City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Martin Ingelsby’s friendship with Bill Phillips began on a random summer evening in 1995 when an unfamiliar and tall figure showed up at Archbishop Carroll for an open gym.

Phillips, a 6-foot-10 forward, had transferred to play for the Patriots in the final two seasons of his high school career. He played beside Ingelsby, who was one of the greatest guards in Carroll history. The duo developed chemistry on the court and a close bond off of it.

Two decades later, both are still in basketball in collegiate coaching roles. So when Ingelsby – who was hired as a first-time head coach at Delaware last month – started assembling a coaching staff, it was no surprise who was on the receiving end of his first phone call.

“(Phillips) was hoping this worked out for me, and this was a job I kind of always wanted,” Ingelsby said. “So we had fluid conversations throughout the process that if this worked out, he’d have a spot with us.”

It worked out for Phillips, who has experience in the CAA, but lost his job at James Madison in the offseason when the Dukes fired coach Matt Brady (who has since taken a job at La Salle).

Phillips was one of three hires the Blue Hens announced last week and was joined by Corey McRae and Pat Rogers. Ingelsby has a personal connection to each assistant, but none of the relationships span as far back as the one he has with Phillips.

“I think, in high school, you have an even closer bond with teammates than some of your other friends,” Phillips said. “And his dad, Tom, was our high school coach, he was a great player. Since then we’ve stayed in touch. We spoke a lot during college and we’ve had our own careers, and I followed him very closely at Notre Dame with all the success over there.”

As Phillips alluded to, both he and Ingelsby come from basketball backgrounds. Tom Ingelsby was their head coach at Carroll after being a standout guard at Villanova. Phillips’ father, also named Bill, was a 7-footer who played for St. John’s.

“Not just having the family backgrounds that we do, but we share the same passions,” Phillips said of what boosts his relationship with Ingelsby. “I think we’re both crazy about basketball. We love basketball.”

Phillips’ Philly hoops ties stretch farther than Carroll, too. He played the final three years of his college career at Saint Joseph’s after a freshman year at William & Mary. He holds the Hawks’ program record in 3-point percentage (49.5) and was inducted into St. Joe’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. After eight seasons of playing basketball overseas, Phillips also got his coaching career started in the city as an assistant at Philadelphia University during the 2010-11 season.

Ingelsby, meanwhile, began coaching much earlier. He was an assistant at Wagner for one season out of college – where he coached McRae as a freshman – and then spent the last 13 seasons at his alma mater, Notre Dame.

Phillips relied on Ingelsby as a bit of a coaching mentor once he got on the sidelines. And though both have been focused on their respective teams in seasons past, they both knew that a reunion could be in the works.

“He was always a very cerebral basketball player, he has a great basketball IQ,” Ingelsby said of Phillips. “And I’ve always thought he was a great teacher of the game. He and I have talked over the years about opportunities, and if I ever got a job, I would love to have him on board.”

Ingelsby, Phillips and the rest of the Delaware staff have a tall task in front of them to help restructure a Delaware roster and program which took some hits in the last two years.

Their Philly connections are already paying off as the first 2016 player to commit to Ingelsby was Ryan Daly, a Catholic League standout who played at Archbishop Carroll, of course. Ingelsby also knows current Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk well, as the two were on the same 1994-95 team which won a PCL title.

Ingelsby and Phillips came up short of that title in 1997. The Patriots started 27-0 and were ranked 10th in the country before falling to Neumann-Goretti in the PCL Championship Game – a loss Phillips still didn’t like talking about nearly 20 years later.

At least the pair of longtime friends finally has another shot to win a title together.