ...

. Following the 2002–03 season, forward Brandon Hunter became the first Bobcat selected in the NBA draft since

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

when the Boston Celtics selected him in the second round. A year later, after losing Hunter, sixth man Sonny Johnson and three-point shooter Steve Esterkamp, the 2003–04 Bobcats slipped to a 10–20 record, but bounced back in 2004–05, posting a 21–11 record en route to the NCAA tournament. The 2004–05 Bobcats captured significant non-conference victories against

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, Butler and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, then won 11 of their last 15 contests down the stretch. O'Shea won the MAC tournament but their run ended in the first round of the NCAA tournament against

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, falling 67–62, overcoming a 20-point second-half deficit, but coming up just short. With expectations high in 2005–06, O'Shea and Ohio compiled 19 victories before falling to eventual league champion Kent State in the MAC tournament semifinals. The Bobcats registered victories at Marist,

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

and Toledo, against

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

and Samford at home, and took 18th-ranked

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

to the wire in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Ohio. From 2003 until O'Shea's departure in 2008, Ohio would have five straight winning seasons with at least 19 wins each season. O'Shea was 120–95 in eight seasons in charge.

Bryant

O'Shea returned to his New England roots when he signed an eight-year contract to take over the head coaching duties at Bryant as the school transitioned to a full Division I member of the

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

. The Bulldogs broke through in the Bulldogs' first season of full Division I eligibility in 2012–13, winning 19 games and hosting a game in the

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI s ...

. Bryant went 16–15 the following season with an NEC semifinal appearance, but the Bulldogs failed to make the NEC tournament in two of O'Shea's final three seasons at the helm, including an injury-plagued 2017–18 campaign in which Bryant's four leading scorers made a total of four starts together, all in the month of November. On February 12, 2018, O'Shea announced his retirement from Bryant, effectively at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Ohio profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshea, Tim 1962 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New Jersey Basketball players from New Jersey Boston College Eagles men's basketball coaches Boston College Eagles men's basketball players Bryant Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Ohio Bobcats men's basketball coaches Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Rhode Island Rams men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Woodbury, New Jersey Yale Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Wayland High School alumni