Laos Books

Pat Skerry was a two-year basketball captain at Tufts, setting single-season and career assist records that still stand. At 26, he was the second-youngest head coach in the nation at Curry.

Over the last two decades, he has built a reputation as one of the most highly-respected assistant coaches at the Division 1 level, a relentless recruiter who often has called on his New England roots to land players.

His next stop: Towson University.

The 41-year-old Medford native will be introduced as the Tigers’ new head men’s basketball coach at a press conference on Tuesday, charged with the task of turning around a program that was winless this past season in the Colonial Athletic Association under Pat Kennedy, and 4-26 overall.

A 1988 Malden Catholic graduate, Skerry is on the move to Maryland after working this past season as the lead assistant at Pittsburgh under Jamie Dixon, helping guide the Panthers to the regular-season title in the Big East Conference. The previous two seasons, Skerry assisted Keno Davis at Providence.

His work on the bench started in 1992, with a three-year stint at his alma mater, Tufts, followed by a season at Division 2 Stonehill, before he landed at Curry for two years, directing the Colonels to their first winning season in five years. Then he was off to Division 1, and assistant coaching gigs at Northeastern, William & Mary, College of Charleston, Rhode Island, Providence, and Pitt.

With the recent success of CAA programs such as George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA tournament, the conference has become a desirable landing spot for aspiring coaches. And under the leadership of new athletic director Mike Waddell, Towson is starting to invest more heavily in its athletic program.