Mike Farrelly, Asst. Coach

St. Joseph’s ’03 Season

Second Hometown

New City, New York Family

Wife: Gina Sons: Michael (MJ) & Ryan Coaching Experience

2006 Wilkes University Assistant Coach & Director of Intramurals 2007-10 Hoop Group Elite Director 2010-11 Mount Saint Mary’s Assistant Coach 2011-13 Niagara Assistant Coach 2013-19 Hofstra Assistant Coach 2019-21 Hofstra Associate Head Coach/ Acting Head Coach 2021-present Penn State Assistant Coach Playing Experience

2000-03 St. Joseph’s

ASSISTANT COACH

Mike Farrelly (pronounced FAIR-uh-lee) is set to begin his second season on the sidelines in 2022-23.

Farrelly was instrumental in Penn State’s first-year success under head coach Micah Shrewsberry in 2021-22, helping guide the Nittany Lions to a number of statement wins and a thrilling postseason run in the Big Ten Tournament. He helped engineer the best scoring defense in the Big Ten, as the Nittany Lions allowed just 65.0 points per game – Penn State’s best defensive mark in 11 years.

Farrelly was integral in signing the highest-ranked recruiting class in Penn State men’s basketball history in November 2021, less than eight months into Shrewsberry’s tenure in Happy Valley. The 2022 signing class ranks as a consensus top-30 class in the nation by all major recruiting services.

Farrelly joined Penn State after eight years on the bench at Hofstra, most recently serving as the acting head coach for the 2020-21 season. Promoted to associate head coach in the summer of 2019, Farrelly helped lead Hofstra to back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) regular-season championships in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Hofstra won the 2019-20 CAA Tournament title and earned its first berth to the NCAA Tournament since 2001. Under Farrelly’s watch as acting head coach, the Pride defeated No. 23 Richmond on the road and won 13 games during an abbreviated 2020-21 season, a total that included eight league wins and a CAA Tournament semifinal appearance. In a six-year span (2014-15 through 2019-20), Hofstra averaged 20 wins per season, including a program-best 27 wins in 2018-19 after recording 26 victories in 2017-18.

Farrelly was instrumental to the success of the Pride program under former head coach Joe Mihalich as they rebuilt a program which had only seven wins in the season prior to their arrival in 2013. Hofstra’s 24 wins in 2015-16 were its most in a decade and that season’s CAA regular-season title was its first since joining the conference in 2001. The accomplishments over Farrelly’s last six years as the right-hand man to Mihalich included four 20-win seasons and four postseason tournament appearances (1 NCAA, 2 NIT, 1 CBI). He also helped develop Pride student-athletes who won numerous accolades during his tenure, including three CAA Player of the Year recipients.

In 2020, Farrelly was named one of the top 50 mid-major assistants by Silver Waves media and to Jeff Goodman’s list of top CAA assistants. He was also invited to participate in TopConnect 2020, the national networking program for top assistant coaches.

Prior to his time at Hofstra, Farrelly spent two seasons at Niagara under Mihalich. He guided the Purple Eagles to a 2013 postseason appearance in the NIT and regular-season Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title before following Mihalich to Hofstra. Farrelly’s diligent recruiting efforts brought two all-conference players to Niagara. In Farrelly’s two seasons, the Purple Eagles improved their overall win total by double digits from nine to 19 and compiled 13 MAAC wins in 2012-13, tying the program’s second-highest mark.

Originally from New City, New York, Farrelly played for three years under Phil Martelli at St. Joseph’s and graduated with a degree in finance in 2003. Farrelly worked in the financial services sector following his graduation from St. Joseph’s, but remained involved in coaching. Farrelly and his wife, Gina, have two sons, Michael (MJ) and Ryan.