Journey brings SFU assistant full circle

Part of the First 4

Tonight: Saint Francis vs. Alabama State, 6:40 p.m., at Dayton, Ohio

Records: Red Flash (16-17); Hornets (19-16)

The latest line: SFU is 4.5-point underdogs

TV: TRU-TV

LORETTO — Much like the road Saint Francis took to get to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, associate head coach Luke McConnell’s journey has been full of peaks, valleys and winding roads.

Those roads began at DeGol Arena when he was a child and running around the gym with his siblings while his dad, Tom McConnell, led practices as head coach of the Red Flash basketball team.

On that team was the younger McConnell’s boss, and current Saint Francis head coach, Rob Krimmel.

“My kids were as old as he was when I was a player and we remember him running around the gym and at camps and doing the things that my boys were doing, and then to see him as a seven, eight year old, and then now, as the associate head coach,” Krimmel said. “You talk about that journey that you’d like to see from your players for that four year spot. It’s been cool to see that journey go from a guy that was in camp as a young kid, and you coach his son to where he’s now the associate coach at a place where his dad was that coach. It’s a really unique and interesting journey to be able to go on this journey with him.”

For Luke, it’s been a full circle moment having looked up to Krimmel when he was a player to now, being his right-hand man on the sidelines as they prepare for their NCAA tournament opener tonight in Dayton, Ohio against Alabama State.

It’s been the craziest thing, when I was a young kid, basically like a water boy on the bench or running around the auxiliary gym, not even paying attention at times,” Luke said. “Being like a young kid who looked up to Rob as a player, to now working for him, to be someone that I consider to be a friend, and someone I really lean on in different areas of life has been a blessing.”

His journey nearly took him away from central Pennsylvania when his father took a job as an assistant coach at the University of Colorado while Luke was in high school. In stepped another former player for his father, Tom Fox who would become Luke’s legal guardian while he finished high school.

With Fox, Luke’s journey started to take him back to Saint Francis, but it wasn’t going to be for basketball. It was going to take him to DeGol Field rather than DeGol Arena.

“Luke moved in with me and my three young daughters,” Fox recalled. “Luke is one of the most loyal guys you will ever meet. And you know he went up there to play football, but basketball is in his blood.”

His decision to go to Saint Francis was thanks in large part to the belief Fox had for him and his ability to not only play football for the Red Flash, but make an impact at the university much like his father before him.

“Without his belief in me, none of this has happened,” Luke said. “The most rewarding job and experience started with his belief in me. His selflessness to even offer my dad in the first place, and then his belief in me and the relationship we have.”

Belief, after all, is one of the pillars of Krimmel’s program at Saint Francis. That belief Fox had for Luke led the young McConnell to becoming a graduate assistant for the athletic department before joining Krimmel’s staff, then a graduate assistant the following year.

“It is one of the biggest blessings of my life,” Luke said. “What he’s done for me, not only obviously my career as part of this basketball journey, but just as a person, you couldn’t ask for a better boss. Just the impact he’s had in my life has been and his belief in me has been right up there when you talk about my coaching career and how you want to model yourself as a coach, as a father, as a person, you have my dad obviously huge, huge impact on me. And then Rob is right there as well. I love working for that man.”

Luke has worked his way from graduate assistant to director of basketball operation to assistant coach and currently is the associate head coach.

It’s a dream come true for the elder McConnell who gets to watch his son live out his dreams alongside a person who means a lot to the McConnell family.

“As a father I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Tom said. “He’s at a place that he loves and we all love, and he’s doing it with somebody that we all love and have the utmost respect for, for him to be able to share this gift and passion that he has for teaching and coaching basketball with somebody like Rob, who just does it the right way. He has created a team first environment. He teaches more than basketball. He’s teaching life lessons so for Luke to have this experience, to be with Rob, is just something that’s very special for us.”

When the Red Flash hit the floor in Dayton, they will be the first team from Saint Francis to make it to the tournament since 1991. It will be a moment that is not just special for the McConnell family, but for the entire Saint Francis community.

The reality of this moment has yet to hit Luke, and maybe it will at some point, but for now, it’s a moment he’s planning on soaking in, one more guaranteed game with this team.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, will it ever? I don’t know,” McConnell said. “Just leading up to it, all the prep for this team has just been so special in the way they’ve been able to learn and go through this process together. I just absolutely love coaching this team.”

Regardless of outcome, the Red Flash have given their community something to be proud of, a team worthy of the accolades and being crowned champion, a moment 34 years in the making.

The game against Alabama State is another stop in a journey for Luke that began years ago in the same gym he is on the sidelines for each game.

“You never know where life’s gonna take you or where the journey’s going to lead around the next bend,” Tom said. “If you would have told me all those years ago in the early 90s that Luke would be here, and we would be celebrating the team going to the NCAA tournament … I don’t know if I could have wrapped my brain around that at that time, but now that it’s here, I’m enjoying every minute of it. I’m embracing it. I’m celebrating this team. They’re just so much fun to watch, so much fun.”