Ludlow High School recently welcomed Dan Falvey as the new varsity boys basketball coach. Falvey replaced Wayne Donaldson, who coached boys varsity basketball from 2002 to 2012.
Falvey graduated with his bachelors degree in history and an education minor in 2009 from Springfield College and got his masters degree in special education in 2011, also from Springfield College.
“I played for the varsity basketball team there for two years, and my senior year I coached at Belchertown High School,” says Falvey.
This is Falvey’s first year as a varsity coach, but this is his fourth year coaching high school sports.
He was the junior varsity coach at Belchertown, but left to focus on earning his masters degree. Falvey then coached the last two years at Chicopee High School. Falvey said that it feels great being a varsity coach. It has been one of his goals and it is special to him to achieve it.
“Coaching is something that I always wanted to [do]. When I was younger I thought it was going to be in soccer, but as I got older basketball became my favorite sport,” he says.
Falvey also helped coach the Chicopee Comp football team but after the basketball season, he would take a break so he could relax and start preparing for the season to come.
The players welcomed Falvey to the team. “I feel as though there is a great improvement with the new coach and I like the competitive attitude that he brings to the team,” says senior captain Jeremy Lamontagne.
Other than coaching, Falvey is a teacher at Chicopee Comprehensive High School, and in the off-season he works at the Nike Factory store at the Lee Outlets.
“I also still play a lot of basketball. [That] and videogames are probably my only hobbies. I really only play sports video games such as FIFA 13 and NCAA football,” says Falvey.
Since coach Falvey has been a coach at Chicopee High for the past two years, he felt like he wanted to take on a varsity position instead of junior varsity.
“When some of the jobs opened up, I felt that Ludlow was a place that I would enjoy being at and would fit me at this point in my career,” says Falvey.
