After the dust settled on Saturday night’s thrilling late comeback win by 14 points over St. Bonaventure, there was no shortage of words that could be used to describe the George Mason University men’s basketball team. But one stood out above the rest: special.
It was the twentieth victory of the season before Tony Skin‘s squad, which is the fastest — both in date and number of games — that the men’s program at GMU has ever reached 20 wins. With the win, Skinn also became the first coach in program history to post three straight 20-win seasons, doing so in his first three at the helm. That’s right: even his mentor, the legendary Jim Larranaga, never achieved this feat.
It was only fitting that the milestone victory came in such an unlikely manner, one that followed a script that is no stranger to Mason this season. For about 35 minutes, it felt like the Patriots didn’t have a chance. They fell behind early and stayed behind, and every time the momentum swung in their favor, St. Bonaventure got it right back. Then they stole control in the blink of an eye and left the opposition wondering what on earth had happened to them. As a fan, this is the kind of win that puts a smile on your face that won’t disappear for the rest of the evening. You consume as much postgame media as possible and you go to bed thinking about how proud you are to root for a team like this.
That’s been the life of George Mason fans for the past two years. Not only is the team seeing consistent results for the first time since joining the Atlantic 10, but they are doing so with Tony Skinn as their coach. No one at Fairfax needs an explanation of what Skinn’s name means to GMU, and for that reason he had almost no choice but to succeed when he was hired in 2023 to replace Kim English. Bringing in a program alumnus to lead your school can be a real gift, but it can also backfire, and when it backfires, it tends to get ugly. It divides the fanbase between those who will make endless excuses for the coach simply because of who he is, and those who will turn their backs and never look at him the same way again. It becomes an impossible situation where the school ultimately has to put aside sentimentality to do what needs to be done.
Had Skinn not proven to be the right man for the job, it would have made for an absolutely unbearable discourse that would have made any fan’s viewing experience downright miserable. Luckily, no one has to worry about that, because instead, Mason has been blessed with the best possible type of coach: an “Our Guy.” Someone whose job security is unquestioned, whose teams can always compete at a high level, and above all whose presence embodies the spirit of the program in such a way that every game feels more meaningful for the fact that he is on the sidelines.
When your coach is someone with an authentic connection to your school, the excitement of victory increases tenfold. And for Skinn, it’s not just a connection. It’s a connection to the greatest team in Mason history, still to this day the most improbable Final Four run the NCAA tournament has ever seen. Before he coached a single game for the Patriots, he never had to buy a drink in Fairfax again. Now he has taken what was already a legendary status at GMU and improved it even further. He transformed the culture. He brought along ‘Patriot Pressure’ and ‘Tanden’. He made Mason “NoVA’s team.” He has given each of his groups its own nickname that corresponds to the age of the program because, as he often emphasizes in the press room, he wants the teams he coaches to be as special as the ones he played on. He’s our man.
It would be absolutely wonderful if he could remain Our Man forever. If only he could become as synonymous with the George Mason brand of basketball – albeit on a much smaller scale – as a Roy Williams at North Carolina or a Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, a Bob Huggins at West Virginia or a Matt Painter at Purdue. However, the harsh reality that no one wants to think about is that the more he wins, the harder it will be to keep him at home. Maryland almost chased him away last year. Others will likely follow suit this offseason. And at some point he gets an opportunity he can’t refuse.
If this were ten years ago, Skinn might be well on his way to building Mason into the Gonzaga of the Atlantic 10. But in the NIL and Transfer Portal era, there will likely never be another Gonzaga, as sad as it is to say. College basketball will never have another Mark Few, or another Brian Dutcher, or even another Greg Kampe, someone who is a true mid-major loyalist for life. Program icon or not.
Only time will tell how long the magical atmosphere Skinn has built at Mason will last. But there will come a day when it will be over. And when that day comes, you’ll wish you had him back. You wish you had a coach who really bleeds green and gold. You wish you could be 20-2 in the overall conversation and get votes in the AP poll. You wish you could experience wins like the one against St. Bonaventure.
You experience that now. Tony Skinn is the head coach of the George Mason men’s basketball program. Team 60 breaks all school records. There is patriotic pressure. You have teeth. You have the NoVA team. You have something special.
Like Andy Bernard from The office once said, “I wish there was a way to know when you’re in the good old days.” Right now, George Mason is living in the good old days. Let’s cherish them while they are here.
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