Mount St. Mary’s University women’s basketball head coach Bryan Whitten has announced the hiring of Gayle Coats as an assistant coach.

Coats returns to her Northeast Conference (NEC) roots after a four-year playing career at Fairleigh Dickinson. A 2007 graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson, Coats comes to the Mount after serving as an assistant coach at UNC Greensboro last season. In her one year with the Spartans, Coats assisted with recruiting, scouting, game preparation, practice planning and player development along with serving as the team’s academic liaison.

Prior to her time in Greensboro, N.C., Coats started in the collegiate coaching ranks at Longwood University for four seasons. Serving as the recruiting coordinator in her time with the Lancers, Coats coached and recruited one All-Independent first-team selection, two All-Independent second-team selections, an All-Newcomer and two players that received honorable mention. In her first season, the Farmville, Va., program went 16-13 to notch the program’s best win total in its Division I era.

She also served as the Assistant Video Coordinator during the 2007 season for the WNBA’s New York Liberty. With the Liberty, Coats assisted with the scouting reports of the opponents and with film exchange. She also served as an AAU coach for three teams from 2002-2007 and was the basketball trainer/assistant strength coach for the U-Turn Sports Performance Academy.

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