Flannery has resigned at Bucknell

From the AM Press Conference

Posted by DAVID JONES, Of The Patriot-News April 18, 2008 10:06AM

Bucknell men's basketball coach Pat Flannery resigned today.
Bucknell president Brian Mitchell has just announced that Pat Flannery contacted him "earlier this week" and told him he wanted to retire as head men's basketball coach. Flannery will become involved in the university's $400 million fundraising drive. It appears this really was Pat's decision.

Here are some edited quotes from the press conference which concluded at 10:25 EDT:

Flannery:
"I couldn't be happier. And my family couldn't be happier. One thing you'll notice today is, I have a tie on and I'm not chasing an official. That will be something that I will very much enjoy in my next role."

"I've come to realize that I've reached a point in my life where I'm looking forward to this change [to an administrative role]. ... I'll be glad to get out of the limelight."

Regarding his health issues and missing games during the past four seasons, three times leaving contests while they were in progress, Flannery mentioned his wife Patti and boys Ryan and Jesse:
"The most important thing was my wife and my kids. I can't thank them enough...

"Your kids go to school and they're asked a lot of crazy questions. Especially when they take your dad out and you don't know where he went. They [his sons, of middle-school and grade-school age] handled it probably better than I have."

On whether his health mandated that he retire in any way or that he was forced to quit, Flannery said no, not at all:

"I have a clean bill of health. I feel great. I think if I wanted to keep going, [his doctors] I'm sure would've said, 'Go for it.'

"I think my thing was, where was it going to lead? Was I going to get any better? I haven't changed in 28 years [in coaching] from when I was a 22-year-old and now I'm 50. That was leading to a path where... we all have family and you have kids. We all evaluate."

Flannery said he told the BU players Thursday night in a previously scheduled meeting:
"There were a lot of good feelings. ... Painless memories. No regrets."

No successor has been named. BU athletics director John Hardt said a "national search" has begun.

Some facts of Flannery's career...

He earned his bachelor's degree in econ and poli-sci while playing for the Bison and graduated in 1980. He then earned a master's degree in college administration in 1983 while coaching as a grad assistant at BU.

After a successful Division III career at Lebanon Valley where he coached a national champion, Flannery was named Bucknell's head basketball coach in April 1994.

In 2005 and 2006, his teams won the Patriot League tournament championship and each year won first-round games in the NCAA tournament, the first over Kansas in Oklahoma City, the next over Arkansas in Dallas. They were the first two tournament wins for Patriot League teams in the NCAAs.

Flannery's record at Bucknell is 234-178, and his career record is 329-221. His 125 conference wins at Bucknell stand as a Patriot League record.

See Saturday's Patriot-News for an interview with Flannery.