Rosemont has announced the hiring of Bob Hughes as head men's
basketball coach. Hughes inherits a team in its fourth season of
competition and a squad that competed in the conference tournament
for the first time in 2012.
Hughes most recently was an assistant coach at Washington College, where he has worked since 2010. Washington College reached the Centennial Conference semifinals last season. He was a lead recruiter and key fundraiser for the program.
He replaces Ryan Tozer, who coached the program's first three seasons and compiled a 26-50 record. The Ravens were 13-13 last season. He is now a high school varsity boys' basketball coach.
Between 2008 and 2010, Hughes was an assistant coach at Drew. Prior to that, he worked for The Hoop Group as a camp coach, talent evaluator and tournament site director. Hughes got his first exposure to coaching at the collegiate level at Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) from 2005-2008, where he was the head coach of the junior varsity team.
Hughes identified three areas of immediate focus. First coach Hughes wants to focus on transition. “(Rosemont’s first coach) Ryan Tozer laid a great foundation. I want to harness the good and take the team to the next level. I want to take Rosemont’s program to places it has never been, and I am looking forward to new and positive firsts for the program.” Players are the second area of focus, Hughes added. “I will work with the team through their difficulties and challenges. As their coach, I want to harness their abilities to be as successful as possible, to prepare them to be put into a position to be as successful as possible.” The third challenge, according to Hughes, will be “the adjustment to being a head coach.”
Bob thinks that the Colonial States Athletic Conference does not get the respect that is ceded to other conferences. “The conference contends on a national level and is deserving of respect nationally.” He believes it is Rosemont’s goal to “jump into the top half of the conference consistently and to build a tradition of winning. The team can get to that high level of success through recruiting, practice and conditioning.”
Cabrini, the CSAC champ, played in the national championship game this past March, the farthest a current CSAC team has advanced in the NCAA Tournament.
Regarding the squad that he is inheriting, “The core group has built a foundation of talent and maturity. The upperclassmen want to work and blossom into what stamp they can put on the program” from a historic perspective. “I want to make sure we channel the team’s emotional investment and energy into areas that give us the best chance to succeed.”
Hughes is familiar with Philadelphia-area basketball, earning his Bachelor of Science degree at St. Joseph’s in 2003 before continuing his education at Washington College, where he earned a master's in 2012. A fan of the Jersey Shore, Hughes resides in West Chester, Pa., where he also enjoys playing golf.