From not working enough to outworking competition, McGill leaves a lasting legacy at Iona

Rickey McGill and Tim Cluess share warm embrace in final minute of Iona’s NCAA Tournament game against North Carolina. (Photo by Greg Bartram/Iona College Athletics)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Rickey McGill shared at length Thursday what had been brought to light in the days leading up to Iona’s fourth consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship victory nearly two weeks ago.

What will now end as perhaps the most impactful of any of the rags-to-riches tales that have emanated from New Rochelle within the current decade was almost clipped prematurely, when McGill — at the time a backup to another four-year program pillar in A.J. English — met with head coach Tim Cluess at the end of his freshman season. Needless to say, words were exchanged, and they were not necessarily pleasantries between the Spring Valley product and his relentless scrapper of a mentor.

“I just accepted that as a challenge,” McGill recollected in the wake of his final battle wearing the maroon and gold colors of the Gaels, a defiant last stand in which the senior led all scorers with 26 points in a valiant loss to North Carolina. “It just made me want to go harder, made my work ethic even higher. I just wanted to prove everybody wrong.”

“Not to sound cocky or anything, but from where I came as a freshman to where I am now, it just shows how much I care about this game.”

Very few could have expected McGill — who initially committed to Iona’s archrival, Manhattan, following his junior year of high school before ultimately spurning the Jaspers — to have blossomed into the relentless force he graduates as in two months. Thrust into the starting lineup following English’s graduation in 2016, McGill wrapped up his sophomore season as an underrated contributor to a repeat championship outfit, serving as Robin to Jordan Washington’s Batman as the Gaels powered through the MAAC. As a junior, he became an even more vocal leader, setting the tone for a take-charge senior season that picked up steam in lockstep with Iona’s 10-game winning streak entering the NCAA Tournament.

“He teaches everyone, every day,” E.J. Crawford said of McGill’s ability to rally his teammates. “He works his tail off on defense and offense.”

“That’s my brother for life,” Crawford continued, becoming emotional over the realization that the two — almost inseparable on and off the floor — have authored their final duet together. “Around campus, if you see him, you see me. I’m gonna miss him a lot. That’s my bro right here.”

McGill’s commitment to improving himself — a commodity that has unfortunately been overlooked far too often in today’s society of instant gratification — was not lost on the man who threw down the gauntlet three years ago, providing the fateful impetus for the conclusion of the latest success story crafted within the walls of the Hynes Athletics Center.

“We’ve gone through a lot over the last four years, and I can’t tell you how proud I am of him,” Cluess gushed, proclaiming his gratitude for his point guard’s strides to better himself by sharing a heartfelt hug with McGill when emptying Iona’s bench in the final minute of Friday’s game. “I thanked him for the four years and through everything we’ve been through, I’ve watched his development. I told him I’m there for him the rest of his life no matter what he needs — on or off the court — to help him out.”

“You can’t really replace that guy,” Asante Gist — who will likely be the man saddled with the responsibility of running Iona’s offense as life without McGill begins next season — admitted. “We’re going to have to try to find somebody to fill the void, but you can’t replace that man.”

“He’s meant a tremendous amount to our program over these last four years,” said Cluess. “He’s going to be the model when we bring players in and recruit players that I want to use, how somebody came in not highly recruited, really didn’t do much as a freshman and built himself up to the level that he did, and was part of four championship teams and four NCAA teams. What better way to talk about a program and a team than to use Rickey McGill as an example?”

Indeed.