With another financial crisis threatening to shudder the historic school at the end of this school year, St. Anthony’s needs about half a million dollars to remain open next season, Naismith Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley said Friday.
“We’ve raised over $1 million so I would say right now, between now and June 30, we need to raise about $550,000 and I think that number is a number we can reach,” Hurley said on the Boomer and Carton Show.
Hurley said the school has a couple of fundraising events planned to reach the target.
Unlike The Patrick School, which has high-profile NBA players like Kyrie Irving and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist helping fund the school and the basketball team, St. Anthony’s has no equivalent in the NBA. Kyle Anderson is the only St. Anthony’s alum in the NBA.
“We haven’t had the LeBron James, we haven’t had anybody who’s been in the league for a long time,” said Hurley, whose team is 17-4 and the No. 1 seed in the North Non-Public B state tournament bracket. “Nobody has reached All-Star status or anything like that.”
Back in September, St. Anthony’s said it needed $10-$20 million or the doors would close after the 2016-17 school year. The school held a massive fundraising dinner called “50 Years of Chasing Perfect: A Tribute to Coach Hurley,” and also launched a GoFundMe campaign.
Hurley — who has amassed 13 Tournament of Champions titles, eight unbeaten seasons (including last year) and a career record of 1,179-123 — previously said he plans to continue coaching past his 70th birthday in July.
“Oh, my wife [Chris] doesn’t want me at home,” Hurley, also the President of St. Anthony’s, said last month after a win at Brookdale Community College.
“After 50 years of this, am I still nuts?”
Told by two reporters that he’s mellowed a little, he said. “I’m not as crazy as I was. I lost a step and a half, two steps, but it means the same to me, so cold turkey next year, maybe not so good.”
The potential final season for Hurley and St. Anthony’s will be chronicled in a SHOWTIME Sports digital documentary titled Legacy: Bob Hurley. SHOWTIME will debut Legacy: Bob Hurley in six weekly installments exclusively on SHO.com and the SHOWTIME Sports YouTube channel (@shosports) beginning Monday, Feb. 20.
Meantime, Hurley and his team will open the state tournament on March 5.
Asked who the favorite was, he said it was probably The Patrick School, the subject of our new documentary film which can be seen here.
“They’re so big and talented,” Hurley said of a team with five Division 1 signees. “They have no weakness. They’re deep, they have size, they have guard play. If you take away one thing, they can exploit you somewhere else. So we’re feisty.”
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