Having just concluded his seventh season at the helm of the Hofstra men’s basketball program in 2019-20, Joe Mihalich has engineered a strong resurgence of the Pride during his tenure. Mihalich has already captured 141 wins while at Hofstra and has averaged more than 22 victories per season over the past five years. In his seven seasons at Hofstra, Mihalich has posted four 20-win seasons, led the Pride to three regular season Colonial Athletic Association titles, earned four postseason appearances, and captured the 2019-20 CAA title for the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2001.
The 2019-20 season saw Hofstra have another magical year as the Pride won 26 games and captured its second straight outright CAA regular season title. Hofstra would go on to win the CAA championship and earn the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2001. The Pride became only the sixth team in conference history (since 1982-83) to win back-to-back outright conference regular season titles. In addition, four student-athletes were recognized by the CAA on their postseason all-conference teams. For his strong work during the 2019-20 campaign, Mihalich was named a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award, presented presented annually to the top mid-major coach in Division I college basketball, and for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year award.
Hofstra set a school record with 27 victories during the 2018-19 season and earned its first outright regular season conference title since the 2000-01 season. The Pride advanced to the CAA Championship Game and the regular season title earned Hofstra an automatic berth in the National Invitation Tournament.
During the incredible 2018-19 season, Hofstra had a spectacular 16-game win streak along the way. He was named the CAA Coach of the Year for his efforts, becoming the first Hofstra coach to earn that honor since the Pride joined the CAA in 2001-02.
He also earned a slew of other coaching accolades as he was named the United States Basketball Writers Association District II Coach of the Year, the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 10 Coach of the Year and a finalist for the College Insider’s Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award and the Hugh Durham Coach of the Year Award. Prior to the year he added to his awards as he was inducted into the Niagara Falls Sports Hall of Fame.
In seven seasons at Hofstra, Mihalich has engineered a masterful revitalization of the Pride basketball program as he took over a program coming off a seven-win campaign and in only three years took the team to back-to-back 20-win campaigns and consecutive postseason appearances. The 2015-16 team went 24-10, winning the regular season CAA title and advancing to the NIT for the first time since 2007. In total, Mihalich has taken the Pride to postseason play four times during his tenure, including a pair of NIT appearances.
Mihalich’s strong ability to recruit talented student-athletes has seen Hofstra capture three CAA Player of the Year awards during his seven years in Hempstead as Juan’ya Green won it in 2015-16 and Justin Wright-Foreman captured the award in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Four different players earned postseason honors from the CAA in 2018-19 as in addition to Wright-Foreman’s Player of the Year honor, Desure Buie was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and Wright-Foreman, Buie, Eli Pemberton and Jacquil Taylor all were recognized on various All-CAA teams.
Mihalich would see Wright-Foreman’s incredible career be rewarded as he was selected by the Utah Jazz in the 2019 NBA Draft.
In addition, his attention to detail as it relates to the academic welfare of the student-athlete has seen the men's basketball program earn the NCAA APR Public Recognition Award for having a multi-year APR in the top 10 percent of all men’s basketball programs nationally.
The 2017-18 campaign saw Hofstra win 19 games as Wright-Foreman and Rokas Gustys rewrote the record books. While Wright-Foreman was picking a multitude of awards as the season progressed, Gustys became the program’s all-time leader in rebounds at the NCAA Division I level and finished second all-time in the CAA. He also scored nearly 1,200 points during his spectacular career. Both Wright-Foreman and Gustys received postseason honors from the conference and Jalen Ray was also recognized on the CAA All-Rookie Team.
Mihalich guided the Pride to 15 wins during the 2016-17 season and saw four players earn honors from the CAA. The breakout year of Wright-Foreman garnered him All-CAA First Team accolades, while Eli Pemberton picked up CAA All-Rookie Team honors after a strong first season in a Hofstra uniform.
In 2015-16, he had a trio of players earn all-conference honors, including senior Green being named the CAA Player of the Year. Gustys was also named to the first team, while forward Ameen Tanksley picked up second team accolades. With Green and Gustys on the first team, it marks the first time since 2007 that Hofstra has had a pair of teammates on the All-CAA first team.
The 2014-15 season saw Mihalich guide Hofstra to a 20-win season and the program's first postseason berth since the 2010-11 season. The high-scoring Pride advanced to the CAA semifinals where they dropped an epic double-overtime contest to William & Mary. The program garnered a slew of awards as well as Green (first team) and Ameen Tanksley (second team) picked up All-CAA accolades. Both student-athletes were also named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District Teams with Green being a first team honoree and Tanksley earning second team accolades. Green was also a second team All-Met selection. Another player Coach Mihalich brought to Hofstra, Dion Nesmith, followed up his first season at Hofstra with another strong year and was a CAA All-Academic selection and was chosen for the Division I-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team.
During his first season at Hofstra, Mihalich led the Pride to 10 wins and saw Zeke Upshaw lead the CAA in scoring. Upshaw would also earn All-CAA, all-district and All-Metropolitan accolades following his stellar season. Nesmith and Jamall Robinson earned postseason CAA accolades under Mihalich’s tutelage as well.
Mihalich, who guided the Niagara University to five postseason appearances during his tenure as the Purple Eagles head coach, was named the 12th head coach in the history of the Hofstra University Men’s Basketball program on April 10, 2013.
