Keith Urgo has wasted no time turning heads during his tenure at the helm of the Fordham men’s basketball program.  Elevated from the position of associate head coach in April of 2022, Urgo promptly led the Rams to their finest season in more than three decades on his way to Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honors.
 
The 2022-23 Rams finished with a record of 25-8, tied for the second highest win total in program history behind only the legendary 26-3 Rams of 1970-71.  Urgo’s first campaign was the most successful in the school’s three-decade Atlantic 10 tenure, winning 12 conference matchups and finishing with a .667 winning percentage.  Their 12-6 league mark placed the Rams in a three-way tie for second place in the final A-10 standings and secured the no. 3 seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship, another program high-water mark for Fordham.  The Rams took down La Salle in the conference quarterfinals in front of 9,000 fans at Barclays Center to earn their second-ever berth in the Atlantic 10 semifinals.
 
In addition to becoming the second Fordham head man to ever be named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (Nick Macarchuk- 1999), Urgo also won the Joe B. Hall Award, presented annually by CollegeInsider.com to the top first-time head coach in the nation. He was also the NABC District 4 Coach of the Year and named a finalist for the Jim Phelan Award, which recognizes the nation's top coach.
 
In 2023-24, Urgo led his team to several notable wins, including a victory over reigning NIT champion North Texas at Barclays Center, the Rams’ first-ever win at Saint Louis, a home triumph over eventual A-10 Champ Duquesne on ESPN2, and an opening-round Atlantic 10 Championship win in overtime against Davidson.  It marked the third straight year that Fordham won an A-10 Tournament game
 
Urgo’s 38 wins through his first two seasons are the second highest total in program history, trailing only John Bach (40), the Rams’ all-time wins leader.

In 2022-23, Urgo saw three of his players honored by the conference at season’s end.  Darius Quisenberry earned Second Team All-Conference accolades, Khalid Moore garnered a spot on the All-Conference Third Team and Kyle Rose played his way onto the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team.  It marked just the second time in program history and the first since 2006 that multiple Fordham players were honored with spots on All-Atlantic 10 Teams.
 
The following spring, Rose earned his second consecutive nod to the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team.

Just as impressive as his on-court achievements, Urgo has led the charge to change the culture around Fordham Basketball on campus.  By January of his first season, Rose Hill was filled to the rafters, anchored by a raucous student section that Urgo affectionately dubbed "The Shirtless Herd."  After the crowd helped will Fordham to a pair of impressive victories over George Washington and Saint Louis in late January, Urgo took to calling the 98-year-old gym "Rose Thrill" and the name stuck.  The Rams won their final six home games of the year and went 18-2 overall in the Bronx, good enough for the highest home win total in the nation.
 
Urgo, who was recognized as one of the nation’s top assistant coaches in 2019-2020 while at Penn State, came to Fordham in 2021 as the team’s associate head coach under Kyle Neptune.
 
In his first year at Fordham on staff, Urgo helped the Rams to an amazing turnaround as Fordham went 16-16 overall, a 14-win improvement from 2020-2021. The Rams won a second round Atlantic 10 Tournament game, reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 2007 and opened Atlantic 10 regular season play 2-0 for the first time since joining the conference in 1995. The Rams finished the season ranked 41st nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency according to KenPom, the highest such rating in program history.

Urgo arrived at Fordham with an impressive resume, highlighted by 10 seasons on staff at Penn State, the last eight of which were as the team’s associate head coach.  Widely regarded as one of the toughest high major jobs in the country at the time of his arrival, Penn State enjoyed unprecedented success during his time in State College, highlighted by a pair of 20-win seasons and the 2018 NIT Championship.  During the 2019-20 campaign, Penn State began the season 20-5 and rose as high as no. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.  The Nittany Lions, who won eight straight Big Ten games between Jan. 18 and Feb. 15, were widely considered to be an NCAA Tournament lock prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bracket Matrix projected Penn State to be a no. 6 seed.
 
In the fall of 2018, ESPN ranked the Penn State coaching staff No. 7 among high-major programs for the ability to develop talent. 
 
Urgo mentored eight All-Big Ten selections during his time in State College, including two unanimous First Team All-Big Ten honorees (Tony Carr- 2018, Lamar Stevens- 2020) and 2019 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Josh Reaves.  After the 2018 season, Carr became the first Penn State in nearly 20 years to hear his name called in the NBA Draft, as the New Orleans Pelicans selected him 51^st overall.  Stevens, Reaves, Tim Frazier, Chris Babb, Seth Lundy and Izaiah Brockington have all suited up in the NBA after playing for Urgo at Penn State.
 
With Urgo as the program’s lead recruiter, Penn State enjoyed a noticeable uptick in the talent arriving on campus.  Beginning in 2013, the Nittany Lions turned in a top-85 recruiting class in six of the next eight seasons according to the 247Sports Composite.  The 2016 recruiting class was the crown jewel of Urgo’s Penn State tenure, as the Nittany Lions signed the nation’s 26^th ranked class, highlighted by a pair of top-100 players in Stevens and Carr out of Roman Catholic in Philadelphia.
 
Urgo arrived in State College following five seasons at Villanova under the tutelage of Naismith Hall of Famer Jay Wright.  Beginning as the program’s video coordinator in 2006, he was quickly promoted to director of basketball operations before closing his Villanova tenure as an assistant coach in 2010-11.  During that time, Villanova made five NCAA Tournaments, advanced to two Sweet 16s and earned a spot in the 2009 Final Four.  The Wildcats went 120-52 (.698) with Urgo on staff.

A 2002 graduate of Fairfield University, Urgo was a two-sport athlete who played varsity basketball and lacrosse for the Stags. Following graduation, he helped develop a non-profit organization, “Playing for Peace, Inc.”, designed to aid in conflict resolution.  A true “Man for Others,” Urgo’s role with the organization took him first to South Africa and then to Northern Ireland, where for 18 months he would teach basketball to local youth and help them develop leadership skills. The organization, now operating as “Peace Players International,” has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards including the 2007 Arthur Ashe ESPY Award for Courage.

After returning stateside in 2004, Urgo accepted a position as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Gonzaga College High School, where he directed the junior varsity squad to a 32-7 record while assisting with the national powerhouse varsity team.

Urgo, and his wife, Kristy, have four children: Ty, Cody, Samantha and Sydney Rae. The Urgo family is involved in several community organizations, including Able Athletics, an organization that brings the joy of athletic participation to differently abled children.

A Washington, D.C., native and one of 10 children, Urgo has a Fordham connection in his family as his father, Don, is a 1959 Fordham College and 1962 Law School graduate.