EASTON, Pa. – Lafayette head men's basketball coach
Fran O'Hanlon is featured in the newest book from John Feinstein, titled
The Back Roads to March, released on March 3.
Feinstein, the #1
New York Times bestselling author of classic sports books,
A Season on the Brink and
A Good Walk Spoiled, released his newest book earlier this month, detailing the landscape of unsung, unpublicized and often unknown heroes of Division I college basketball. This is the second book of Feinstein's where O'Hanlon has played a role, also contributing to
The Last Amateurs, released in 2001 about student-athletes and coaches in the Patriot League as a whole.
O'Hanlon is heavily featured in chapter eight, titled "Last Fran Standing." Feinstein joined O'Hanlon throughout a gameday on Dec. 2, 2018, and got an inside perspective to how he led his team through a game against Sacred Heart. Below is an excerpt from that chapter as O'Hanlon and Feinstein reflected on a loss in the final seconds.
"I'm getting too old for this job," he said, softly.
I told him I knew he didn't mean that.
"You're right," he said, smiling. "I loved today." He paused. "Except for the last two minutes."
I felt the same way. Coaches like O'Hanlon and places like Lafayette are, in many ways, the reason I still love the college game so much. O'Hanlon never aspired to be a multimillionaire TV coach wearing $2,000 suits. There's a song in the iconic musical A Chorus Line in which the show's main character – Cassie – sings, "All I ever need is the music, the mirror, and the chance…to dance."
All Fran O'Hanlon has ever needed is a team, a gym, and the chance…to compete.
God love him – and the school that's given him that chance – for that.
Feinstein's book is available for purchase
here.
