By Eli Hershkovich
After a 40-day battle in Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Lance Irvin was declared in remission in August 2010. He even received the Missouri Valley Conference’s Most Courageous Award the following February. Nevertheless, Irvin was facing his worst fear once again, less than two years later.
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From 1992-2011, Irvin coached for eight college basketball programs, including stops at DePaul (1992-97), Loyola (1998-01), Illinois State (2002-03) and Southern Illinois (2008-11). An excellent player at Julian High School in the 1980s, he aimed to invoke his basketball competitiveness to permanently defeat leukemia.
In the summer of 2012, the cancer returned while Lance Irvin traveled with the Mac Irvin Fire, representing the Nike AAU program for a tournament. Thankfully, Mike Irvin — his brother and the CEO of the Fire — delivered a critical assist.
Mike Irvin’s human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matched Lance Irvin’s, granting Mike the chance to donate stem cells for a bone marrow transplant and save his brother’s life.
“I over-exceeded what they [the doctors] thought [cell-wise], and I don’t smoke or drink, so I was pretty sure I was going to give him some good cells,” Mike Irvin said, laughing. “My dad always told us to be close, and we’re tight knit [because of it]. That was the biggest moment for our family. That he could keep going.”
Nearly six years later, Chicago State has just hired the cancer-free Lance Irvin as its next head coach, replacing fellow Chicago native Tracy Dildy, who kept the program afloat from 2010 through last season.
Among Irvin’s five siblings, four of them are coaches in the Chicago basketball scene. Since their father, the legendary McGlother “Mac” Irvin, passed away in December 2011, his children have continued to employ the coaching legend’s motivational tactics, aiding local hoops recruits’ consequent success.
From starring at Tilden Career Community Academy in the 1950s to playing for Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, N.C., before settling in as an executive at Xerox, Mac Irvin didn’t take a standard route to evolve into the “godfather of Chicago basketball.”
When he formed then-Team Chicago in 1992, he strived to gather elite high school talent from the inner city — driven by Tommy Hamilton (Martin Luther King) and Rashard Griffith (King) — for a club basketball program. Lance Irvin watched his father preach position-less basketball well before it became a fad, especially for his two seven-footers.
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“If you were open, he’d [Mac Irvin] tell you to shoot no matter if you couldn’t shoot,” Lance Irvin said. “Even if you were the biggest person on the team, he’d give you the chance to bring the ball up.”
Mac Irvin nominated which Chicago natives headed to the famous ABCD Camp, representing the summer’s hottest recruiting event. Mac Irvin never coached there at ABCD, as his primary goal centered around helping prospects earn a full ride to college — even if their chances of playing pro basketball were slim.
Chicago area standouts like Antoine Walker (Mount Carmel), Melvin Ely (Thornton Township) and Steve Hunter (Proviso East) were some of the state’s pioneers at the event. Then, there’s Nazr Mohammed, who prepped at Kenwood Academy.
Mike Irvin, who now serves as the Fire’s CEO and U17 coach, wasn’t confident in the then-overweight Mohammed’s predictable moves in the low post. But Mac continued to show faith in him, and the 6-foot-10, 221-pound center went on to win two national championships at Kentucky before spending 23 seasons in the NBA, including three with the Bulls.
“He had an eye for talent,” Mike Irvin said. “Sometimes, a lot of coaches get on these kids when they make a turnover. [He said], ‘Don’t worry about the turnover. Let’s get up and down [the court]. Let’s showcase these players.’ Having kids believe in themselves, and you get better from there.”
Nick Irvin — Mac Irvin’s youngest son — thrived under his father’s guidance, too. The two spent their late nights in Carver High School’s gym, sharpening Nick’s aggressiveness near the rim. He went onto average 27 points and eight assists per game in the 1996-97 season.
“‘Push through son,’” Nick Irvin recalled his father saying. “‘You got my blood! No one man can stop you! Are you the greatest? Who better than you?’”
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After originally committing to DePaul, Nick Irvin departed for Fresno State once Lance Irvin was booted from the Blue Demons’ staff. He spent two seasons playing with Ely at Fresno State under legendary college basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian at the helm.
Nick, now the head coach at city power Morgan Park, returned home to coach for his father, joining Lance and McGlother Irvin Jr. on the Fire’s staff. Mac allowed the three to split up head coaching duties between the offense, defense and late-game situation plays. Mac sat at the end of the bench, analyzing their every move.
“My father kept saying, ‘Nah, y’all can’t do that,’” Lance Irvin said. “Or [jokingly saying], ‘Ya’ll don’t win a game, I’m gonna fire y’all.’ We basically learned from trial and error. We never say we’re better than the other. We just wanted to win.”
Mac taught his namesake, McGlother Jr., who currently coaches the Mac Irvin Lady Fire, about the necessity of fundamentals for female players. The Fire’s girls participate in every drill, opening the door to whichever position is most suitable down the road — like his father believed in.
Among all of his former and current players, Mac Irvin Jr. considered Linnae Harper the best pound-for-pound rebounder he’s ever coached, overpowering girls who boasted a six-inch height advantage. The 5-foot-8 Harper — who re-signed with the Chicago Sky in July — grew up playing basketball with Jabari Parker, who became a star at Simeon himself. She was also named a McDonald’s All-American in 2013 before playing college basketball at Kentucky and Ohio State.
Harper was coached by Irvin’s wife Corry at Whitney Young, where she has won three Class 4A state titles and amassed over 400 wins.
Nick and Lance Irvin reunited on Morgan Park’s sidelines in the 2012-13 season when Lance joined the staff as an assistant. The two helped propel Morgan Park to four state championships, giving Nick Irvin the most state titles among Class 3A head coaches all-time.
“My first game or two with him, we were winning by 50-55,” Lance Irvin said. “I said, ‘Nick, you probably want to call the dogs off. He looked at me and said, ‘You got nice since you’ve been in college. Nah, I’m not gonna turn the dogs off. At the end of the day, I’m gonna make sure the teams that we playing, they don’t want to play us again.’ He just says some stuff to get the kids going. He says some stuff to get the coaching staff going. You gotta be able to motivate kids to help kids.”
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Their first state title came with guard Billy Garrett, Jr., whose father Billy Garrett Sr. coached with Mac Irvin before joining the Blue Demons’ bench in 2009. Garrett Jr. followed his father to DePaul (2013-17) after his time with the Mustangs and Fire. He now plays in the NBA G League. Former five-star recruit Ayo Dosunmu — a fellow Morgan Park grad and Fire point guard — will suit up for the Illinois Fighting Illini this season.
Nick and Lance Irvin credited their father’s training for the development of the program’s point guards. During practice, the two would split up the team’s top point guards while each coaching one, motivating them via competition.
Dosunmu carried the Mustangs to their latest state title over Springfield Southeast in March, scoring a Class 3A championship game record 28 points. Meanwhile, Nick Irvin saw a different side to his brother late in the contest. It reminded him of himself.
“‘Listen, men,” Nick Irvin recalled Lance saying. “‘We gotta be great these last three minutes of the game. We gotta make sure Nick on-point and we on-point and everything. Let’s win this together, and let’s win this damn good.’”
Lance Irvin will carry over his fearless attitude to Chicago State, a seemingly hopeless low Division I program which totaled a combined 21 wins since the 2014-15 season. He should benefit from his family name, their father’s AAU pipeline — and all of the guidance that came along with it.
(Top photo of Lance Irvin and Chicago State AD Chris Zorich: Courtesy of Rise Strategy Group)