Former NJCU basketball player and women’s head coach Pat Devaney has been named the head girls’ basketball coach at St. Thomas Aquinas. (Photo submitted by St. Thomas Aquinas Athletic Department)
They say never follow a legend.
That may or may not be the case with the St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball program, where three different coaches have combined to win seven straight GMC Tournament titles dating back to 2019, but it’s pretty darn close.
Enter Pat Devaney, who has been hired as the Trojans’ new girls’ basketball coach, the school announced on Friday.
Devaney takes over following the departure of Tim Corrigan, who won three championships over a three-year span as head coach, following Joe Whalen. Corrigan was recently named the boys’ basketball head coach at his alma mater, St. Joseph of Metuchen, just up the road from St. Thomas.
Devaney most recently was the women’s basketball coach at Division III New Jersey City University in Jersey City. But with NJCU absorbed by Kean University in Union – and the school now known as Kean Jersey City – NJCU’s sports programs were dissolved following the 2025-26 season.
In eight seasons as head coach, New Jersey City University women’s basketball won three NJAC tournament titles in 2021, 2022 and 2024, and won the regular season in 2023. They had two NCAA Tournament appearances in that span.
A Hudson County guy, hailing from Bayonne, he played at Marist High School his first two seasons before heading down to St. Augustine in deep South Jersey, according to a bio on NJ.com when he was hired at NJCU in 2018.
He then started his collegiate career at Union County College before finishing up at NJCU in the 2007-08 season, and graduated in 2012 with a degree in criminal justice. In 2013, he founded the Rising Stars Basketball Academy and was a skills coach. He also has AAU experience, coaching the 6th Borough Girls 16U program.
Later, he was an assistant at The Patrick School in Elizabeth, and was an NJCU women’s assistant coach from 2012 through 2015.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Devaney to the Trojan family,” said Aquinas Athletic Director Matthew Silvestri in a press release. “His accomplishments at NJCU speak for themselves, but what truly stands out is his ability to build a program from the ground up, develop student-athletes and establish a culture of accountability and success. He understands that athletics are about more than wins and losses. They are about preparing young people for the challenges and opportunities ahead. We are excited about the leadership, energy and experience he will bring to our girls basketball program.”
Click below to hear new St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball coach Pat Devany talk about taking over the Trojans’ program with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
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