John McCarthy

Tournament Director Division I Men's Basketball
816.595.8122 | jmccarthy@naia.org

John McCarthy brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his position as the NAIA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament Director. 

John comes to the NAIA from his newly created consulting company, McCarthy Sports Inc.  While there, he created McCarthy Sports Travel and the Collegiate Basketball Invitational, a national basketball event designed to showcase the talents of individual players from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA member institutions.

Prior to the creation of his company, John enjoyed a successful career in various facets of college athletics. He served as an Assistant Basketball Coach, Head Basketball Coach, and Athletic Development Director before becoming Lynn University’s Athletic Director.

During his four years at Lynn, the Fighting Knights secured two NCAA National Championships, 10 NCAA National Final Four finishes, many Sunshine State Conference regular season and tournament championships and won back-to-back Mayor’s Cups (Men’s Division) within the Sunshine State Conference.  Lynn University improved its national standing within the NACDA Director’s Cup each year that McCarthy served as Athletic Director: 2002-03 (75th place); 2003-04 (48th place); 2004-05 (12th place); 2005-06 (10th place).  

Most recently, John served as the Chair of the South Region for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee and was a member of the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball National Committee from 2004-06.  He also was the Chair of three Sunshine State Conference Committees: Marketing Committee (2004-06), Officials Committee (2005-06) and the Sportsmanship Task Force (2006). 

Prior to his stint at Lynn University, McCarthy served as Head Basketball Coach at Wilmington College in New Castle, DE.  Over four years as head coach of the Wildcats, the team improved from nine wins in his first season to 19 wins in his fourth season while his players averaged a 3.0 + GPA each year.

Throughout the 1990’s, John directed his own basketball camps, and basketball coaches clinics. He also  served as Associate Editor of the HoopScoop (a national basketball publication based in Louisville), wrote for various basketball publications and appeared as a special guest on  several radio stations.

McCarthy earned his Bachelor’s Degree in History with a concentration in Journalism from the University of Delaware and a Master’s Degree in Sports and Athletic Administration from Lynn University.  In addition, McCarthy has gained additional education through NACDA’s Leadership Conference (Atlanta, 2004) and through Leadership Boca (Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, 2002).  

McCarthy married the former Christine Beach in July of 2002. The couple and their son Sean Patrick make their home in Kansas City, MO.