Elmont native led LIU to ‘March Madness’ game

Elmont native Jim Ferry, head coach of the Long Island University Blackbirds basketball team, led the team to its first National College Athletic Association tournament “March Madness” bid in 14 years on March 9. The team, playing on its home court in Brooklyn, defeated the defending Northeast Conference champion, Robert Morris University, in an overtime thriller, 85-82, to claim the title.

The excitement stopped short on March 18, when LIU lost 102-87 to the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, five-time NCAA champions. “We’re focused now on getting these guys focused on academics.” Ferry said. “And we’ll come back ready to win the tournament next year.” He added that the team will start conditioning for next season on April 1.

Ferry, who made his home in Merrick in 2001, grew up on Donovan Street, near Meacham Avenue, in Elmont. He moved to Elmont from Ozone Park, Queens, as a first-grader, and played basketball at Valley Stream North High School. “I loved growing up in Elmont,” Ferry said. “It was a great neighborhood — the way it should be — a tight community of blue-collar people, like cops and firemen.”

Ferry lived in Elmont until 1986, when he moved to New Hampshire to attend college after earning a scholarship to play Division II basketball at Keene State College. Ferry’s mother and father, a transit police officer, lived in Elmont until 1998. Even while playing college basketball, Ferry thought he would follow in his father’s footsteps and become a police officer. During his senior season, however, Ferry blew out his knee and had to have it surgically reconstructed. “So I was unable to become a police officer, and jumped right into college coaching,” he said.

Ferry joined the coaching staff at his alma mater, Keene State, right after graduation. He then coached at Bentley College in Boston for seven years, before becoming head coach at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire. He coached there for a year before returning to Long Island to become head coach at Adelphi University.

“It was a great opportunity for me to come back to Long Island, where I’d grown up,” he said.

Ferry became head coach at LIU in 2002, after the team came off a five-win season. Since then, the squad has steadily improved, reaching the conference semifinals last year before losing to Quinnipiac by five points. This year, the team won its conference after finishing the season 27-5.

“Each year we’ve gotten better and better, and the program has gotten to a whole new national level now,” Ferry said. “We rebuilt it from scratch, which is really rewarding.”

Ferry and his wife, Kelly, have four children. Their oldest, Victoria, is a junior at Kennedy High School in Bellmore and plays on the school’s varsity basketball team. The couple also have twins, James and Hannah, who attend Merrick Avenue Middle School, and their youngest, Leo, is a student at Levy-Lakeside Elementary School.

Ferry runs a summer basketball camp at the Freeport Recreational Center. He is also an assistant coach on the Merrick Little League Williamsport team.

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