Georgetown’s Coffey ends Tigers career on top of NAIA
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BVM) — There were two constants for the Georgetown College Tigers men’s basketball team this year — winning, going 30-2 over the shortened season, and senior forward Chris Coffey being the best player on the court. Coffey was named the National Player of the Year by both the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ (NABC) NAIA category for the award. Coffey also earned first team NAIA All-American honors and was named an All-American by the NABC.
https://twitter.com/NABC1927/status/1243554117387259905
Coffey found out about winning the award in the typical way most college aged citizens discover most of their news, on Twitter.
“My Twitter just started getting a lot of retweets and mentions and stuff like that so I checked my Twitter and was seeing people reposting it,” Coffey said. “My coach called me and told me congrats and things like that and then the AD and the president called me so that’s how I found out. I didn’t even know at the time.”
The Seneca High School graduate led the way for the top-ranked Tigers throughout the year, scoring 15.4 points per game, second on the team, while also ranking second in the country in field goal percentage, shooting 63.9%, and leading the Mid-South Conference with 20 double-doubles. Although he was a terrific scoring threat, Coffey’s best work came on the glass. Coffey grabbed 407 total rebounds, averaging 12.7 while also pulling down 9.3 defensive rebounds per game, all of which led the nation. He also ranked sixth in the country for offensive rebounds per game (3.4). Coffey said his energy on the court brings his team an aspect of both fun and passion that helps make the team better.
“(I’m a) fun, goofy, always energized type of person,” Coffey said with a laugh. “We’re serious sometimes, but there’s always time to have fun. This is a sport we love so to be able to go out there and do something you love and bring energy for yourself and your team; it brings out the best in people.”
For Coffey, the award was a culmination of all his hard work from previous years paying off and being able to establish himself on the national stage.
“I was already proud of myself basically putting in all the work,” Coffey said. “People seeing I was still one of the top dogs out there that was amazing and bringing it back to Georgetown again was an accomplishment for me. It means a lot. It means everything I put in was brought to light and everybody has seen I progressed — just being a better person not just on the basketball court but all over.”
Although Coffey’s season was a memorable one for the Tigers, it was not as if it came out of nowhere.
Last season, as a member of a Tigers team that would end up winning the NAIA national championship, Coffey established himself as a force to be reckoned with, specifically during the team’s extensive postseason run. The 2019 honorable mention All-American put on a show during the team’s championship game, recording a double-double with 10 points and 16 rebounds in the 68-48 victory over Carroll from Montana, giving the program its first national championship since 2013.
“It was amazing,” Coffey said. “Being able to come back to Georgetown and playing with my brothers and family was amazing. Being at the end and getting a trophy for it was all a dream come true.”
For his efforts throughout the tournament, Coffey was not only named all-tournament, but also the MVP of both the championship game and the tournament.
“I was very blessed just going out there and putting out all the hard work and just getting a trophy for it was just a bonus,” Coffey said. “All the hard work just paid off and I was just out there doing what I love.”
With the award to go along with his championship victory, Coffey understood he needed to bring even more of his commitment and dedication into his senior year. With Georgetown being the envy of every basketball team in the NAIA, Coffey and the Tigers knew each time they went out would be a battle and Coffey went into the offseason preparing for just that.
“It just made me say it ain’t over,” Coffey said. “Coming back for my senior year I just had to put in the extra work. Being at the top and being at Georgetown, everybody wants to beat us and knows about us. Putting in the extra work over the offseason and being able to try and come back and win again, it was like a little target on my head.”
Coffey’s senior season was lined up to be even more successful than his junior year. After winning their conference tournament championship, where Coffey earned Outstanding Player of the Tournament after averaging 15.3 points and 13 rebounds, the Tigers held the NAIA Division I’s top seed for its tournament in Kansas City, Mo. while looking to repeat as national champions for the first time in program history. During a specific stretch of the year, Coffey had a feeling this year would be different for him as an individual.
