DURHAM, N.C.--
Jim Corrigan has been on the coaching staff for Duke women's basketball since the 2017 season, however, his ties to the university and the Atlantic Coast Conference as a whole run much deeper than that.To say the Corrigan's are an athletic family would probably be the understatement of the year. His uncle, the late Gene Corrigan, is synonymous with the ACC, serving as commissioner of the league from 1987-95 and then as president of the NCAA from 1995-97. He accomplished all that after working as the head lacrosse and men's soccer coach at Washington & Lee and Virginia, as well as long stints as the athletics director at both Virginia and Notre Dame.
"It is amazing how many people worked for or were influenced by him," Jim Corrigan said.
But it was not just his respected uncle who was involved in sports. Jim Corrigan's cousins are distributed around the ACC with one, Boo, currently working as the athletics director at N.C. State and another, Kevin, serving as the lacrosse coach at Notre Dame.
So you could say it was destiny for Corrigan to be in athletics — although getting into basketball and coaching in general wasn't in the plans.
"My whole family was involved in lacrosse and I was on that track having been born in Baltimore. But my dad got a job in Miami, Fla., and ultimately in Winston-Salem, and in 1969 there was no lacrosse for kids anywhere in North Carolina," said Corrigan.
Like most kids, Corrigan played every sport growing up but gravitated to basketball because, according to him, "it was something you could do with your friends in the driveway and shoot all day long."
That journey led him to play at Bishop McGuinness High School in Winston-Salem. As time neared for his college decision, it came down to several schools including a couple of Ivy League institutions. After not finding the right fit with those options, he enrolled at Duke with no promise of playing basketball.
Corrigan spent his first three years in Durham playing on the junior varsity team before being awarded a scholarship to play his senior year of 1980 on the varsity under then-head coach Bill Foster.
Those years on the junior varsity were what Corrigan called playing "because you loved the game. We practiced at 6 a.m. each day and played 13-15 games per year. But those were great guys."
In retrospect his time on the junior varsity team as well as his high school years had a huge impact on his eventual coaching career, as he played for three different high school coaches and had four different coaches at Duke.
After Duke, Corrigan, like many college graduates, was not sure what his next step would be. His father wanted him to pursue his Masters of Business Administration, but Jim wasn't so sure that was the road he wanted to travel.
So, he took a pair of part-time jobs in Durham, working in real estate during the day and at Darryl's restaurant at night. And that is when the itch to coach started to get to Corrigan, thanks to a Duke connection.
Former Blue Devil teammate Kevin Billerman had just returned from playing overseas and was hired as the head coach at Northern Durham High School. He asked Corrigan to volunteer as an assistant coach for two years.
A career was born.
Corrigan followed that up with a stint at his prep alma mater, Bishop McGuiness, where he spent one season as the junior varsity coach before taking over the varsity squad. He took his team to three state finals including a state championship victory.
Then, again, another Blue Devil connection offered the young coach an opportunity. Former Coach K assistant Chuck Swenson invited Corrigan to be his graduate assistant coach — and eventually his full-time assistant — at William & Mary, where the duo spent seven seasons together.
Next came an even bigger break. Jeff Capel Jr., father of former Duke player and associate head coach Jeff Capel III, brought Corrigan to Norfolk and Old Dominion University — where he would spend more than two decades of his coaching career.
Corrigan enjoyed a ton of success on the court with both Capel and later Blaine Taylor. Over the eight years that Taylor and Corrigan worked together, the Monarchs averaged 25 wins, won five Colonial Athletic Association championships, appeared in the NCAA Tournament on six occasions and made two trips to the NIT. They made one appearance in the NIT final four and also added the first CIT championship to the ODU trophy case.
Corrigan later became the interim head coach at Old Dominion, which ended up being one of his more special memories. While Corrigan was serving in the interim role, his father, who was in chemotherapy at the time, was able to see his son on the sideline as a head coach.
"We actually won that game — that was really cool. But dad was always supportive of what I did and my journey."
A coaching search followed that season and after not getting the job, Corrigan moved over to the women's basketball staff at ODU, a position he held for four seasons until another regime change.
Then, as fate would have it, Duke ties came through again.
Following the retirement of long-time assistant coach Al Brown, Joanne P. McCallie was looking to round out her Duke women's basketball staff. Luckily for Corrigan, the Blue Devils were playing in Norfolk just before Thanksgiving that year. That game led to a meeting with McCallie and later a formal interview on campus. The rest, as they say, is history.
"It is a long and winding road, but it is awesome to be back in a place that I love and be part of a program with a great tradition," Corrigan said.
"This past season was exceptionally fulfilling. To have the end of the year we did, finishing third (in the ACC)… Unfortunately, the coronavirus ended the postseason but it was an extremely fulfilling season to see our kids achieve what they did. It is very exciting to be back and it is hard to believe I am back at Duke."
As the career has progressed for Corrigan, the wins and losses are still important. But for the Duke alumnus, "at this point in my career, I just want to impact a kid's life or make a difference."
A mission accomplished in the lives of so many.
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June 21, 2020 at 06:50PM
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