COLLEGE BASKETBALL
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Bucknell coach Flannery announces retirement
Lewisburg, PA (Sports Network) - Bucknell announced Friday that men's basketball head coach Pat Flannery has decided to retire, effective July 1, 2008.
Flannery, head coach at Bucknell since 1994, will assume a new fundraising position within the university. The 1980 Bucknell graduate, who also earned his master's in Lewisburg, went 234-178 at Bucknell, leading the Bison to two Patriot League titles and two NCAA Tournament wins.
"It has been an honor and a privilege to have had the opportunity to coach outstanding young scholar-athletes here at my alma mater for 14 years," Flannery said. "I am grateful to my wife and children for the support they have given me throughout this time, and the understanding they have shown for the long hours and extensive travel that being a head coach at this level requires."
Flannery's 125 conference wins at Bucknell are a Patriot League record, and he is second on the all-time wins list at the school, behind only his former coach, Charlie Woollum (318). His 2004-05 squad went 24-9, and upended third- seeded Kansas in the first round of the NCAA tourney. The next year the Bison went 27-5 -- a school-record for wins - and became the first team in Patriot League history to go 14-0 in the conference. That season was capped by earning a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the best in school history, and another first-round win, over Arkansas.
Flannery missed two games this past season due to an unspecified illness, but was cleared to return to the bench on Feb. 8th. He was also absent for five games during the 2004-05 season with what were later diagnosed as stress- related symptoms.
"Coach Flannery's decision to retire as head coach is a tremendous loss to our basketball program," said Bucknell president Brian Mitchell. "At the same time, the national respect he has earned as a coach, as a leader, and as an alumnus of the University will be an extraordinary asset to his alma mater."
04/18 11:22:09 ET