On March 29, 2023, John Gallagher was named the 24th head coach in the history of the Manhattan University men’s basketball program. The 47-year-old coach has 24 years of collegiate coaching experience on the Division I level. Before accepting the head coaching job at Manhattan, Gallagher served as head coach for the University of Hartford men’s basketball program for 12 seasons through the program’s penultimate season in Division I (2021-2022).
In 2024-25, his second season at the helm, Gallagher led Manhattan to a 17-win season, which was the program’s highest win total since winning 19 games in 2014-15. Gallagher engineered the third best improvement season-over-season in program history, going from seven wins and 23 losses in year one to 17 wins and 14 losses in year two. Nationally, the Jaspers tied for the 15th best turnaround from the previous season with their 9.5 game climb in 2024-25. Additionally, the Jaspers’ line-up boasted five double-digit scorers, making them one of only 15 teams in America with five or more players averaging in double figures in points.
The Jaspers secured the No. 5 seed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship and later earned an invite to the Purple College Basketball Invitational held in Daytona Beach, Florida. Manhattan dropped its first round match-up with Incarnate Word, which represented the Jaspers’ first non-NCAA Tournament playoff appearance since the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
Under Gallagher, Manhattan has posted notable wins in rivalry games, including owning a 19-point average margin of victory versus Iona at Draddy Gymnasium. In Gallagher’s second Battle of the Bronx and first at Draddy Gymnasium, Manhattan registered a 78-76 win over Fordham on November 15, 2024.
During the 2024-25 campaign, Manhattan and Merrimack were the only two teams in the MAAC to not lose a game by double-digits in conference play, underscoring the Jaspers’ steadfast competitiveness during league play.Gallagher employed the same starting line-up for the first 24 games of the Jaspers’ resurgent 2024-25 campaign. In showcasing his confidence in his personnel and his gameplans, Gallagher made the Jaspers one of only four teams nationally to roll out the same starting line-up—Winston, Bender, Gilyard, Sydnor, Robinson—that late into the season.
Under Gallagher’s tutelage, two major award winners have emerged in Will Sydnor (2025 MAAC Rookie of the Year) and Devin Dinkins (2025 Sixth Player of the Year). Sydnor also took home All-MAAC Second Team and All-Rookie honors to cap off his sensational freshman campaign, while Dinkins took his spot on the All-MAAC Third Team to wrap up his redshirt sophomore season. Following the 2023-24 campaign, freshman Seydou Traore was tabbed to the All-Rookie Team on Gallagher’s watch.
Gallagher has been instrumental in the development of key Jaspers including Jaden Winston, Masiah Gilyard, Fraser Roxburgh, Devin Dinkins, Will Sydnor and Seydou Traore. Over two seasons, Winston has started in the backcourt in every game over Gallagher’s tenure in Riverdale. On March 7, 2024, Winston made history by posting 13 assists in a 77-60 win over Iona at Draddy Gymnasium. Winston’s single-game assist output is the highest in program history.
Additionally, for the 2024-25 season, Masiah Gilyard ranked 13th in America in offensive rebounds per game with 3.52. His clip was the highest of any player in the country listed 6 '3 or shorter. Gilyard is one of two players Gallagher has recruited from Blinn College (TX) with the other being 2025-26 newcomer Anthony Isaac.
In the era of Name, Image and Likeness in college athletics, Gallagher’s roster retention skills have been touted by pundits. Entering his third season in 2025-26, Gallagher has retained rising sophomore Will Sydnor (MAAC Rookie of the Year), rising junior Devin Dinkins (MAAC Sixth Player of the Year), rising sophomore Fraser Roxburgh and rising junior Jaden Winston. In 2025-26, Manhattan will return 54.7 percent of its scoring from last season, led by the likes of Sydnor (13.9 PPG) and Dinkins (13.6 PPG).
During his 12 seasons at University of Hartford, Gallagher took the Hawks program to three postseason appearances highlighted by Hartford’s at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament in 2021 after beating UMass Lowell in the America East Championship Game. Hartford matched up with Baylor, the eventual national champions, in a first-round match-up between the No.16-seeded Hawks and the No.1-seeded Bears. Additionally, Gallagher led Hartford to its highest winning percentage (.625) that season by winning 15 of 24 games.
Prior to the tournament berth, Gallagher oversaw a Hartford program that earned four straight top four finishes in the America East and notched back-to-back conference championship game appearances in 2019-20 and 2020-21. In 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the America East Championship Game which was set to feature Hartford and Vermont.
During the 2017-18 season, Gallagher spearheaded a Hawks team which set the program record win total with 19 victories and clinched a spot in the CIT. Hartford’s ability to take a massive step up underscored the rapid improvements Gallagher was able to make in a short amount of time.
Gallagher consistently showed a knack of getting his teams to exceed expectations. While coaching the 11th-youngest team in the country, Gallagher architected the program’s first-ever postseason campaign in 2012-13 with a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). That season, Gallagher was named America East Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com.
Gallagher’s Hartford teams had a chip on their shoulder defensively, too. In 2020-21, Hartford was 31st in the country in scoring defense (63.9) and 10th in 3-point defense (29 percent). The Hawks ranked second-best in America in 3-point defense the year before by holding opponents to a 27.5 percent clip. The 2012-13 campaign featured its own share of defensive bright spots, none more than a scoring defense which touted a program-record 61.2 points-per-game for opponents. Hartford also led the America East in steals (8.2) and forced turnovers (16) that season.
Gallagher was the associate head coach at Hartford from 2006-2008 during Dan Leibovitz’s stint leading the program. He started his coaching career at La Salle in 1999 and was part of the Explorers’ coaching staff under both Speedy Morris and later Billy Hahn. In 2003, Gallagher left to join Fran O’Hanlon’s staff at Lafayette, spending three seasons in Easton while building his name in coaching circles. Gallagher also made an assistant coaching stop at University of Pennsylvania working under Glen Miller from 2008-2010.
Gallagher earned his bachelor’s degree from Saint Joseph’s University in 1999. He played on the Hawks men’s basketball team from 1996-1999 under the program’s all-time winningest coach Phil Martelli. During the 1996-97 season, Saint Joe’s went 26-7 and advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing to Kentucky.
A native of Broomall, Pennsylvania, Gallagher is the father of four kids (Kenna, Alanna, Jack and Mary) and resides in Tuckahoe. He is one of four siblings in a basketball-loving family, as his sisters Ann and Joan both played college basketball at La Salle and Boston College.
