BASKETBALL: Former NU coach Jack Armstrong talks a good game

By Jonah Bronstein

Jack Armstrong drove up the New York State Thruway in the summer of 1988 with apprehension. Brooklyn-born and Bronx-bred, the 25-year-old Armstrong thought Western New York meant Staten Island. He was leaving The City of basketball, to become an assistant coach at a small Vincentian university in a football town obsessed with hockey. The guy he got the job over, a pesky point guard from the Rochester region, Jeff Van Gundy, went to work for the New York Knicks the next season, and was a head coach in the NBA by 1995.

“I had incredible anxieties,” Armstrong recalled recently, while driving to the same destination. “You’re this hot-shot New Yorker, now you’ve got to go out in the real world and test your mettle, your self-confidence, your true abilities. It felt like I was leaving the country.”

Twenty-one years later, Armstrong leaves the country just about every day, making the two-hour trek to Toronto to provide color commentary and studio analysis for Raptors basketball broadcasts, and, as of last summer, co-host an afternoon radio show on The Fan 590.

And the drive down to his home in Lewiston is filled with anticipation.

Dream job was draining

Armstrong “loved every second” of his coaching career. He spent five years as an assistant, the last of which came at Niagara University, before becoming the youngest head coach in Division I when he took command of the Purple Eagles in 1989.

“The camaraderie, the intensity, the day-to-day challenges — it’s the most exhilarating, challenging job,” he says. “And when you are able to shape the lives of young people, it’s truly a great calling.”

Coaching can also be all-consuming, and Armstrong walked out of the Gallagher Center some nights “with my head spinning like a top, wondering if I had gotten anything done.”

His wife, the former Dena Elia, who was leading Niagara’s women’s soccer program when the late athletic trainer Ray Kist introduced the two young coaches, used to joke with Armstrong about where she ranked on his list of priorities during basketball season — sixth, seventh or eighth.

So when Niagara decided in 1998 that Armstrong’s 100 wins over the past nine seasons weren’t enough, and fired him with a year left on his contract, Armstrong decided to take a sabbatical from coaching.

“They did you a favor,” former Niagara coach Frank Layden told Armstrong. “You don’t know it now. But you did the best you could, and it didn’t work out.”

Jim O’Brien, who was then at Dayton and now coaches the Indiana Pacers, advised Armstrong: “Don’t get bitter — get better.”

From coach to commentator

Deciding to use his firing as a “springboard, not as a setback,” Armstrong began looking for work in broadcasting because, he tought, isn’t that what all unemployed coaches do?

He also had a master’s degree in public communications from Fordham University that he earned as a graduate assistant coach.

“I chose communications,” he said, “because it fit our practice schedule. If it was philosophy or business that fit the schedule, I would’ve taken that. I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever actually use it.”

Armstrong did a demo tape at the Empire Sports Network studio with current WGR morning host Howard Simon, and sent it to, among other places, 590, which had just secured the Raptors radio rights.

“I was looking for a play-by-play guy and an analyst to bring some character, some entertainment, some passion and enthusiasm,” said Nelson Millman, the station’s vice president, general manager and program director. “I knew the team wasn’t going to be great, so we needed the broadcast to be great.”

Millman estimated he received 30 calls from people recommending Armstrong. “I finally gave up and called Jack,” he said.

“I learned that from coaching,” Armstrong said. “If you’re going for a job, you have other coaches call and recommend you.”

Armstrong had immediate chemistry with play-by-play man Chuck Swirsky, Millman said, and both broadcasters became a popular personalities in the Toronto area.

“Jack is a character,” Millman said. “And he happens to be a real nice guy. He genuinely cares about people. I can’t believe he’s from New York.”

After four seasons, Armstrong was hired to work Raptors television broadcasts for TSN. Over the years, he’s become one of Canada’s top basketball analysts. Each March, he hosts CSTV’s NCAA Tournament telecasts.

Armstrong has also spent the past 11 years broadcasting college basketball games for a variety of outlets, including ESPN, MSG, and Fox. He spent two seasons doing WNBA games with Gus Johnson, the excitable MSG and CBS play-by-play man, and Matt Devlin, who is now Armstrong’s broadcast partner for Raptors games.

“In my coaching career, I loved every second of it, and now in my new career I’m loving every second of it,” Armstrong said. “I don’t know how many people are lucky enough to say that.

“I don’t have the same highs as when I was coaching, but I don’t have many lows. I’m able to connect with the game and still be around coaches, athletic directors, referees, executives, media and it’s almost like a celebration of the game of basketball.”

The new gig

Frequent travle is the one drawback to Armstrong’s new career. Since he doesn’t have to spend weeks on the road recruiting, it’s not that much more of a burden than during his coaching days. But the Raptors play 41 road games, in 28 cities — more than twice as many as a college team would.

And in years past, when he was doing upwards of 30 college games, Armstrong found himself on plenty of red-eye flights, away from his family.

That’s a big reason Armstrong found the latest job offer from Millman attractive.

When Swirsky left Toronto to become the new voice of the Chicago Bulls, 590 had a hole in it’s afternoon lineup. Millman came up with the idea of pairing Armstrong with Doug MacLean, the strongly-opinionated former Columbus Blue Jackets coach and general manager.

“The Game Plan” debuted in August, airing from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Most radios in this area pick up 590’s signal. The show also streams live online at www.thefan590.com.

MacLean said he met Armstrong an hour before their first show, and they clicked right away.

“I think it was because we are both former coaches,” MacLean said. “It’s a camaraderie among people that love their sports. He brings great passion, and an ability to relate to the fans.”

More family time

MacLean’s daily commute involves walking across the moderately-busy Bloor Street in downtown Toronto, quite a difference from Armstrong’s travels along the often-congested QEW.

But the daily radio gig has allowed Armstrong to give up all but a handful of college basketball games, freeing up more time to spend with his wife, and their three adopted sons, Kevin, 12, Bryan, 11, and Timmy, 10.

“As a husband and a father, this time of year, not being around a lot is hard,” Armstrong said. “There are times you have to knowingly neglect things in your family life that you’re absolutely kicking yourself for.

“... I feel like I’m much more engaged than when I was coaching. I’m more attentive and queued in on a day-to-day basis. I don’t bring the wins and losses home. I don’t bring the recruiting issues home. If I were coaching, I could be four miles away in the Gallagher Center, and it would be like I was a million miles away, I was so engrossed in it.”

Armstrong still attends several Niagara functions, including home basketball games. He has a close relationship with current coach Joe Mihalich, whom he encouraged to take the job. He gets a warm welcome inside the Gallagher Center, where most people still call him “coach,” something he appreciates.

“When I walk on to the campus at Niagara, it’s an incredibly positive feeling,” Armstrong said. “It’s a wonderfully close-knit community at Niagara.”

Though he was nervous about moving here two decades — and friends from New York and Toronto both tease him about staying here — Armstrong regards Lewiston as a hidden gem, and is a proud supporter of the entire region.

“Somebody must have been looking out for me,” he said. “I’m the luckiest guy to not only have worked at Niagara, but to have lived in this area for the last 20 years. It’s a great community. It’s got people with soul. I grew up in Brooklyn, and I really like authentic people. Western New York has authentic people.”

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