Dan Harwood: MoCo’s Longest Tenured and All-Time Winningest Coach

Unedited article, written by Brian Magid

MONTGOMERY COUNTY MD HOOP 🏀 CURRENT HISTORY: 2000s Vol 1 (MoCo “Basketball Lifer” Series Vol 3).

DAN HARWOOD (PEARY HS CLASS OF 1976) > LONGEST TENURED COACH IN MoCo HISTORY (SENECA VALLEY 4 years 1986-1990 AND ENTERING HIS 31st YEAR AT MAGRUDER 1990-present. ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACH IN MOCO HISTORY WITH 534 WINS).

Before I present the considerable “bullets” of this man’s coaching career, please make note of the following: While twice broken feet cut short what would have been a productive HS career at Peary, what many may not know is this:

– 2nd all-time leading career scorer at MC-Rockville with 1,137 points
– 2nd all time scoring average over 26 ppg
– Played 2 years at Boston University under Rick Pitino 1979-81. Teammates there with MoCo standout Steve Wright (Einstein ‘76), Glenn Consor (radio color commentator, analyst, post-game host of Wiz for last 22 years) and roommate of Brett Brown (long-time NBA Spurs assistant and most recently head coach of the 76ers 2013-20).
– Played professionally in Ireland
– Inducted into the MC-Rockville Hall of Fame

Started his coaching career under legendary Paint Branch coach Hank Galotta, where he coached the JV at PB for several years before moving on to Seneca Valley in 1986 and eventually succeeding another MoCo legend, Gene Doane, thus beginning the longest basketball coaching career in MoCo history. After compiling a 42-47 record in 4 years at SV, his 30 years at Magruder have seen a remarkable level of success. To wit:

– Two state championships (2001 and 2012)
– Seven regional titles (in other words, 7 trips to MD: 2 championships above, lost in state final 3 times – 2003, 2007 and 2013, lost in semis 2002 and 2011.
– 13 division titles
– All-Met Coach of the Year 2001 (Magruder 27-0, ranked #1 in area)
– Five times MoCo Coach of the Year
– More than 60 Magruder players have gone on to play at some level of college basketball
– Multiple former Magruder players currently coaching in MoCo
– 25+ years (summers) and counting of Coach Harwood’s Basketball Camp, where you learn more than just basketball 🙏. Worth the price of admission for his daily “musings on life” to the campers – and anyone else for that matter 👍👌🙏💯👏
– Countless lives positively influenced. Talk about making a difference!! 🙏

The distinction of being the longest tenured and all-time winningest coach in MoCo’s esteemed basketball history is no small achievement. Following in the footsteps of a long line of “past” legendary MoCo coaches with double decade plus careers – **Gene Doane (Sherwood, Blair, SV), John Barrett (Springbrook), Hank Gallotta(PaInt Branch), Jim Connor (Rockville) ** > that’s one heckuva legacy. Interestingly enough, also following in these footsteps CURRENTLY is my good friend Paul Foringer at Quince Orchard – who is entering his 33rd year as a head coach in MoCo (Gaithersburg – state champs 1999), the SECOND longest tenured coach in MoCo history. Check this out: Coach Foringer is also a Peary graduate (Class of ‘72) and was an All-County performer for the Huskies. Rest assured that will be the subject of a future post. What a career!!!

Huge weekend for Coach Harwood coming up this Saturday, as he will join 7 others in induction to the Metropolitan Area Basketball Hall of Fame, including fellow MoCo inductee Ed Peterson (Springbrook ‘70), along with John Thompson, Brenda Frese, Sidney Lowe, Dereck Whittenburg, Capital Classic founder Bob Geoghan and the man who is considered the “Father of Black Basketball,” E.B. Henderson (Dunbar, UDC, Howard). Quite the esteemed Class and well deserved 👏 💯 Looking forward to being there.
(The event is being live streamed on YouTube at 11:30am. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/ypCgihKz1xw .

Last but not least – and while this statement will probably “be lost” on most who read this post – Danny’s greatest “achievement” besides his distinguished basketball career, his major influence on lives young and old and as father to his four awesome kids – will NO DOUBT be as founder of the Old Dog “Semi-Professional” Basketball League 😉 😄 If you know, you know. If you don’t, well, you’re just not an Old Dog 🤷🏼‍♂️. But you wish you were 😉

(Numbers/stats noted here subject to correction 😄)