Babson College head men’s basketball coach Stephen Brennan announced the hiring of national champion and former Division III Player of the Year Joey Flannery ’17 as the program’s new associate head coach on Wednesday.
Flannery returns to Babson after spending the last six seasons on the men’s basketball staff at Villanova University. After originally joining the Wildcats as a graduate manager in 2018, he was named Assistant Director of Basketball Operations in June 2021 and was elevated to the Director of Operations following the retirement of legendary head coach Jay Wright in 2022.
Flannery helped Villanova capture three Big East regular season (2019, 2020, 2021) titles and a pair of conference tournament championships (2019, 2022) while making three NCAA Tournament appearances. The Wildcats reached the second round in 2019 and advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2021 before going 30-8 and making a run to the Final Four in 2022.
During his six years on staff, Flannery helped develop NBA players Saddiq Bey, Jermaine Samuels, Collin Gillespie, Eric Paschall and others.
“I’m excited to have Joey return to Babson as our associate head coach,” commented Brennan. “Joey was a generational player for us and he is keenly aware of what it takes to be an elite student-athlete at Babson. Spending the past six years on staff at Villanova has made him into an exceptional coach and one of the best player development teachers in our sport. Our current student-athletes, and those we recruit, are fortunate to have the opportunity to be impacted on and off the court by an exceptional leader, coach and mentor.”
The most decorated player in program history, Flannery was a two-time National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division III Player of the Year and capped his career by earning D3hoops.com Player of the Year honors in 2017. He garnered NABC and D3hoops.com Northeast Region Player of the Year accolades in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and graduated as the Beavers’ only three-time All-America selection.
Flannery averaged 22.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 119 career games. He ranks first in Babson history and ninth in Division III history with 2,620 points, and also set program records for made field goals (863) and made free throws (689). Additionally, Flannery is fourth in career three-pointers (205), seventh in rebounds (779) and blocked shots (64), and tied for seventh all-time in assists (296).
“I’m honored and humbled to have the opportunity to return to a place I call home and help lead Babson basketball,” said Flannery. “It has always been an honor to be a part of this special community, and as a proud alum, this was an easy decision. I’m eager to again compete alongside Coach Brennan and continue the tradition of our Babson basketball brotherhood.”
After becoming the first Babson player to earn D3hoops.com Northeast Region Rookie of the Year honors in 2014, Flannery helped the Green and White advance to the Division III Final Four for the first time in school history in 2015. The Beavers repeated as NEWMAC champions on the way to reaching the Sweet 16 in 2016 before putting together a historic 2016-17 campaign that culminated with the program’s first national championship.
Flannery scored a single-season school record 750 points as a senior and averaged 27.8 points over six NCAA Tournament games on his way to earning Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors. The Beavers overcame a 25-point deficit against then-No. 1 Whitman in the national semifinals and Flannery came up with a game-saving blocked shot to preserve a 79-78 victory over Augustana (Ill.) in the national title game.
Following graduation, Flannery traveled to Los Angeles for a pre-draft workout with the Los Angeles Clippers before signing with Real Murcia in the Spanish third division for the 2017-18 season.
