Rockville Centre, N.Y. - Nominated by the University of Bridgeport administration and NYIT women’s basketball student-athlete Maggie McKee, Molloy Women’s Basketball Head Coach Tim O’Hagan and his squad were voted the 2010 East Coast Conference Sportsmanship Award winners.  The Sportsmanship Award is presented to a team or individual that best exemplifies the spirit of sportsmanship and has conducted themselves with a high degree of integrity, character and class as displayed in a single action or throughout the season.

Coach O’Hagan continuously displays a service before self attitude – showing the utmost respect for all student-athletes, fellow coaches, officials and East Coast Conference teams. Those familiar with Molloy know that Coach O’Hagan is at nearly all home athletic events, cheering on his fellow Lions teams. At the NCAA regional tournament this March, he took that support one step further and rooted for another ECC squad. On a day where his team was about to take the court at NCAA’s for the second time in three seasons, Coach O’Hagan brought his team to the gymnasium over seven hours prior to his team’s contest to cheer on fellow ECC team Bridgeport. Their support not only drew attention to the NCAA announcers, who commented on the overwhelming support, but also the Purple Knights team, coaches and administrators.

During the regional championships, Molloy’s women’s basketball team won its first tournament game in school history. Even more exemplary, were Coach O’Hagan’s actions during the regional semifinal against Franklin Pierce. More than midway through the contest, one of the officials went down with a torn Achilles’ tendon under the Molloy basket. No surprise to anyone who knows Coach O’Hagan well, he was the first one out to check on the official, and helped carry him off the court to seek medical attention. In a game against the second-ranked team in the country, it would have been very easy to pull his team together and hold chalk talk during the injury timeout. Instead, Coach O’Hagan exuded his service-before-self attitude and helped somebody else in a time of adversity.

McKee presented Coach O’Hagan with the Sportsmanship Award at the East Coast Conference Awards Dinner on June 9.  In her presentation, she not only spoke to Coach O’Hagan’s actions at the Regionals, but from a personal encounter with the coach.  During her last game at Molloy, McKee went collapse on the court and would eventually find out she suffered from a knee injury.  The first one on the court and by her side was Coach O’Hagan, telling McKee how everything was going to be alright and that he was proud of her. 

Coach O’Hagan and his squad are the inaugural recipient of the ECC Sportsmanship Award and have set the bar for future recipients.