Joe Mihalich: The jacket, the zone, the winning culture
As a cold breeze whisked through the Hofstra campus on Friday, March 19, the Hofstra community received news that made the breeze even more chilling. Although Hofstra missed out on the tournament this year, the Pride made headlines when the athletics department announced that men’s basketball head coach Joe Mihalich will transition into a new role as a special advisor to the athletic director. The Mihalich era has ended.
Mihalich, who did not coach this season due to medical leave, served seven full seasons as head coach, taking the Pride out of dark times to a championship-caliber program.
“Coach Mihalich has been an incredible leader, educator, and steward of our men's basketball program over the past eight years," said Hofstra Vice President and Director of Athletics Rick Cole Jr. "His leadership from day one has allowed our program to experience tremendous levels of success, both on and off the court.”
When Mihalich took over the Pride, the program was coming off a 7-25 season in 2012-13 and saw the team rebuild and take the three-game win improvement in his first season. His second season saw the Pride go 20-14, the first of back-to-back 20-win seasons for Mihalich. The Pride earned their first postseason invite at the College Basketball Invitational where they fell to the University of Vermont in the opening round.
The Pride went 24-10 the following season and took down their first Power-5 school in the Mihalich era, defeating Florida State University while also finishing 14-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and earning a share of the CAA regular season title.
The Pride went on the CAA championship game before falling in overtime to UNC-Wilmington. Hofstra received an invite to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) where the Pride fell to George Washington University in the opening round.
The Pride went 15-17 and 19-12 the next two seasons before emerging as a conference powerhouse during the 2018-2019 season.
After starting the 2018-19 season at 3-3 following an overtime loss at Virginia Commonwealth University, the Pride embarked on a 16-game win streak and a stretch of 19 wins in 20 games. The Pride set a school record with 27 wins during the season and won the first outright regular season title since the 2000-01 season. The Pride advanced to their second CAA Championship game under Mihalich where they fell to Northeastern University. The Pride also earned an automatic berth to the NIT where they fell to North Carolina State University in the opening round.
The 2019-2020 season, and Mihalich’s last season, saw the Pride break through with a 26-8 record (14-4 CAA) and capture a second consecutive outright regular season title. Hofstra also earned another Power-5 win, this time at Pauley Pavilion over UCLA. The Pride took a stretch of winning nine of 10 games into the CAA tournament and defeated Drexel University and the University of Delaware to set up a rematch against Northeastern in the title game.
This time, the Pride would not be denied as they took down the Huskies, earning the program’s first CAA Championship and first conference title and NCAA Tournament berth in 19 years. The magical moment was quickly disassembled as the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mihalich’s final win with the Pride will forever be remembered.
"I always said to my sons and my teams 'END ON A MAKE'... and that's what I did. I love Hofstra University and the entire Pride family. Having that championship moment in 2020 is something I, and the entire Hofstra family, will never forget,” Mihalich said in a press release. “I am thankful for all of the student-athletes that I have coached and the staff members that were with me over the past eight years. I look forward to serving the Hofstra Pride in a new role and seeing our programs continue to flourish."
Mihalich went 141-92 at Hofstra and has over 400 wins in his career between the Pride and Niagara University. In his 15 years as head coach at Niagara, Mihalich earned five postseason appearances including two NCAA Tournament berths, winning a play-in game in 2007. Niagara also made the NIT three times.
Mihalich had four 20-win seasons with the Pride and was named the 2018-19 CAA Coach of the Year, the first coach at Hofstra to take home the award since joining the CAA in 2001-02. Mihalich has also had three players take home the CAA Player of the Year honor.
This season, Mike Farrelly served as the acting head coach for the Pride and worked to carry out Mihalich’s winning mentality. During the CAA Tournament, the Pride rested Mihalich’s sport coat jacket, the same one he wore in the quarterfinals a year earlier, on his seat on the sidelines. After a Pride loss in the semifinals, Farrelly was especially emotional when talking about his longtime friend and mentor.
“Coach [Mihalich] lived for this week, that final preparation whether we were the number one seed or the 10th seed. It was his time. It was the postseason and when he ramped it up and he was at his best,” Farrelly said. “[I’m] playing in his honor and trying to do my best coaching his team. He’s the reason our program is this you know he was the guy who set the culture and carried it along and made this a championship-level program so to try and carry that on for him was important to me and couldn’t pull the troops through tonight. I hope he’s proud.”
Farrelly will continue to serve as acting head coach as Hofstra conducts a national search for the next Pride head coach.
From the first win of his career at Niagara against the University of Buffalo in 1998 to his final game and win for Hofstra in the CAA championship against Northeastern, Joseph Mihalich will be remembered for bringing a winning culture on the court.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
