The Fordham Ram conducted an interview with new Men’s Head Basketball Coach Mike Magpayo on April 24. Magpayo made two things clear to The Ram: he loves New York City and he is all in on Fordham University.
Magpayo is familiar with NYC. He met his wife here in 2013 while serving as an assistant coach at Columbia University under Kyle Smith, who is the current head coach of Stanford University’s men’s basketball team. Although he has moved around quite a bit in the last decade, he feels right at home in the city.
“I love it. It’s my favorite city in the world, and it’s been awesome getting reacquainted with it,” he said.
Magpayo said that there is going to be an adjustment period for his family as he transitions into this new position. However, he’s excited to get the ball rolling in the Big Apple.
After talking about his transition back to NYC, Magpayo discussed his approach to recruiting. Magpayo noted that success in the transfer portal can turn a mediocre team into a good team, and a good team into a great contender. However, he also emphasized the importance of recruiting rising first-years out of high school to have a young and diverse roster.
“If I could, I’d choose to have four … and they’re developing in our program, and they understand what the program is,” he said.
This approach to recruiting has proven successful for Magpayo in the past. During his stint at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), he coached multiple first-years who contributed to the program’s success.
“We got back-to-back freshman of the year in the Big West,” Magpayo said when asked about young blood in the program. He feels that this same philosophy, coupled with utilizing the transfer portal, will give Fordham a mix of veterans and younger players with high potential.
Before signing his six-year contract with Fordham, Magpayo spent five seasons at UCR. In the 2024-2025 season, the team went 21-13, boasting a 14-1 record at home. Magpayo cited high attendance as an important contributing factor for UCR’s success at defending its home court.
“Something I’m really, really proud of, in a 2,400-seat gym, we had the best attendance in school history this past year,” he said.
In addition to discussing recruiting, Magpayo talked about the importance of building a culture at Fordham through the basketball program that is based on transparency and a connection between the student body and the players. This connection is not just limited to the players and the student body.
“I’m gonna be a really good teammate,” Magpayo said. “ I’m going to bring on guys that you guys are going to like in your classrooms, who are good people.”
Being closely involved with every aspect of the university is essential to Magpayo’s approach. At UCR, he bought pizza for fans who attended home games and passed them out personally.
“Attendance this past year was 40% higher than ever before … it was absolutely about the student body. I bought the pizzas, I passed them out … I will invest whatever resources because I think it matters,” he said.
Magpayo wants to be more than just a coach; he wants to be an integral part of the Fordham community.
Magpayo also sought to ease the minds of students, addressing the NCAA violations and sanctions on the program that were part of an investigation that occurred before his arrival.
“As far as those violations, really the only one that hurts are the limited official visits until August 1,” he said. “Of course, we have to run a clean program and not get in trouble, but I’m always going to be on the right side of compliance. So we should be good there.”
Magpayo’s final message was a request aimed toward Fordham students: “I think that the pride [in our university] is just to let everybody know, as I’m walking recruits and players around campus, how cool Fordham is and how proud you guys are of it.”
