​On February 1, 2003, the University of St. Thomas men’s basketball team trailed Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota by three points with 12 seconds left in regulation on the road. It was a shocking moment for the Tommies, who had built a 30-game winning streak against Saint Mary’s dating back to January 1988. The program seemed poised for disaster. Yet Sean Sweeney, a 5-foot-11 freshman point guard, had other plans. I recall watching him drive down the court and heaved up a 28-foot shot, and as a young assistant, I wondered, “What on earth is he doing?” It turned out to be nothing but net. Johnny Tauer, who was an assistant at St. Thomas in 2003 and is now the head coach, recently told the Orlando Sentinel in a phone interview, “We squeaked out a win in overtime, which we had no right earning. He lived for those moments when the game’s on the line.”
Fast-forward 23 years, and Sweeney is taking another shot, though this time the stakes are far higher and the stage is much larger. The former San Antonio Spurs assistant coach has become the head coach of the Orlando Magic. Just like that pivotal moment when he was a freshman guard, more than two decades ago, Sweeney—now 42—has continually steered himself toward another crucial turning point in his life. The steps he has taken, some deliberate and some serendipitous, have helped transform his dream of becoming an NBA head coach into a reality.
To understand why Sweeney felt confident enough to attempt—and convert—such a shot in college, why that same confidence remains a hallmark of his personality as he steps into his first NBA head coaching role after 13 years as an assistant, and why the Magic ultimately hired him, you must start from the beginning and hear from those who were there at the start. “It’s incredibly cool to see someone at this point in his career achieve this level of success while also receiving this opportunity,” Tauer said. “It’s the culmination of two decades of nonstop dedication to basketball. There are no shortcuts.”
Back in 2003, Tauer worked for Steve Fritz, the St. Thomas men’s basketball coach who led the program for 31 years before retiring in 2019. In 2000, Fritz sent Tauer, then a first-year volunteer assistant, to scout Minnesota’s big Catholic high school rivalry between Cretin-Derham Hall and St. Thomas Academy. The mission was to evaluate three St. Thomas seniors. Instead, Tauer found someone else who stood out. “I remember coming back to him and saying, ‘They’re all good players, but there’s this little red-headed junior we have to recruit. He’s the toughest kid on the court.’” That red-headed junior was Sean Sweeney, a young guard who attended Cretin-Derham Hall alongside a future Baseball Hall of Famer.