Bellevue’s Matthew Driscoll keeps North Florida running, all the way to The Pete to play Pitt
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Other than another NCAA Tournament berth for his North Florida basketball team, Matthew Driscoll likes nothing better than waking early and running along the Atlantic Ocean.
Running anywhere, actually.
When Driscoll, who grew up in Bellevue and graduated from Northgate High School and Slippery Rock University, brought the Ospreys to his hometown to play Duquesne last month, he bundled up for a jog on Forbes Avenue the morning of the game.
“My blood’s gotten so thin (from living in Jacksonville, Fla., since 2009),” Driscoll said. “I was wearing a toboggan, a hat under that, gloves, long pants, and I had four shirts on, including a thermal shirt. I’m jogging by people who are wearing short-sleeve shirts and shorts. I’m saying to myself, ‘What’s wrong with this picture? This doesn’t make sense.’
“I would say I’m about as Floridian as (any) Floridian.”
Driscoll, who was head coach at Northgate at the age of 24 and later at La Roche from 1993-97, will be back in town this week for North Florida’s game against Pitt on Saturday at Petersen Events Center.
Maybe dinner Friday will be a return trip to Primanti’s. Once a Yinzer, always a Yinzer.
“Of course, what kind of Pittsburgher wouldn’t do that?” he said.
He told his players, “You’ll enjoy it — capicola, double egg and cheese. Make sure there’s slaw, tomatoes and fries on it or I’ll have to call you some names.”
He said he enjoyed “showing the guys, this is where I grew up and that’s where I asked my wife to marry me.”
“You come out of that tunnel, and the next thing you know, there’s the city. There’s the old Heinz (Field) or whatever you call it now.”
But let’s be clear. Driscoll isn’t coming home to eat a sandwich stuffed with fries.
Games against teams from higher-level conferences are no trifling matters for schools such as North Florida, which plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
“You want to know what the common denominator is (for the second trip to Pittsburgh in less than a month)?” he said.
“C-A-S-H. If you’ve got the right number, we’ll come knocking.”
The Pitt game will be the sixth so-called “buy game” this season for the Ospreys (3-6). He said North Florida will get a total of $470,000 from Gonzaga, Washington, Duquesne, Kentucky, Houston and Pitt.
Sure, the team makes a quick turnaround for a home game Monday against Davis & Elkins, but that’s the price of doing business.
“Last year, we played eight (buy games). It was a beast,” he said, noting the Ospreys have played 93 such games in his 14 seasons at an average annual yield of $500,000. “It’s part of our athletic department’s budget.”
The money has helped pay for several program enhancements, such as additional trainers, strength coaches and academic counselors, facility improvements, even foreign tours.
This season, Driscoll set a record for ambition when he played three teams ranked in the top five of the Associated Press preseason poll — No. 2 Gonzaga, No. 3 Houston and No. 4 Kentucky. Average margin of defeat: 38.3 points.
But he points with pride to the Washington game when the Ospreys trailed the Huskies (now 8-3) by 69-67 with a minute left before losing, 75-67. At Duquesne, the Dukes won at the buzzer, 83-82.
North Florida has won two buy games, beating Purdue in 2014 (on the way to an NCAA Tournament berth and 23-12 record) and Illinois in 2015 (an NIT season at 22-11).
“Everybody thinks it’s this, that and the other. It’s got its pitfalls, too,” he said.
“We have to, unfortunately, reinvent ourselves (in the conference season) and figure out how to win. You never really get a chance to get hot or get on a streak, play a multitude of home games, all those kinds of things that you love to do.”
But Driscoll has found a way to recover, especially during the past four Februarys when the Ospreys were 20-7 (including 2021 when they had no home games due to covid). In 2020, North Florida won its third A-Sun championship. Over the past nine seasons, North Florida has finished tied for fourth or higher.
“You put me at Pitt and I tell you that’s our record, we’re going to the NCAA Tournament every year. I’m Jamie Dixon,” he said, laughing.
But he doesn’t apologize for the losses.
“We’re not into moral victories,” he said. “We do utilize what transpired in preparation (for the remainder of the season).”
Driscoll believes Pitt’s Federiko Federiko and John Hugley will offer good tests for sophomore bigs Jadyn Parker (6-foot-10) and Jonathan Aybar (6-9). Jarius Hicklen, who scored 24 against Duquesne and is hitting 42.3% of his 3-point shots, will try to keep pace with Blake Hinson, Greg Elliott and Nelly Cummings, who have helped Pitt (7-4) average 74.5 points per game.
No predictions, but he said, “I really, really, really love how we match up when we tip the ball up.”