Exclusive: Chris Monahan Is Radnor's New Boys' Basketball Coach

The lure was too great. Basketball had always been a part of Chris Monahan’s life, part of his very fabric. It’s why the 1994 Archbishop Wood graduate has made a major career change to one day have his own team. In May, Monahan was hired and on June 21, he was officially approved by the Radnor School Board as the new Radnor boys’ basketball coach, taking over for Mike McBride, who stepped down in April after being associated with the program for 20 years.

The Red Raiders finished 6-16 overall and landed near the bottom of the Central League last year, but Monahan’s hiring brings a new vitality to the program. has no starters returning nor any major contributors in their lead rotation.

“I’m going to have to be patient, you can say we’re starting from scratch, but I want to see improvement and dedication,” Monahan said. “I want to keep with four principals: Toughness, unselfishness, defense and rebounding. No matter what the talent level is of a team, you can control those things. We may not have a lot of experience, but we’ll work on things every day and I want to see commitment. If I see those four things consistently, we’ll get better. We’re going to be tough to beat.”

Like Monahan’s passion for basketball.

After graduating Wood, Monahan attended Lehigh and received an engineering degree. He was working for a major company as an engineer right out of college, traveling the world when he decided to make a change. Basketball was calling. The game was always a part of his life.

He tried a number of major college coaches on the West Coast about joining their staffs, and received no responses. Then out of the blue, Paul Westphal, the coach of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings but then coach of Pepperdine, reached out to Monahan.

“No one got back to me; Coach Westphal did, and from nowhere, no connections or anything,” Monahan said. “I was there for close to three years and got my master’s in business, figuring if basketball didn’t work out I had a Plan B to come back home with. I got engaged in California and came back home in 2005, but there wasn’t a whole lot of jobs out there.”

Monahan settled on a position as the freshman coach at Chestnut Hill Academy for two years, from 2004-05. From there, he moved on to Germantown Academy, where he was part of renowned coach Jim Fenerty’s staff from 2006-08. He was the head coach of Thomas Fitzsimons the last three years, guiding the school to its first Philadelphia Public League playoff appearance in school history.

Then the Radnor position became open, which Monahan took over another head coaching offer.

“I think it’s a good fresh start for us,” said rising senior Liam Herron, who was sidelined last year with a stress fracture in his spine that forced him out for six months. “Coach Monahan is a real enthusiastic guy. He wants basketball to be something people talk about at Radnor and not just a hobby. I think we’re going to be a young team. We’re going to be small, but the style of play Coach Monahan is bringing to the program is a new vibe and the style works for the players that we have. We’re going to play small and do the little things that will help us win. Personally, I feel good and healthy. I can’t wait. I’m hoping to get my time and hoping to be a leader on the team. Hopefully, all the hard work we’re doing this summer will pay off.”

Monahan met with the team for the first time June 7. He’s instituted a 12-month program and has them involved in a number of summer leagues and camps.

“I told the kids I didn’t take this job to lose 15 games a year,” Monahan said. “We’re going to go out there and be the best team we can be. From the first time we met on June 7, we laid out what our culture would be, the parents have been very supportive and the kids have been all over what we’re doing. It’s been great.”