Spiders coach Mooney to go through heart surgery

Richmond men’s basketball coach Chris Mooney will undergo heart surgical treatment and miss out on the remainder of the season, the school announced Friday.Mooney will go through

a treatment to remove an aneurysm in his rising aorta.Assistant coach Peter Thomas will work as interim head coach while Mooney is sidelined throughout a recovery duration that is anticipated to last as much as two months.”I wish to thank Richmond Athletics management, my training personnel, and our players for doing everything they can to make a difficult situation a bit simpler,”Mooney said in a declaration. “I’m grateful to have an incredible medical group to depend on, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to completely concentrate on my health for the next few weeks. Throughout that time, I’m confident that Peter Thomas, the rest of our coaches, and our players will increase to the challenge and have a successful end to the season.”Mooney has actually been the head coach at Richmond for 18 seasons, leading the Spiders to three NCAA competition appearances. They went to the Sugary food 16 in 2011 as a 12-seed, disturbing 5-seed Vanderbilt in the preliminary before beating Morehead State and advancing to the second weekend.Richmond won the Atlantic 10 conference competition last season, winning four games in four days, then upset 5-seed Iowa in the preliminary of the NCAA tournament. “The University of Richmond and Spider Athletics are committed to doing whatever possible to support Chris on his path to a full recovery,”athletic director John Hardt stated in the declaration.”Our main focus is ensuring that Chris has the time and space to prioritize his health and his family throughout this period. We look forward to having Chris back on campus leading Spider Basketball when he is completely recuperated and all set to resume his responsibilities.”Richmond is 13-14 overall and 6-8 in the Atlantic 10 this season, with 4 games remaining in the routine season. The Spiders are off this weekend, with Saint Louis going to next Tuesday.