Mike McGarvey took over as the 20th coach in Lafayette men’s basketball history on March 29, 2023. He now enters his fourth season at the helm for the 2025-26 academic year.
Men’s basketball improved it’s win total for the third straight season in 2024-25, advancing to the Patriot League Quarterfinal on March 6. Lafayette got out to a slow non-conference start before finding its way during the Lafayette Classic from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, going 2-1 through the inaugural round-robin tournament in the newly refurbished Kirby Sports Center. Momentum swung the program to outcomes such as the exciting 76-61 road win at defending conference champion Colgate and a 78-70 Senior Day victory versus Lehigh, the 150th series dub since the Rivalry’s inception in 1902. Justin Vander Baan was crowned the Defensive Player of the Year after a sensational season in the front court, finishing his Leopard career ranked second all-time in program blocks (188), which topped the NCAA from Jan. 16-20. He was also listed on the Third Team and the All-Defensive Team while Alex Chaikin (Third Team, All-Rookie) and Caleb Williams (All-Rookie) had electric initial campaigns.
The Maroon and White concluded the 2023-24 season with an 11-21 (10-8 PL) overall record, finishing in second place in the Patriot League regular season and advancing to the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal. Under his guidance, men’s basketball matched the program record of seven consecutive Patriot League victories in a row to open the conference slate. The 2003-04 squad was the last Lafayette team to open league play with a 7-0 mark. The 10 conference wins are the most that the program has had since moving to an 18-game schedule back in 2013. Four Leopards earned All-Conference laurels following the season, the largest group since 2011-12. Devin Hines, Kyle Jenkins and Justin Vander Baan were named to the All-Patriot League Third Team while Mark Butler took home All-Rookie honors. Butler continued College Hill’s streak of placing at least one player on the first-year squad since 2019. Vander Baan was also tabbed to the All-Defensive squad.
McGarvey served as Lafayette’s associate head coach for the 2022-23 season before being named acting head coach, and led the Leopards to Patriot League Tournament victories over Lehigh in the quarterfinal round and American in the semifinal.
He arrived on College Hill after a four-year tenure as the men’s basketball head coach at Lycoming College where he led the program to three-straight MAC Freedom Conference championship games, including two conference crowns.
He guided the Warriors to a remarkable resurgence in his second year as head coach, taking the team from a 5-11 conference record in 2018-19 to a 10-6 mark in 2019-20 while managing a roster filled with a school-record 11 freshmen. He also led the team to nine more wins during the season, finishing 20-9, and a run to the team's third MAC Commonwealth title in five years, as the Warriors won three games in a span of six days to win the title. For his efforts, he earned Honorable Mention City of Basketball Love Coach of the Year honors.
He helped the men's basketball team repeat its success in 2020-21 despite facing a shortened COVID-19-shortened season. The Warriors finished 5-2, finishing in second place in the regular season standings before beating DeSales, 69-53, in the MAC Freedom Championship game. Three Warriors were named to the all-conference team and two were first-team selections.
In 2021-22, McGarvey led Lycoming to a third-straight conference championship game appearance after a 15-10 regular season mark. Lycoming owned the MAC Freedom Conference Rookie of the Year and the Warriors claimed an all-first team selection.
In 2017-18, McGarvey served as an assistant at Colgate, guiding the team to a program-record 19 wins, a Patriot League Championship game appearance, and Colgate’s first national postseason tournament appearance since 1996 when it earned a bid to the College Basketball Invitational. The Raiders finished a school-record 12-6 in Patriot League play, finishing in second place.
In seven seasons with the Raiders, McGarvey aided in the development of seven professional basketball players, nine all-league honorees, a Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year and a Patriot League Rookie of the Year.
McGarvey went to Colgate from his alma mater, Ursinus College, where he spent four seasons as an assistant coach. McGarvey assisted in all aspects of running the program and played a major role in recruiting, scouting, player development, film exchange, and fundraising while there. While with the Bears, McGarvey coached Nick Shattuck to All-America recognition in addition to mentoring a Jostens Trophy finalist.
As a player, McGarvey was a finalist in 2006 for the Jostens Trophy. He was also a consensus two-time All-American and two-time Centennial Conference Player of the Year.
Ursinus retired McGarvey's No. 11 jersey on Dec 1, 2010, honoring a career where his teams won three conference championships. He started every game of his career, and finished fourth on the school's all-time scoring chart with 1,460 points and he is still 14th in the Division III record book with 754 career assists. McGarvey holds the Centennial Conference records for career assists and steals, and single-season assists and steals. He was inducted into both the Ursinus College Hall of Fame (2016) and the Sam Cozen Philadelphia Area Small College Hall of Fame (2015).
McGarvey earned a Bachelor of Arts in business and economics from Ursinus in 2006. He and his wife, Caitlin, have three daughters together.
Updated 4/25
