City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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Tom Dillard has been in the Archbishop Ryan northern gym on several occasions over the last few seasons.

The school is one of the few programs in the area where the boys and girls programs play in separate gyms and as an assistant at Penn State-Abington, Dillard was regularly in recruiting the likes of Haley Davis (Albright College) and Delaney Finn (Arcadia University).

He understands the acclaim and prestige of the Philadelphia Catholic League and how programs such as Archbishop Wood, Archbishop Carroll and Lansdale Catholic have established themselves as some of the best in Pa. He has witnessed Archbishop Ryan’s height in the last two decades while on the recruiting trail, where he has an extensive background from the college game, and now he will bring that experience to the one of the state’s premier leagues.

Dillard was named the head coach at Archbishop Ryan on May 7, marking his first head coaching job and a new era for the girls program that only won five games a year ago. The intrigue of his first head coaching gig, combined with the allure of establishing continuity within a program that has been influx since the departure of Mike McCusker, provided Dillard with an opportunity he has long awaited.

“I know where the program has been,” Dillard said. “There was Monee Moore and later Ashley Smink and Danielle Skedzielewski who played at Delaware Valley University. They both played for Mike, who always had teams make deep runs in the PCL playoffs.”

Dillard has been familiar with Archbishop Ryan dating back to when Arcadia head coach Jackie Hartzell roamed the sideline and led the Ragdolls to the 2010 District 12 Class 4A title and PIAA state title game. Jess Koci was the leader of that team, finishing her career with more than 1,000 points then playing four seasons at La Salle.

 After Hartzell took the job at USciences, McCusker stepped in and led the Ragdolls to six consecutive Philadelphia Catholic League playoff appearances, including a semifinal berth in 2015. The once-proud program has dealt with recent turnover at the head coaching spot, and Dillard wants to revive it with his sizeable experience and pedigree from the college game.

“I didn’t want to be handed a program and expected to win overnight,” Dillard said. “I want to earn, build, and create a legacy going forever. I want to rebuild a program that has had success over the years and that’s really intriguing to me. The last couple years haven’t been as successful as much as the alumni base would like but with McCusker, it was there. Why can’t it get back there? That’s the goal.”

After McCusker stepped down in September 2020, Chris Zambito ’78 stepped in briefly; Jullian Rattliff seemed to have the program headed back in the right direction but was removed before his second year last November, and assistant Mike Gallagher stepped in as the interim coach. Rattliff had led the Ragdolls to the league quarterfinals in his first season in 2022-23. Now enter Dillard, looking to right the ship and steer the program back in a direction that he hopes leads to a third all-time Philadelphia Catholic League title (1973, 1975).

“I knew about the situation with Mike Gallagher being there on an interim basis, but I didn’t know if they were going to open it up or if it was Mike’s job,” Dillard said. “Once the season ended and summer came along, I checked the archdiocese website periodically to see if any jobs were available. I know a lot of girls who have gone through the program at Ryan, and I remember when it was a successful program.”

Even before applying, he was being pushed by those closest to him to go for that first head job: “‘You’ve been a college coach for 15 years. Why don’t you at least try for a high school job?’” he said. “So, here I am.”

What sets Dillard apart from many first-time high school head coaches is his extensive background coaching the college game. After attending Pennridge High School and getting his feet wet as a coach as the CYO coach at St. Agnes-Sacred Heart School in Bucks County, he attended Neumann University and served as manager of the men’s and women’s basketball programs during his freshman and sophomore years.

Prior to his junior season, then-head women’s coach Frank Farnese said, ‘‘I want you to come over and work full-time with me,’ according to Dillard. He began as a student assistant for two years where he recruited players and developed scouting reports. During those two seasons, Neumann won back-to-back Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Tournament titles and made the first two NCAA Tournament appearances in program history in the process. Upon graduation, he remained on staff for three more seasons.

Dillard made the jump to Eastern University, where he served as recruiting coordinator and in his first year with the program, the Eagles finished 22-6 (13-1 Middle Atlantic Conference), advanced to the conference championship game and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. He served on the Eastern staff until 2019-20.

After the COVID-19 pandemic brought a halt to Division III athletics, Dillard decided to take two years off but kept busy by assisting other coaches on the recruiting trail with his in-depth knowledge of the area. 

“I had high school and college coaches calling me during those two years I was away from coaching. I was telling them, ‘Oh, I have this kid for you, or you should look at this kid,’” Dillard recalls.

When Megan Fox took the job at Penn State-Abington in 2022, he called her and expressed interest in helping out. She liked what she heard and brought him on as an assistant. In year one, Abington finished 7-17 overall but bounced back in year two with a 13-15 record including a 7-5 finish in the United East Conference. Last year’s team advanced to the conference championship game (first since 2015) behind Angela Sanders, the D3Hoops.com Region 4 All-Region selection who scored the third-most points (1,392) in program history and holds the record for career rebounds (758).

His success at Penn State-Abington helped springboard his elevation to Archbishop Ryan head coach. While he is relishing his inaugural head coaching position, he is excited to not only get started but to be coaching in what he considers the “the best league in the country…top to bottom for both boys and girls.

“That’s one of the most intriguing parts of this job is being in the PCL but at the end of the day, basketball is basketball,” Dillard said. “I’m still teaching the same game. It’s different on the recruiting side and that aspect but to be honest, I made a name for myself recruiting within the area. It’s going to be different from an administrative role where I’m not just doing my role of recruiter or scout as now everything is on me.”

The roster will look vastly different from the one Rattliff constructed. Finn and Davis are gone as are fellow seniors Eliana Szatowski, Jenna Gontz, and Riley Lukach. Reynah Rattliff, Julian’s daughter who followed him to Archbishop Ryan from Archbishop Wood, transferred and played at Life Center Academy (N.J.) upon her father’s removal. The team finished 5-16 overall and only won two Philadelphia Catholic League games this past season.

Dillard hopes to return the program to a state of respectability and long term, he wants it to hopefully mirror what the boys program has become under former standout Joe Zeglinski. 

During Zeglinski’s tenure, the Raiders have made a pair of Philadelphia Catholic League title game appearances, regularly made the state tournament which includes a trip to the state final in 2021 and developed high-level talent in the form of 6-9 big man Thomas Sorber (Georgetown) and marksman Darren Williams (Florida Gulf Coast), both of whom leave as two of the most accomplished players in school history. Dillard emphasizes that “you look at the boys team and they have had a lot of success recently.”

All those trips over the years into that northern gym in Northeast Philadelphia has prepared Dillard for this opportunity, and he’s hoping to catapult the Ragdolls back to a time where the likes of Koci, Moore and countless others were regularly performing at the highest level for a storied program.