Winners Win

By: Alex Mielcarz Staff Writer

The University of St. Francis (USF) Women’s Basketball program is used to winning. They’ve advanced into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national tournament in each of their last 6 seasons, including a trip to the sweet 16 last year. With the head coaching position being open after the resignation of Steve Brooks, the Saints needed to find someone who could continue the winning ways of the program.

In July of 2021, John McGinty became the new head coach for Women’s Basketball. He is a young journeyman from Evergreen Park who has coached at every level possible and has posted impressive numbers along the way. His first job was as an assistant coach at Lewis University, where he was a part of a 31-3 season that took the team to an Elite Eight at the Division II level. He then traveled to Northern Illinois University (NIU), where he was the offensive coordinator underneath Lisa Carlsen. McGinty’s offense was the 5th best in the nation in 2016-17, posting an impressive 85.1 points per game.

McGinty has also spent time in the NAIA. He was the head coach at the University of Northwestern Ohio, where he posted the best winning percentage in the last three years of the program. Last season, McGinty served as an assistant at Loyola University Chicago.

McGinty is no stranger to winning, and he plans to continue the winning ways established in the women’s basketball program. “It’s always fun when you walk into a program that’s had a lot of talent,” McGinty said. “I think that goes along with a little bit of pressure.” McGinty credits his past jobs and his personal values for landing him the position.

“I grew up Catholic [and] went to Catholic school,” McGinty said. “I’ve had experience at the highest level. When you sit in that seat... you get to learn quite a few things.”

McGinty has a long history of love for the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC). This job was the perfect opportunity to come back to his roots. “I grew up watching the CCAC,” McGinty said. “A lot of teams in this conference have had success at the national level. I think it’s one of the best if not the best [conferences] in the Midwest.”

McGinty is ready to usher in a new era of Saints basketball and introduce the fans to a more modern, faster pace type of play that he learned while under Carlsen at both Lewis and NIU. “[Carlsen] wanted to play fast all the time,” McGinty said about his former boss. “We took a team that averaged 55 points a game, installed our system...and averaged 85 points a game. I think it’s fun to play, fun to watch and it’s [a way] to show off women's basketball.”

This system is much different from what the women played last year, and McGinty is very aware of that.

“It is different than they’re used to,” McGinty admitted. “They were very defensive minded [and] they were going to control possession and get the best shot, and they were a heck of a team doing that with 20 plus wins each year. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel, but we are going to implement a little bit of a different philosophy.”

The players are ecstatic about the new style of play. USF Senior Forward Jordan Pyle admits it’s been an adjustment, but thinks that McGinty’s style will benefit the team.

"I love to push the ball,” Pyle said. “It gives us an edge to have such a different coaching style [this year].”

Being a coach at this level goes way beyond team performance. McGinty cares just as much about his players off the floor, as he does on it.

“I’m huge on meetings,” McGinty said. “I’m group messaging quite a bit about basketball, non-basketball, academics, whatever. We have team meetings, individual meetings, academic meetings and transition meetings.”

McGinty makes sure his players are on the same page with him. When it comes to how he wants them to carry themselves on the floor, in the classroom, and out in the world.

“We want to represent women’s basketball, we want to represent the university the right way,” McGinty said. “In everything we do, we’re talking about those core values.”

McGinty’s playing and coaching styles all come back to one thing: Winning basketball games.

“At the end of the day though, the bottom line is we have to win basketball games,” McGinty said. “If that means we need to slow down for different opponents, we’ll try and do that. We’re going to play to our strengths.” Coach McGinty can’t wait to put on a show in the Pat Sullivan Rec Center. He wants everyone to come out and see what he and his squad can do.

“This is a great group. They’re super skilled, fun to watch and super athletic,” McGinty said. “If you take an opportunity to watch us play, I think you’ll get addicted and want to come back. Come give us a chance, and see how fun the style will be, and see how talented these young women are.”

The Saints open the season October 29 against the Eagles of Judson University.

Coach John McGinty