The RamRoll

BILL COURTNEY: HOLDING COURT
By Chris Kowalczyk

Just as his career was getting off the ground, Bill Courtney missed an opportunity to be a part of  a prominent team. Something in the ACC or Big East, you ask? Nope, closer to the Big Feast, actually.

In 1995, two weeks into his first college coaching gig - a $2,000-a-year stint as an assistant at Lafayette College - Courtney was set to join the team at his local Chili’s Restaurant.

“I went out and bought tennis shoes and everything,” Courtney said jokingly.

Surely the affable Courtney would have done well waiting tables. It’s a people business, and Bill Courtney loves people. However, before he could start slinging baby back ribs, then-American Coach Chris Knocke threw Courtney a lifeline.

“Chris had a spot open at American. Fran O’Hanlon, who I worked for at Lafayette at the time said, ‘nah, you have to go.’ That was for $16,000. It wasn’t that much money, but it was a jump,” Courtney said with a chuckle.

It’s easy for the 39-year-old Courtney to look back on that experience and laugh now. In reality, it’s easy for him to laugh at many things. Ever the optimist, Courtney has earned admiration from players and coaches alike for his buoyant personality and positive attitude. It’s a strength that has lent itself well the last 14 years, and ultimately helped land him in his present location, as an assistant on Shaka Smart’s staff at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“[Bill] has an unbelievable personality,” said Smart. “He’s got an infectious charm about him, and also a disarming quality in that he can go into any situation and interact with any type of person and make them feel at ease and comfortable.”

A BASKETBALL LIFE
William Lucius Ezel Courtney is the oldest of five children to Hattie Courtney, a single mom who worked as a metro bus driver and nurses’ assistant to support her family. The Courtney’s moved six times during Bill’s childhood before settling in the Springfield area when he was 10 years old.

Despite Hattie Courtney’s struggle to provide for her family, education remained a pillar in the household. She managed to earn her bachelor’s and mater’s degrees in health services while raising her five children. She is currently working on her doctorate and continues to work in the health service industry. It’s an example that Bill Courtney was determined to follow.

“She’s my role model. She’s superwoman,” Bill said.

Growing up, Bill participated in everything from football to soccer, but basketball is what held his interest.

“It’s always been a passion of mine, ever since I could remember,” Courtney said. “I remember the first basket I made when I was six years old on a regulation hoop. I remember every team I played for. I love the game. I love people. I don’t think there’s anything else I’d rather be doing.”

When he was 15, Bill began coaching his brother’s youth teams in Springfield. It proved to be a defining experience for the elder Courtney. It was at that point Courtney says he decided to be a college basketball coach.

Courtney went on to star at Robert E. Lee High School and after his graduation in 1988, headed to Bucknell, a school known as much for its academics as its athletics. Playing point guard in Charlie Woolum’s free-wheeling system, Courtney earned All-Patriot League honors as a junior and senior, averaging more than 18 points per game.

Following his mother’s lead, Courtney received his degree in secondary education in 1992. He was inducted into Bucknell’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.

Courtney spent two seasons playing professionally in Hong Kong, as well as the United States Basketball League (USBL), but he always knew his future was in coaching.

In the meantime, Courtney met his future wife, Gina, while working out at Marymount College in Arlington, Va. At the time, Gina was a player on the women’s basketball team at Marymount. They married in 2000 and had two sons, Billy (8) and Derek (6).

PATRIOT GAMES
Following his departure from Lafayatte, Courtney spent the 1995-96 season at American, but was quickly on the move. Jim Larranaga had a spot open on his staff at Bowling Green State University and Courtney’s sunny disposition helped him land the job that would define his career.

“I think Jim was looking for something specific in his assistant coach,” Courtney said. “I think the positive energy that I had and the upbeat personality were things that he was looking for, and that’s what ended up helping me get the job, because I didn’t know Jim at all.”

Courtney spent one season at Bowling Green with Larranaga before following the coach to George Mason in 1997. Larranaga and Company were asked to rebuild a Patriots’ program that finished at the bottom of the Colonial Athletic Association in four of the previous six seasons.

After just two years, George Mason won the league’s regular season and tournament championships in 1999. The Patriots remained a perennial contender in the CAA for the next six seasons.