Mihalich came to Hofstra after leading the Purple Eagles since 1998. During that time he won 265 games, earned a pair of NCAA Tournament berths and made three National Invitation Tournament (NIT) appearances.
The 2012-13 season was one of the most successful and rewarding in Mihalich’s career as he guided a young roster to great success. Niagara won 19 games while capturing the regular season Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and advancing to the NIT for the third time in his tenure.
Mihalich was recognized nationally for his strong work with the Purple Eagles, picking up numerous awards for his efforts. Mihalich garnered the 2013 MAAC Coach of the Year Award, and was named the 2013 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 1 Coach of the Year. With these two awards, Mihalich has now been honored as a coach of the year seven times in his distinguished career.
The accolades for the 2012-13 campaign did not end there, though, as Mihalich was the 2013 Skip Prosser Man of the Year and a finalist for the 2013 Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Award. The Skip Prosser Award was established in 2008 to honor those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off of it as well, while the Hugh Durham Award is given annually to the nation's top mid-major coach.
A model of consistency, Mihalich won at least 17 games 11 times in his 15 seasons at Niagara and led the Purple Eagles to a win in the 2006-07 NCAA Tournament over Florida A&M and the 2003-04 NIT over Troy State.
The Purple Eagles advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Mihalich in 2005, earning a 14-seed in Niagara’s first tournament appearance in 35 years. The team went 20-10 on its way to its first-ever MAAC Championship and Mihalich was rewarded with conference Coach of the Year accolades.
Niagara also earned an NIT bid in 2008-09, finishing the season with a 26-9 record. The win total was the second-most in program history and Mihalich guided the squad to the MAAC title game for the fifth time since 2002. The Purple Eagles were rewarded for their success with their first-ever home NIT game.
Mihalich’s up-tempo style saw his Niagara teams average more than 70 points per game in nine of the last 11 years, including more than 81 points per game in 2003-04 and 2004-05. The 2004-05 team averaged 84.6 points per contest, ranking fourth in the nation in scoring that season. In 1998-99, Mihalich’s first year, senior guard Alvin Young led the nation in scoring at 25.1 points per game.
Under Mihalich’s guidance Juan Mendez earned Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America honors in 2005, becoming just the second player in school history to be named an AP All-American (joining three-time pick Calvin Murphy, 1968-70). He has also coached three MAAC Player of the Year Award recipients, three MAAC Sixth-Man of the Year Award winners, two MAAC Defensive Players of the Year, one MAAC Rookie of the Year, 24 All-MAAC selections and eight MAAC All-Rookie picks.
Mendez also earned NABC All-District honors in 2005 and was joined by both Juan’ya Green and Antoine Mason in 2013. Green was also selected to the Lou Henson Mid Major All-American team in 2013 after earning Mid-Major Freshman of the Year honors in 2012.
In addition to his players’ on-court successes, Mihalich also saw his players excel in the classroom with 17 student-athletes garnering MAAC All-Academic honors including three-time selection Paul Kowalksi and two-time honoree Demetrius Williamson.
Aside from his coaching awards in 2012-13, Mihalich was also named MAAC Coach of the Year in his first season at Niagara (1998-99) following a 17-12 season that included a regular season conference championship, and again in 2004-05 when the Purple Eagles made the NCAA Tournament. He also earned NABC District Coach of the Year honors in 2008-09 following Niagara’s 26-win campaign. Mihalich has also earned the 2005 United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District II Coach of the Year and the 2007 Basketball Coaches Association of New York (BCANY) Coach of the Year Awards.
From 1981 to 1998, Mihalich was an assistant coach at La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA. During his time on the Explorer bench, he served as an assistant coach to Dave “Lefty” Ervin and the legendary William “Speedy” Morris. Mihalich was part of eight postseason teams at La Salle, including five NCAA Tournament appearances.
La Salle won 285 games while Mihalich was on staff, averaging nearly 17 wins per season. The Explorers had arguably one of the best seasons in school history in 1989-90 when the squad advanced to the NCAA Tournament and compiled a 30-2 record, while being led by consensus national player of the year Lionel Simmons. Mihalich coached several players at La Salle who would go on to play professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA); including Simmons, Doug Overton, Randy Woods and Tim Legler.
Mihalich got his coaching career started at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, MD, under the legendary Morgan Wootten. He served under the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Wootten from 1978 to 1981 and during that time the varsity team compiled a record of 82-8 and the junior varsity squad went 34-5. Mihalich served as the assistant varsity coach for three seasons and the head junior varsity coach for a pair of seasons.
Mihalich played collegiately at La Salle from 1974 to 1978. He served as a team captain in 1978, and during his four seasons on the roster the Explorers won a total 68 games, including 18 during his senior season. La Salle made a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and won a Big Five title with Mihalich on the roster. He holds a degree in mathematics and education from La Salle and also earned his master’s in athletic administration from Temple in 1990.
Mihalich and his wife, Mary, have three sons (Joe and twins; Matt and Tony). Matt and his wife, the former Brittney Pierce, are the parents of Matthew Charles and Brendan Joseph. Tony is married to the former Maddie Sumser. Joe is married to the former Grace Ginn.
