Rider basketball coach Tommy Dempsey (right) goes over a play with the team at a home game. (Photo courtesy of Rider University.)

Tommy Dempsey sat on a stool between Kevin Bannon and Steve Rudenstein at Killarney’s Publick House in Hamilton.

Rudenstein turned to ask Dempsey about his job as Rider University men’s basketball head coach, and Dempsey discussed his squad’s last two games, road losses to Siena and Fairfield.

Bannon—perhaps to cheer up Dempsey—jumped in and congratulated Dempsey, a New York Giants fan, on the Giants’ victory against the Green Bay Packers in the NFL playoffs a few days prior.

“We weren’t road warriors this week, but [Giants head coach Tom] Coughlin’s team was,” Dempsey said.

With the conversation now on football, the men called across the room to Rider baseball coach Barry Davis, a Packers fan who suddenly found himself the target of some good-natured trash talk. All four laughed.

Scenes like this one play out every day, on barstools across the world—just a group of friends talking about work and sports. The only difference was this chatter wasn’t just among friends; it was part of the Tommy Dempsey Coach’s Show, broadcast on The Bronc radio station to the entire Mercer County area. Everyone in the bar, tuned into 107.7FM or watching on gobroncs.com heard the conversation.

The show is Dempsey and the university’s way of reaching out to their community, an area packed with Rider alumni and potential fans. This is the sixth year Dempsey has done the show, which airs live from Killarney’s every Tuesday in January and February from 7–8 p.m. It is the first year for the show at Killarney’s.

The Bronc advertises the show in hopes people will come out to Killarney’s and interact with Dempsey, Bannon and Rudenstein. Bannon—a former men’s basketball head coach at Rider and Rutgers—and Rudenstein are the play-by-play team for The Bronc’s men’s basketball broadcasts. A guest also visits, usually a coach like Davis or a Rider athlete.

The discussion is split among Rider basketball and other topics during the hour-long show. Time is set aside to take questions from the audience at Killarney’s, as well as inquiries over the phone.

About 20 people turned out to watch live Jan. 17, the majority of the crowd at Killarney’s. There were a few diners and bar-goers who wandered in during the show, and Dempsey said doing a radio show on location helps raise awareness among those folks, as much as it is an opportunity to meet the diehard Rider fans in the area.

“We don’t have a football program, so I think people look forward to basketball season,” Dempsey said. “We’ve had a successful program for a number of years now. One of our goals is to grow the fanbase. A lot of the people here are here for the show, but there are people here for dinner. Now they know more about our program.”