Despite the continued success, Courtney decided that in order to continue to grow professionally, he would have to seek out new challenges. Following the 2004-05 season, with Larranaga’s blessing he accepted a position on Tim Welsh’s staff at Providence College. The lure of the Big East proved strong.

But then something funny happened.

George Mason turned the basketball world on its ear during the 2006 NCAA Tournament, scoring a series of improbable upsets to reach the Final Four. But Courtney, one of the engineers of the greatest NCAA coups in recent memory, wasn’t on the floor for the Patriot’s magical run. However, Courtney says he never felt like an outsider, attending several of Mason’s NCAA contests, while staying in close contact with Larranaga and the George Mason players during their miraculous run.

“I truly believe I would have thrown it off somehow, had I been there,” Courtney says, only half joking. “It’s not bittersweet at all for me. It was an incredible experience and I felt like I was part of it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

HIGHS AND LOWS
The following season, Courtney accepted a position on Dave Leitao’s staff at Virginia. Courtney served under Leitao for three seasons, including the 2006-07 campaign, when the Cavaliers reached the NCAA Tournament. However, patience in the rough-and-tumble ACC can run short.

In 2008-09, Virginia found itself in the midst of a rebuilding process. The Cavaliers started three freshman, including ACC Rookie of the Year Sylven Landsberg, on the way to a 10-18 record. Leitao, who went 63-60 in four seasons, resigned March 16.

“It’s the nature of the business,” Courtney says, unflinchingly. “Sometimes you get a situation where you have a young team, a young group. We started three freshmen last year, and it’s tough to win in the ACC, even if those three freshmen are NBA players. Sometimes in the business, they’re ready to move onto the next thing and I think that’s where UVA was.”

Courtney, known for his outstanding recruiting ability, as well as his easygoing personality, wasn’t out of work long. Smart and Courtney had known each other from their years on the recruiting trails, but it was a friendship both men held with Rob Lanier, who served as an assistant at Florida and Virginia, that helped Courtney find a home in Richmond.

Despite his level of excitement, Courtney knows it’s going to be strange the first time he faces his mentor, Larranaga.

“[Jim] is always going to wish the best for me and my family,” Courtney said. “So if VCU’s the best for me and my family, he’s going to be supportive of what I do.

“At the same time, I don’t think he was happy to see me coming back to the league on the opponent’s bench,” Courtney joked.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Bill Courtney isn’t so much a basketball person as he is a people person. Sure, the championship banners and NCAA Tournaments are nice, but in the end it’s the ability to affect change in a young man’s life that registers with him.

For Bill Courtney, basketball is about guys like Antonio Daniels.

Back in 1996, Daniels was considered a solid college player at Bowling Green, but a reach as an NBA prospect. Following the untimely death of his brother Chris, Daniels poured himself into basketball. His senior season, which coincided with Courtney’s arrival to the school, Daniels averaged 24.0 points and nearly seven assists per game. That summer, he was selected fourth in the 1997 NBA Draft.

“Before his senior year he was probably the 150th-rated NBA prospect,” Courtney said. “He and I had lunch every day, and talked about everything, and to see him be chosen fourth in the NBA Draft was an incredible moment. It was absolutely fantastic to see that happen.”

For Bill Courtney, basketball is about guys like Jason Miskiri.

Barely recruited in high school, Miskiri spent two seasons at Montgomery Junior College before heading to George Mason in 1997. A 6-1 guard, Miskiri averaged 15.9 points as a junior, but was a suspect shooter. However, by his senior year he showed marked improvement. In the 1999 CAA Championship game against Old Dominion, Miskiri’s work paid off when he drilled a clutch, 25-foot 3-pointer for the Patriots with a minute remaining. George Mason held on for a 63-58 victory to win its first league championship in a decade. Miskiri later played briefly with the Charlotte Hornets.

“We had worked on his shot the whole year and his decision making, so to see him make that shot to put us in the NCAA Tournament…and later on to see him graduate from college knowing his background was incredible,” Courtney said.

It’s those experiences that make Courtney feel fortunate to be in his position.

“I could be doing a lot of other things than coaching college basketball, but I love what I do,” he said. “I love the game. I love working with young men, helping them grow, helping them through mistakes and through trials. I think I have an unbelievable job.

“When things go bad, I can always think of a lot of other things I could be doing, or other situations I could be in.”