Tim O'Shea

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Tim O'Shea

Tim O'Shea is the current head coach of the Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team.

Tim O'Shea came to Athens on March 29, 2001 and vowed to take the Ohio men's basketball program to the next level. After the 2004-2005 season marked one of the most memorable runs in school history - including a Mid-American Conference Tournament crown and a scare of Southeastern Conference champion Florida in the NCAA Tournament - Bobcat fans found out exactly what that next level is all about.

In just four years, O'Shea has become the architect of an Ohio program that has made an impact within the MAC and on a national level. O'Shea's 2004-05 Bobcats were picked to finish last in the East Division, with a young squad mired in question marks. Those questions were answered - and with good measure, a testament to O'Shea's ability to find young talent and cultivate it through the grind of a collegiate season.

Junior college transfer Mychal Green burst onto the MAC scene and picked up conference honorable mention honors. Sophomore Sonny Troutman and freshman Leon Williams joined Green on the honorable mention list, while Jeremy Fears and Williams held a place on the MAC All-Freshman team and cemented their place in the conference's next generation of impact players. Williams capped off a stellar rookie campaign by being named MAC Freshman of the Year and the MVP of the MAC Tournament.

O'Shea led his squad to non-conference wins over Duquesne, Detroit, and Butler before winning 11 of its last 15 games in the regular season to earn the No. 4 seed in the MAC Tournament. Ohio clawed its way through the conference postseason, winning the championship game before 12,000 fans and a national television audience on ESPN with a last-second tip-in to earn the program's first berth in the NCAA Tournament since 1994.

In the Big Dance, the thirteenth-seeded Bobcats overcame a 19-point deficit to tie the score with 40 seconds left in the contest, but Florida pulled away in the closing moments to advance to the second round.

O'Shea's first season on the sidelines at Ohio was highlighted by victories over DePaul and powerhouse North Carolina in Chapel Hill on national television. Then, in his second season at the helm, O'Shea led the Bobcats to a regular season victory over Virginia and a spot in the MAC Tournament semifinals and a 12-6 conference record. Following the 2002-03 season, standout forward Brandon Hunter became the first Bobcat selected in the NBA draft since 1995 when the Boston Celtics nabbed the Ohio big man in the second round. A year later, O'Shea faced the daunting task of replacing Hunter, leading sixth-man Sonny Johnson and three-point sharpshooter Steve Esterkamp.

O'Shea has tossed aside the business of replacing and has instead taken up the task of reloading. His 2004-05 freshman class was considered the best in the conference and among the best in the nation. His batch of recruits for the 2005-06 season included highly-regarded prospects as well as the much-anticipated debut of Boston College transfer Johnnie Jackson.

The players O'Shea has coached at Ohio have proven to become winners in the classroom, as well. Twelve of the 14 student-athletes who have completed their eligibility under O'Shea during their senior seasons have graduated. That includes all four members of last year's MAC Tournament champion squad.

His commitment to excellence on and off the floor is a product of the lessons he learned at several other Division I institutions. O'Shea's head coaching career began after extensive experience as an assistant in the Ivy League, Atlantic 10 and Big East.

O'Shea began his work on the bench as a graduate assistant at the University of Rhode Island and Boston College. His first full-time appointment came later that year at Yale, where he spent the next two seasons.

The next stop for O'Shea was a spot on Al Skinner's staff at Rhode Island. He spent nine seasons at URI, playing a key role in the Rams' earning two NIT and two NCAA Tournament berths. A notable recruit during this stint was current NBA star Cuttino Mobely.

In the spring of 1997, O'Shea returned to his alma mater. In four seasons at Boston College, O'Shea helped build the Eagles into the 2000-01 Big East regular-season and tournament champions. BC posted a 27-5 record and earned a No. 3 seed for the NCAA East Regional and finished with a No. 9 ranking in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) just two years after being ranked 246.

O'Shea was no stranger to success in the BC locker room. After earning All-American accolades at Wayland (Mass.) High School, O'Shea played for some of the most successful squads in Boston College history. The Eagles won two Big East regular-season titles and earned four postseason tournament berths during his career. In his four years, BC advanced twice to the NCAA Tournament's "Sweet 16" and once to the "Elite Eight".

O'Shea earned a bachelor's degree in communications with a minor in English from Boston College in 1984, then added a master's degree in counseling/psychology from BC two years later. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have a seven-year-old daughter, Madeleine.