Keith Urgo’s first guess was wrong, and so was his second.
Kyle Neptune had just informed him of that stunning news: Neptune had signed a contract with Villanova, and the then-Fordham associate head coach’s first instinct was the Rams had secured a big-time non-conference game.
“What, to play in the Garden next year?” Urgo recalled. “He started laughing, and he was like, ‘no, to be their next head coach.’ I was like, ‘yeah, OK, It’s Apr. 1.'”
Narrator: It was not April Fools Day.
It was then that Urgo realized how much his life was going to change. He just didn’t know what direction it was headed in at the time, that a week later he would be a head coach for the first time, at The Bronx school his father attended, after working for 16 years as a Division I assistant at Villanova, Penn State and Fordham.
“It’s indescribable,” the 42-year-old Urgo told The Post ahead of his Friday press conference that formally announced the hire. “My father’s been crying for several days since we heard the good news. My father’s from Brooklyn. My mother’s from Brooklyn. We grew up hearing about Fordham, the Fordham Rams and Fordham alumni, and pride they all have in this place.”
Urgo beat out a number of qualified candidates, a list that included Vermont coach John Becker, Kentucky associate head coach Bruiser Flint, Providence assistant Ivan Thomas, Rutgers associate head coach Brandin Knight and Connecticut assistant Kimani Young.
Urgo received overwhelming support for the job after serving as Neptune’s right-hand man in their one year together. That season, Fordham surpassed expectations with a 16-16 record, a 14-win improvement from the previous winter, and reached the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals for the first time since 2007. Current players and recruits, their families and coaches reached out to athletic director Eddie Kull and other members of the athletic department.
By keeping Urgo, Fordham ensured its strong three-man recruiting class remained intact, a group led by three-star prospects Will Richardson and Angel Montas, along with the entire coaching staff. It meant there wouldn’t be a mass exodus — that the Rams wouldn’t be starting over again.
But that isn’t what led to Kull’s decision, he insisted. It’s not like Fordham was coming off an NCAA Tournament run or returning a team that will be ranked in the preseason.
“I love that our fan base is excited about the year, but 16 wins is .500. We want more,” Kull said. “I want to put that in perspective. We strive to be better than that.”
No, Urgo got the job on his own merits, on his vast experience and coaching chops. In his one year at Fordham, Urgo lived up to his advance billing as a top-notch recruiter and stellar coach.
When the Rams created the coaching staff upon hiring Neptune, Kull envisioned one day losing Neptune, he thought so much of him. He saw Urgo as a strong replacement one day, someone Fordham was only able to hire in the first place because it was now putting more money into the program.
“As we continued to talk to candidates, their vision, their ideas, it always went back to Keith,” Kull said. “I wanted somebody that wanted Fordham. Not someone who was looking to use us as a stepping stone. Not someone that wanted to jump into the Atlantic 10. Not someone that just wanted a pay increase. Not someone I had to overpay to get them to be here.”
“This was always the plan,” the athletic director added. “I just thought it would be four years from now.”