Bob Driscoll helped Providence College forge ahead, while staying true to what makes it special
There was a time, not all that long ago, when we were having honest discussions about whether or not the rickety old practice court at Alumni Hall was leading to a higher rate of offseason injuries for Providence’s basketball program.
This was back maybe 15-20 years ago — in the earliest days of Bob Driscoll’s tenure as the Athletic Director at Providence College — and the Friars were practicing on a floor that hadn’t been replaced in 50 years in a gym that didn’t have air conditioning, on a campus with athletic facilities that could barely measure up to your local YMCA.
I tried to find a picture of the old weight room from the 1990s and early 2000s with the green floors, dingy lighting, and barebones machines and weight sets, before realizing Providence has likely scrubbed all of those images from the internet for all of eternity.
Without having seen PC’s facilities from when Driscoll took over in 2000, it is impossible to truly appreciate just how far this program has come in 21 years with him at the helm.
In August of 2020, Driscoll, head basketball coach Ed Cooley, and assistant coach Bob Walsh held a poolside discussion at Cooley’s house about all things Providence basketball — the new faces at the program, player development, the return of UConn to the Big East, how the program was handling the early months of the pandemic, and much more.
It was an outstanding 45-minute discussion during the portion of the offseason in which Friar fans are clamoring for any tidbit related to the program.
At one point, Driscoll spoke with pride about the upgrades to Providence’s athletic facilities, noting how every one of those facilities had been upgraded or rebuilt over the prior 20 years.
Yet, in a discussion that was intended to energize season ticket holders and fans, Driscoll briefly mentioned a concern he had about the changes to PC’s facilities, including the $35 million Ruane Friar Development Center, “I’ve had moments where I’ve thought that maybe we’ve made it too cushy and too comfortable,” Driscoll shared.
The implication was that Providence may start attracting the type of student-athletes who were valuing things other than what makes PC great.
That was an eye-opening statement at the time for a number of reasons.
For those of us who remember the gyms and weight rooms of 15-20 years ago, it’s remarkable that spoiling PC athletes from a facilities-perspective is even a discussion.
But that comment also reinforced what made Driscoll such an ideal fit at Providence.
He had a vision for where this program needed to go (and was masterful in executing it), yet he did so without losing sight of what made this school special — the history, an underdog mentality, the emphasis on the “student” in “student-athlete,” and an uncommonly tight-knit community that you just have to experience to fully understand.
Earlier this week, Driscoll announced that he will be retiring from Providence at the end of the school year, wrapping up a near 50-year run in college athletics.
When the news broke, I thought of what aspects of his career to highlight. The facilities were an obvious starting point. I also wondered if I should reflect on how well he rebounded with the hirings of Cooley and men’s hockey coach Nate Leaman (who brought PC its first men’s national championship in any sport in 2015), or the direction of the basketball program in the wake of Driscoll and President Father Brian Shanley departing in relatively quick succession.
But ultimately, Driscoll’s story at Providence College, to me at least, was one of a man who genuinely understood and appreciated what made the institution unique — and how he managed to move Providence forward, while staying true to the school’s identity.
There’s certainly something to be said for that in a world of college athletics that has abandoned any semblance of tradition and camaraderie in exchange for financial windfall.
“When it completely becomes about money, it’s completely bottom line, and you’ve lost why we do what we do,” he told me last summer.
That really embodies Bob Driscoll as Providence’s Athletic Director — he was someone who just “got it” on so many levels. He was accessible and a willing ally to many. His greatest accomplishment was helping this school to move forward at a time in which it had to for survival, while still recognizing and respecting how important tradition and the identity of Providence College was to the Friar faithful.
Driscoll helped changed the course of Providence’s athletics, while remaining true to what makes it so special. He would be quick to say he didn’t do it alone, but without him PC athletics likely isn’t in the enviable position it is today.
On a personal note, I don’t remember actually meeting Bob Driscoll for the first time, but I do recall him welcoming me to stop by his office after I randomly emailed him in my early 20s. I will always remember how open and welcoming he was with me a few years later when I was trying to get some traction with my new website. Very few requests were off limits.
It’s cliche, but his door really was always open. Maybe more so than anyone at Providence, Bob really seemed to understand and value what I was trying to do here. For an independent writer trying to scratch out a following in a world with endless options for this type of thing, I’ll be forever grateful that he saw the value in it.