Pat Garrity explains why Notre Dame basketball GM job was intriguing to him

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are looking to bounce back on the basketball court. That’s meant making some changes within the program, which includes hiring Pat Garrity to be the team’s next general manager.

Moving to college to be a GM amid an uncertain future for college athletics can be a difficult task. Still, there were a couple of key reasons why Garrity chose to take the job, as he explained during his introductory press conference.

“Just wanted to hit on a bit of why this job was so attractive to me,” Pat Garrity said. “And why I’m so excited about it. Obviously, after I retired, spent a little time outside of basketball. Came back into the NBA. I really thought my career afterward was going to be in the NBA. This was really attractive to me for a few reasons. Number one is the place.”

Notre Dame is, unsurprisingly, a place that has been very impactful on Garrity’s life. He played for the Irish during the 1990s and would be the Big East Player of the Year in 1997. There, he found a place that helped shape who he is as a person.

“This place means so much to me. I told Pete [Bevacqua] this when we started having the conversation, I can’t really think of any place outside of my home, that means so much to me as this place here. It’s both because of what it was able to do in terms of my career, how I was able to develop as a student-athlete,” Garrity said. “But really the relationships that I have. My best friends in the world are still all people that I lived in Soren Hall with and went to Notre Dame with. So, number one, just to be able to come back and work at a place like that was extremely attractive.”

Following his time at Notre Dame, Garrity played in the NBA for the Phoenix Suns and Orlando Magic. He’d retire in 2008. After that, he worked for a time for Bridgewater Associates before joining the Detroit Pistons front office. Eventually, he’d become assistant general manager there.

That’s work in the NBA that Pat Garrity has enjoyed. However, as he explained, it also lacks the personal touch that comes from working in the college game.

“Number two is the impact that you can make. In the NBA, it’s a tremendous lifestyle. It’s a lot of fun. You’re working at the highest level of basketball. You’re making an impact sometimes in players’ lives, but it’s just such a big enterprise. Your actions to the impact on the people on your team is a little bit wide. Being able to come back to not only college basketball but a place like Notre Dame, where we can bring in young student-athletes, develop them to the best of their abilities as athletes, set them up for when they stop playing,” Garrity said.

“Being able to have an impact in that way, now that I’m no longer someone that can play basketball. I think that looking at my career, this will maybe be the most meaningful thing I’ve done outside of playing basketball. So, that’s really why this was attractive to me, why we’re making the move out here to South Bend, and couldn’t be more excited.”

Notre Dame is coming off a disappointing 15-18 season. The Irish have now gone since 2022 without making the NCAA Tournament, something the Irish will hope to change under Garrity.