Augustana College Athletics

It’s nearly unheard of for a basketball player to possess offensive skills good enough for Coach Grey Giovanine to set aside his “defense-first” mindset. Rick Harrigan didn’t get Giovanine to abandon the philosophy entirely. It would probably be more accurate to say the two met halfway, allowing the explosive scorer to twice earn All-CCIW honors and capture the league’s Most Outstanding Player award, as well as Regional Player of the Year and All-America honors as a senior.
 
A Chicago, Illinois native, Harrigan put together a prolific career at Brother Rice High School. As a senior in 2001-02, he set school records for points (704), field goals (244), three-pointers (115) and highest scoring average (24.3) in a season. He was named the Chicago Catholic League’s Player of the Year, was a consensus All-State selection and finished 11th in the voting for Illinois Mr. Basketball. When an opportunity to walk on at Gonzaga didn’t pan out, he decided to join an Augustana program that Giovanine had on the upswing.
 
For two seasons, Harrigan had to bide his time, playing behind Viking All-American Drew Carstens at the two-guard spot and putting up huge numbers at the junior varsity level.
 
Heading into his junior season, Harrigan was all set to step in for the departed Carstens. However, during a tour of Ireland late in the summer of 2004, he suffered a broken right (shooting) hand that was originally attributed to a collision with a teammate in practice. Years later, while a member of the Augustana coaching staff, Harrigan revealed that he had actually incurred the injury in an after-hours altercation with a local who wasn’t particularly fond of Americans.
 
Harrigan was slowed only temporarily. After coming off the bench during the non-conference portion of the 2004-05 season, he began to find his rhythm in CCIW play. He finished fifth in the conference in scoring (15.4 ppg), fourth in three-pointers (2.21 per game), sixth in steals (1.29 spg) and ninth in three-point percentage (.419) and despite starting just 10 games, was named to the All-CCIW second team as the Vikings finished 17-8.
 
There were no major setbacks for Harrigan in a spectacular 2005-06 season. He exploded out of the gate, averaging nearly 25 points as Augustana won its first 10 games. After a loss at 11th-ranked Wisconsin-Stout, Giovanine’s bunch rattled off another 10 straight wins to open the conference slate, climbing to third in the national poll.
 
Not surprisingly, Harrigan was front-and-center in several of those victories. He scored nine of his 30 points in the final 1:17—including a four-point play and the game-winning three-pointer with one second left—as the Vikings rallied from six down to defeat Wheaton 64-61. He scored seven points in the final minute to break open a tie game and lead the team to an 85-79 win over North Central and in the final game of the streak, tallied 37 in an 87-80 downing of Carthage.
 
Harrigan suffered a leg injury in a loss at Wheaton and missed the team’s next game, another defeat at Millikin. However, he returned, with the leg heavily wrapped, to score a game-high 26 points in 41 minutes as Augustana defeated Illinois Wesleyan 93-85 in overtime at home to clinch the program’s first outright CCIW title since 1992-93.
 
The Vikings also received their first NCAA Division III Tournament bid in 13 years. Playing at Carver Center, they defeated Buena Vista 71-66 and then avenged the loss to UW-Stout 77-70 behind Harrigan’s 24 points. Augustana’s season finally came to an end in the round of 16 in Appleton, Wisconsin when Puget Sound handed the Vikings a 92-86 defeat. Harrigan finished with 21 points and nine rebounds in his final collegiate game.
 
Harrigan averaged 22.2 points per game in a 23-6 season, hitting .476 from the field, .430 from three-point range and .802 from the foul line. He was named the CCIW’s Most Outstanding Player and earned Midwest Region Player of the Year and second team All-America honors from D3hoops.com. He was also named to the NABC All-America squad.
 
After graduating from Augustana in 2006 with his bachelor’s degree in communications, Harrigan’s studies took him to Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Despite having no experience with American Sign Language before setting foot on campus, Rick—who is now ASL proficient—coached and earned his master’s degree in public administration from the school renowned for serving the deaf and hearing impaired.
 
After a year as an assistant coach at Elmhurst College, Harrigan returned to Augustana and was a member of Giovanine’s staff from 2011-13. In May of 2013 he was named Head Coach at his alma mater, Brother Rice, where he stayed for two seasons. For the last four years, Rick—who resides in Raleigh, North Carolina—has been an account executive for Allscripts, a health care management organization.