Gonzaga hires former Fordham coach Keith Urgo to lead basketball program

Washington Post

21-05-2025

It was in Gonzaga's gym that Keith Urgo realized his love of coaching. First as a fifth-grader at the Northwest Washington private school's basketball camp and later while coaching at the camp during high school and college, he learned about the impact a mentor could have. He became set on turning his passion into a profession.
A 1997 graduate of Gonzaga and a former player under longtime coach Dick Myers, Urgo got his coaching start at his alma mater in 2004, leading the freshman team. He later moved on to the college ranks and spent nearly two decades at the Division I level.
On Tuesday, it was announced that Urgo will be returning to Eye Street — this time as Gonzaga's head basketball coach. He will assume the reins of one of the D.C. area's most prominent high school programs.
'It's a full-circle moment to be the third coach in [50 years] at a place where I transitioned from a boy to a man,' Urgo said. 'It's a surreal moment and I feel incredibly privileged and honored to take the torch. Hopefully I can continue to keep the standard that's been created as high as it is.'
Urgo most recently served as Fordham's head coach. He was fired by the Jesuit school in March after three seasons, during which he went 50-49. He replaces Steve Turner, who left Gonzaga in late March for Montverde Academy in Florida. In his 21 years leading Gonzaga, Turner won nearly 500 games and four Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championships as the Eagles ascended to national relevance.
Urgo credits Turner for giving him his start in coaching in 2004, Turner's first year as varsity coach. Urgo joined Jay Wright's staff at Villanova as a video coordinator in 2006 before becoming the program's director of basketball operations and eventually an assistant coach prior. He left for Penn State in 2011. After 10 years with the Nittany Lions, he went to Fordham to be Kyle Neptune's associate head coach and was elevated to the top job after Neptune took the Villanova job in 2022.
Only days after Urgo was let go by Fordham, Turner announced his move to Florida.
'It's incredible that essentially at the same time, everything happened with me, that the position opened up,' Urgo said. 'I would never have gone back to high school basketball if it wasn't at Gonzaga.'
There were over 40 applicants for the position, according to Gonzaga athletic director Terry Kernan. The interview process required numerous Zoom meetings with administrators and a committee of former Gonzaga players and graduates. A day of in-person vetting for finalists was Urgo's first chance in years to explore the campus, with his most recent trips limited to the parking garage and gymnasium. In March, Fordham practiced at Gonzaga ahead of the Atlantic 10 tournament at Capital One Arena.
'Him being a Gonzaga alum, we knew who Keith was. We'd been following him for the last 20 years,' said Kernan, who played for Urgo on Gonzaga's freshman team in 2004. '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.'
Urgo needed almost no time to come to a decision once the offer came along. By Tuesday night, he was speaking with his new team and the players' families. Practices will start next week ahead of a busy summer that will include recruiting showcase events, most of which Urgo plans to be on the sidelines for.
He'll also be running the school's summer basketball camp — the place where it all began.
'The relationships that I have built with so many from Gonzaga shaped me into kind of who I've become and who I want to be," Urgo said. 'I take immense pride in the front of that jersey — there's nothing like it.'