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Basketball Coach Joe Harrington Courting All Players

Basketball Coach Joe Harrington Courting All Players

Joe Harrington played on the same college team with former University of Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams. He was an assistant to former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell, and a key player in attracting All-American Tom McMillen and many other high-profile players to College Park. And he’s been a head coach himself at four major Division I colleges, including George Mason and the University of Colorado.

And now, Harrington has come to the Middleburg area in part to bring his big-time basketball knowledge to young players in Loudoun, Fauquier and Clarke counties. This past spring, he’s held camps for boys and girls at Wakefield, Highland, Powhatan and Marshall Middle School, with many more to come, as well as a possible basketball head coaching position at Wakefield in The Plains.

Harrington, now 65, moved back to Northern Virginia this past January to reconnect with his 16-year-old daughter, Ava, after being granted full custody after a divorce. They’re now living in The Plains at McMillen’s home and Joe Harrington is looking around for a place to call their own this summer.

A native of Maine, Harrington played with Williams and McMillen’s brother, Jay, at Maryland in the 1960s. He and Jay were roommates and great friends, one of the main reasons Jay’s “little” brother Tom, all 6-feet-11 of him, decided to attend the same school and play for Driesell on some of the finest Terrapin teams in school history.

“I think I can really add something to this community and this area,” Harrington said in a recent interview. “It’s something I really want to sink my teeth into. I’m excited about it.”

Harrington also has had conversations with the Fauquier Parks and Recreation Department about running basketball and other sports camps in the county during winter and spring breaks and again next summer. His first job as an assistant at Maryland back in the ‘70s also included helping run the university’s intramural sports program, the better to justify his $8,000 a year salary.

“I’ve got plenty of experience handling other sports, too,” he said.

He’s also had experience at the professional level, serving as an assistant coach to Butch Carter with the Toronto Raptors for three years and coaching perennial all-star Vince Carter as well as 5-foot-4 Mugsy Bogues, one of the smallest players in NBA history. At Colorado, he also recruited and coached Chauncey Billups, another long-time NBA all-star.

And now, he’s essentially going back to his basketball roots, working with younger athletes and trying to improve the quality of basketball in his new surroundings. In additionto his camps, he’s also available for private training sessions. His camp flyersdescribe the goals of his program:

 “To improve on all basketball skills with emphasis on ball handling, passing, dribbling, shooting and offensive moves,” it reads. “These sessions will not exclude the fundamentals of good footwork, that is jumping and pivoting off the left and right legs, also offensive and defensive rebounding techniques; also sound principles of individual and team defense and offense. All sessions will be conducted in a positive manner with the understanding that players are at different skill levels.”

At his co-ed camp at Marshall Middle School last month, he also brought in a motivational speaker, none other than his long-time friend, Tom McMillen. A Rhodes Scholar, a Congressman and a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team, McMillen clearly was a huge hit with the young players that day.

“The kids were kind of mesmerized by what he had to say,” Harrington said. “He talked about having to guard players in the pros like Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Tom has a great message for them when it comes to setting goals in life. And they all got on their phones and started looking up the 1972 Olympics. It was just a great presentation.”

As for Harrington coaching at Wakefield, it’s not a done deal, but seems likely to happen. Harrington actually worked as a substitute teacher at the school earlier this year and could see immediately that “a lot of these kids are pretty self-motivated.

“I think they want to have solid athletics,” he added. “They have a great balance in their academic program and I think I could help them. It would definitely be exciting to be part of that school.”  

(For further information on camps or private training sessions, email coachjoeharrington@yahoo.com)

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