- Al Skinner
College coach infobox
Name = Al Skinner
| Caption =
DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1952|6|16
Birthplace =Mount Vernon, New York ,United States
DateOfDeath =
Sport =Basketball
College =Boston College
Title = Head coach
OverallRecord = 313-234 (19 seasons)
Awards = National Coach of the Year (2001)
Big East Coach of the Year (2001, 2005)
Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (1992)
Championships = Big East Tournament Championship (2001)
Big East Regular Season Championship (2001, 2005)
CFbDWID =
Player = *
Years = 1971-1974
Team = UMass
Position = Guard
Coach = Head Coach
CoachYears = 1982-1984
1984-1988
1988-1997
1997-present
CoachTeams = Marist (asst.)
Rhode Island (asst.)
Rhode IslandBoston College Albert L. (Al) Skinner (born
June 16 1952 inMount Vernon, New York ) is a men'scollege basketball head coach and a former collegiate and professional basketball player. Presently, he is in his tenth year as the head coach of theBoston College basketball team.Skinner was a standout player at the
University of Massachusetts alongsideJulius Erving . Skinner played professionally in the ABA, leading the New York Nets to an ABA title in1976 .After retiring from professional ball, Skinner entered the college coaching ranks. He served as an assistant at Marist from 1982-84 and later served in that capacity at the
University of Rhode Island . He was named head coach of URI beginning with the 1988-1989 season and remained through the 1996-1997 campaign. OnApril 17 ,1997 , Skinner was hired to lead theBoston College Eagles basketball team.He was named coach of the year nationally in 2000-01. Boston College was a #3 seed that year. As a 4 seed in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, they lost to 12 seed Milwaukee. He was named Big East Coach of the Year in 2004-05. He has also been honored as the
Atlantic 10 coach of the year in 1991-92. Skinner's 2004-2005 team was the first Big East team in history to start a season 20-0. During the 2005-2006 season, Al Skinner became the all-time winningest coach in Boston College history, surpassing Jim O'Brien's 168 wins.He has taken Boston College to five NCAA Tournaments, and took Rhode Island to two. Overall he has been to seven NCAA Tournaments as a head coach and ten postseasons in all (NCAA and NIT).
He has been inducted into the UMass and URI athletics halls of fame, and BC's will likely follow.
Trivia
*Coach Skinner is known for his impeccable dress habits among Boston College fans, earning him the nickname "Coach Handsome". Those who watch closely notice that Skinner only wears a tie for home games, electing to wear either a
polo ormock turtleneck on the road. It is rumored that Skinner does not wear the same suit twice in a given season.*Skinner is a spokesperson for Eastern Clothing of
Watertown , a prominent men's clothing store nearBoston College .*Skinner's jersey (#30) was retired by the
University of Massachusetts in 2004.*Skinner was a teammate of basketball legend
Julius Erving and Louisville head coachRick Pitino at UMass and with Erving on the1976 New York Nets ABA Championship team.*Skinner is noted for his extreme likeness to Dudley's father on Different Strokes
*During the college basketball season,
WEEI radio broadcasts the Al Skinner Show. The half hour program hosted byTed Sarandis is taped before a live audience at the Metropolitan Club in Chestnut Hill and aired each Thursday. [cite news | url = http://bceagles.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/121106aac.html | title = Al Skinner Show Invites Live Audience | date =2006-12-11 | publisher = Boston College | accessdate = 2007-02-01 ]External Links
Biography from Boston College Athletics [http://bceagles.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/skinner_al00.html]
Player/Alumnus page on UMassHoops.com [http://umasshoops.com/cgi-bin/frameset.cgi?frame1=column.htm&frame2=/history/alumni/skinner_al/index.htm&title=UMassHoops.com]
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
