Mooney hired by Spiders

The Princeton style of offense is known for its backdoor cuts, but lately it's been producing more of a revolving door effect.

Chris Mooney '94, who spent last season as the head coach at Air Force after serving four years as an assistant to current Tiger men's basketball coach Joe Scott '87, has accepted the head coaching position at the University of Richmond. Mooney's move makes him the third Pete Carril-era player-turned-head coach to change schools in the past two seasons.

"I am very excited to become the next men's basketball coach at the University of Richmond," Mooney said in a statement released by the university. "This is a tremendous opportunity. I look forward to continuing the great tradition of Richmond basketball."

Mooney takes over a Spiders program coming off a 14-15 season. Last season, his first as head coach at Air Force, Mooney guided the Falcons to an 18-12 mark. That record was the second best in school history, following only the 22-7 record the team posted in Scott's last season at the helm in 2003-04.

What began with John Thompson III '88's move from Princeton to Georgetown last off-season has ignited a coaching carousel among former Tiger players. Thompson's departure allowed Scott to come back to Princeton, which in turn led to Mooney's promotion at Air Force.

Now, with Mooney's move to Richmond, everything seems to be pointing to a Golden Age for the Princeton offense. This past season, in addition to the former Tigers now in the coaching ranks, a number of schools experienced success using a Princeton-style offense. This includes former Tiger head coach Bill Carmody, who guided Northwestern to a 15-16 mark just one season after being named Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Additionally, West Virginia ran a modified version of the Princeton offense and made a Cinderella-like run all the way to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament.

Meanwhile, the patriarch of it all, Pete Carril, recently completed his sixth season as an assistant coach with the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

Carril's former players and assistants have proved time and again that the strengths of the Princeton offense make it almost ideally suited for big conference teams that may not have recruiting advantages over other teams in their conference. Richmond, a small private school, plays in the Atlantic Ten conference with more established and nationally recognized programs like Temple and St. Joseph's. Mooney will hope to experience success with the Spiders similar to that which Carmody has had playing in the Big Ten. Thompson, who began the process of restoring Georgetown to prominence in the Big East with a run to the National Invitational Tournament this past season, has enjoyed similar success.

Continuing to stress the game's basics like he did at Air Force should contribute to more success for Mooney. The Falcons excelled last year in the hallmarks of Princeton-style basketball, setting a team record with 266 three-pointers and finishing third in the nation in fewest points allowed per game with 54.3. Not so coincidentally, that figure was matched identically by Scott's Tigers.

Mooney racked up 1,071 points in his four years at Princeton. He won two conference titles and is one of only five Tiger players to have at least 1,000 points, 350 rebounds and 200 assists in his career. After his graduation, he moved back to his home in the Philadelphia area and coached at Lansdale Catholic High School and Beaver College before joining Scott's staff as an assistant.

Succeeding in the Atlantic Ten presents a new and difficult challenge for Mooney, especially at a program without a very rich basketball history. But all signs seem to indicate that an efficiently run Princeton offense can lead to many accomplishments in even the toughest of circumstances. Mooney now has the chance to implement a new system entirely as he sees fit, putting his own imprint on it from recruitment to graduation.