“I had one week where we played a game where I had like 30 points and 14 rebounds in each game and I just knew it was going to be a career season and my game was excelling to the top,” Coffey said.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the rest of the postseason was canceled due to restrictions over COVID-19 and the chance for a repeat was taken away. The team considers themselves back-to-back national champions on its social media pages, however, which Coffey admitted he agrees with.
“I kind of didn’t want to believe (the cancellation) at the time,” Coffey said. “We just kind of took it in. We were thinking we had a chance to go out there and show why we were the best of the best NAIA colleges out there and just trying to make history. It kind of made us want to cry, especially me. Everybody’s saying we had the team to do it, so I don’t see why we couldn’t have gone out there and gave it our all and became champions.”
For Coffey, it was a sudden end for what had been his best season and finishing with another championship would’ve solidified his status among the school’s best. Even without the additional championship, Coffey’s performances with the Tigers will be remembered as he finishes his career in the top 20 in school history in scoring (19th all-time with 1,579 points) and third in both rebounds (1,274) and blocks (137). He’s also one of only two Tigers to ever score more than 1,500 points and grab 1,200 rebounds in their career, matching only Dwaine Bruce who played from 1963 to 1967.
“It feels unbelievable if you really think about it,” Coffey said. “My name is now in Georgetown history books with some of the great players before me and now coming back to Georgetown, I can sit at the table with them and learn from them and their experience. It feels amazing.”
Coffey’s senior season was so notable that he was even featured as a part of SportsCenter’s #SeniorNight campaign which highlights some of the best senior seasons cut short due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“That was amazing,” Coffey said. “I didn’t even realize that was going on. It was just a blessing for me. It just made my name blow up even more and people saying, ‘I’ve seen you on TV’ it was just something different. A different type of feeling.”
That’s big time 💯🖤 https://t.co/3SUOrcnHCE
— Chris Coffey (@_thatbeanhead_) April 6, 2020
Although his senior season didn’t end the way the Louisville native had hoped, Coffey still has plenty of basketball opportunities ahead of him. In April, Coffey signed with One Motive Sports, a FIBA and NBA-licensed sports agency located in Jonesboro, Ark.
Coffey is looking to play more basketball this year as a player on The Advantage team for The Basketball Tournament (TBT) in July. TBT is a single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States typically featuring 64 different teams from throughout the world competing for a grand prize. Due to COVID-19, this year will be a bit different with only 24 teams being able to compete over 23 games.
The Advantage is an all-NAIA alumni team that is looking to establish that the league can compete with any other collegiate level athletes. As of now, the team is not among the 24 teams eligible to compete, but is looking to gain more support with the addition of Coffey.
“We’re going to be the underdogs,” Coffey said. “We’re an NAIA team so we’re not like DI or DII. (We’re) showing people that we’ve got the same talent as them, we’re just at a different type of level, but we still bring the same energy and same emotion and we have dreams just like them. We just want to go out there and bring the NAIA in a bigger light and put us in the spotlight so people don’t look down on us.”
⚠️ PLAYER ANNOUNCEMENT⚠️
We’re excited to welcome the 2019-20 NAIA Player of the Year and the 2018-19 NAIA national championship MVP, Chris Coffey (@_thatbeanhead_) of @GtownTigersMBB! pic.twitter.com/gAljKA9dhc
— The Advantage (@TheAdvantageTBT) May 26, 2020
Following a strong career with the Tigers, Coffey has received some interest from clubs across the globe, but mostly due to the COVID-19 outbreak, he has not yet gotten an offer as teams wait out the pandemic. Although his future in professional basketball may be delayed a bit, Coffey is hoping to bring an impact wherever he lands, bringing his high energy style with him.
“They’ll get a lot of energy, whether that is me playing on the court or off the court,” Coffey said. “A team player. A family-oriented man who is always going to look out for my brothers and coaches and making sure everybody is good. Basically just be there for whoever needs me. Whatever they need I’ll bring.”