Bill Curley


William Michael Curley is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Emerson Lions men's basketball team.

High school/college career

A 6'9" power forward born in Boston, Massachusetts with a reputation for being a solid outside shooter in spite of his size, Curley led his Duxbury High School Green Dragons basketball team to a Massachusetts State Championship in 1989. He was selected as a McDonald's All-American in 1990, and was one of the most highly recruited players in the entire country. He was sought after by schools such as Notre Dame, Duke, Villanova, North Carolina and Connecticut.
He chose to accept a scholarship offer from his hometown team, the Boston College Eagles. There, Curley led a renaissance of the school's basketball program. He was the Big East Conference Rookie of the Year in 1991, and was twice selected as a first team All-Big East player.
A four-time team MVP, Curley was the team leader on the 1994 squad which advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA basketball tournament. In 1994, he received the BC "Eagle of the Year" award as the school's top athlete. His college coach, Jim O'Brien called him "...one of the best players ever at Boston College."

NBA career

Selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 1994 NBA Draft, Curley played in five NBA seasons, for five different teams: the Detroit Pistons, Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks. His professional career was blighted with injuries, and he missed the entire schedule from 1995–97, playing a maximum of 53 regular season contests, in his rookie year.
Upon retiring, with averages of 2.7 points in two rebounds, in only 147 games, Curley settled with his wife and three children in his hometown of Duxbury, Massachusetts, running summer basketball camps. Curley has two brothers and one sister, with both brothers, Matty and Mickey, having played professional basketball overseas.

Coaching career

In 2011, he became an assistant at Emerson College in Boston under his Boston College coach Jim O'Brien. Upon O'Brien's retirement in 2014, Curley was named interim head coach of the Lions. In 2019, he led Emerson to its first NEWMAC championship and its first NCAA tournament appearance.