Entering his fourth season as the head coach of the Bryant University men’s basketball team, one thing is perfectly clear: the Bulldogs have without a doubt found the right coach to lead their program into Division I in Tim O’Shea.

A former assistant at the University of Rhode Island and Boston College, O'Shea spent seven years as the head coach at Ohio University before arriving at Bryant, guiding the Bulldogs to eight victories in the school's first year of Division I competition (8-21 overall) and setting the bar for what is to come under his tutelage.

The Bulldogs earned the first victory of the program’s new Division I history just three games into the 2008-09 season, defeating Northeast Conference foe Quinnipiac University, 59-50, in New York City. From there, wins over Yale and league foes Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island, Saint Francis (PA), Wagner, Central Connecticut and St. Francis (NY) soon followed, along with another win over the Bobcats and a 70-46 topping of NJIT.

With just a single class of Division I recruits in its ranks and injuries to key players plaguing the lineup, Bryant struggled to see the same success in 2009-10, a year that would mark the beginning of a rebuilding process in the program's third year of Division I transition. The Bulldogs took a 52-51 road win over Wagner on Feb. 18 and saw rookie Vlad Kondratyev earn the program's first-ever all-conference postseason honor, named to the NEC All-Rookie Team.

O'Shea's patience paid off during the 2010-11 campaign, as he saw his first Division I recruiting class, as well as the addition of key players who were forced to sit out a season due to NCAA transfer rules, prove that it could compete against quality programs in the region and country.  The Bulldogs went 9-21 during Coach O'Shea's third full season behind the bench, marking an eight-win improvement from the previous season that was amongst one of the best single-season turnarounds last year.

Led by redshirt-sophomore Frankie Dobbs, who was forced to sit out the 2009-10 season due to NCAA transfer rules after transferring from Ohio University following his freshman campaign, as well as the emergence of a new Bryant Star in freshman Alex Francis, the Bulldogs picked up victories against seven NEC foes in 2010-11, and competed against stiff competition - including games at Boston College and at Michigan.

In his seven seasons at the help in Athens, Ohio, O'Shea was the architect of a Bobcat program that rose to greatness not just within the MAC but also having an impact on the national stage.

In his last four seasons alone, O'Shea's Bobcats compiled 79 wins, captured a MAC title while being named college basketball's "It" team by ESPN.com. O’Shea was 120-95 during his tenure at Ohio, including taking wins over a number of notable college basketball powerhouses, including North Carolina, Virginia and the University of Maryland. In 2007-08, O’Shea’s last year with the Bobcats, Ohio posted a 20-13 record and reached the second round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

O'Shea's first season at Ohio was highlighted by victories over DePaul and over dominant UNC in Chapel Hill on national television. In his second season at the helm, O'Shea led his Bobcats to a regular-season victory over Virginia and a spot in the MAC Tournament semifinals after the team posted a 12-6 conference record.

Following the 2002-03 season, standout forward Brandon Hunter became the first Bobcat selected in the NBA draft since 1995, when the Boston Celtics nabbed the Ohio big man in the second round. A year later, O'Shea faced the daunting task of replacing not just Hunter, but also leading sixth-man Sonny Johnson and three-point sharpshooter Steve Esterkamp. The 2003-04 Bobcats slipped to a 10-20 record, but bounced back in 2004-05 for their memorable run to the NCAA tournament.

The 2004-05 Bobcats captured significant non-conference victories against San Francisco, Butler and Detroit, and then won 11 of their last 15 contests to head into the conference tournament on a high note. O'Shea kept his troops on task as they turned that momentum into a four-game sweep through the MAC Tournament. The team’s run ended in the first round of the NCAA tournament when it drew fourth-seeded Florida, but the ’Cats didn't go down without a fight, nearly overcoming a 20-point second-half deficit before eventually falling, 67-62.

Ohio opened 2005-06 with the moniker of collegiate hoops' "It" team and compiled 19 victories before falling to eventual league champion Kent State in the MAC Tournament semifinals. The Bobcats registered impressive victories over Cincinnati, Maryland, Marist, URI and St. Joseph's in the following two seasons (2006-08), nearly upsetting Kentucky and Louisville as well.   

The 2007-08 season saw Ohio return to the postseason, as the Bobcats advanced to the second round of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational after earning a victory over Brown in the opening contest.

The players O'Shea coached at Ohio have proven to become winners in the classroom, as well as on the court. Of the 25 student-athletes who have completed their eligibility under O'Shea during their senior seasons, 24 of them have graduated.

O’Shea’s commitment to excellence on and off the floor is a product of the lessons he learned on the bench at several other Division I institutions, his head coaching career beginning after extensive experience as an assistant in the Ivy League, the Atlantic 10 and the Big East.

His coaching career began as a graduate assistant at the University of Rhode Island and Boston College, using that experience in his first full-time appointment, coming at Yale in 1986.

O’Shea spent the next two seasons with the Bulldogs before making his next stop up the coaching ladder — returning to URI for a spot on Al Skinner's staff.

O’Shea spent nine seasons at URI, playing a key role in the Rams’ bids into two NCAA tourmanents and a pair of NIT berths. During his time at URI, O'Shea’s most notable recruit came in the form of current NBA star Cuttino Mobely.

In the spring of 1997, O'Shea returned to his alma mater alongside Skinner. In four seasons at Boston College, he helped build the Eagles into the Big East regular-season and tournament champions in 2000-01, coaching current Bryant assistant coach Dwayne Pina along the way.

BC posted a 27-5 record that season, earning a No. 3 seed for the NCAA East Regional and finishing the year with a No. 9 ranking in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) just two years after being ranked 246.

But O'Shea was no stranger to success in the Eagles locker room. After earning All-America accolades at Wayland (Mass.) High School, O'Shea played for some of the most successful squads in Boston College history. The Eagles won two Big East regular-season titles and earned four postseason tournament berths during his career, advancing twice to the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 and once to the Elite Eight.

O'Shea graduated from Boston College in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in communication and a minor in English. He went on to add a master's degree in counseling/psychology from BC two years later.

Named head coach at a campus press conference on June 23, 2008, O'Shea becomes the seventh Bryant men’s basketball coach in school history and only the third since 1989-90. He and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Newport, R.I. with their daughter, Madeleine (11).

Bryant University, located in Smithfield, R.I., is in its third year of transition into Division I. Bryant will become an full member of the Northeast Conference in 2012-13.