BENSALEM, Pa. — Gonzaga of Washington, D.C. and a regular in the Blue Star media Elite 25 boys’ basketball rankings reached into its alumni base in hiring its new head basketball coach.
Keith Urgo, a graduate from the Class of 1997 and most recently the head coach at Fordham University, was announced as the new leader of the Purple Eagles. Urgo already addressed the team on Tuesday, May 20 and will start practice next week for upcoming showcase and summer league games.
Urgo inherits the job from Steve Turner, who recently was hired as head coach at national powerhouse Montverde (Fla.) Academy. Turner coached at the Jesuit high school for 21 years and won nearly 500 and several Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and District of Columbia State championships.
Last season, Turner guided the Purple Eagles to a 29-5 record and won the DCSAA Class AA title while playing a national schedule and a full slate of games in the rugged WCAC considered the nation’s top league. Gonzaga finished No. 13 in the Blue Star Media Elite 25 final rankings that were released in April.
Urgo played for legendary coach Dick Myers at Gonzaga and was hired by Turner in 2004 as the freshman coach.
Urgo was fired in March at Fordham following three seasons and accruing a 50-49 record. He started his college coaching tenure at Villanova in 2007 as the team’s video coordinator and later ascended to director of basketball operations and assistant coach. In 2011, he left to become assistant coach at Penn State under Pat Chambers, who on the same Villanova staff. He stayed in State College, Pa, for a decade before becoming assistant head coach at Fordham for a season and eventually landed the head job at the Atlantic 10 school in the Bronx.
More than 40 candidates applied for the position but athletics director Terry Kernan decided to go with an alumnus after several Zoom meetings with administrators, former players and alums.
“Him being a Gonzaga alum, we knew who Keith was. We’d been following him for the last 20 years,” said Kernan in an interview with The Washington Post. “He made it evident throughout the process that he is all in for Gonzaga and that he’s here for the long haul, and he’s super excited about this opportunity.”
In addition to his basketball duties, Urgo will be an assistant athletics director. In this role, he will launch a new NIL and College Financial Literacy Education Program, which will include seminars, workshops, and guest speakers to prepare our athletes and their families for the evolving college landscape. He will also act as a liaison between Gonzaga Ministry and Athletics, ensuring all sports programs engage in team-based service projects.
