Lafayette head women’s basketball coach Dianne Nolan has announced her retirement after serving as head coach for five seasons at Lafayette. Nolan has served as a head coach for 38 seasons at three different schools in her head coaching career.

"Coach Nolan has made a significant impact on the lives of countless students during her wonderful career." McCutcheon said. "Dianne brought great energy and enthusiasm not only to the basketball court, but to the Lafayette and greater Easton communities. We thank Dianne for her commitment to her student-athletes and wish her and her family all best wishes in her retirement."

"I’ve been fortunate to have had the pleasure to work with wonderful student-athletes, assistant coaches, staff and administration during my coaching career," Nolan said. "I’m thankful to Bruce McCutcheon and the Lafayette community for the opportunity to serve as the women’s basketball coach and I am excited to watch the continued success of the Lafayette program."

Nolan served as Lafayette’s head women’s basketball coach for five seasons, accumulating a 58-93 record on College Hill. She also held a 22-42 mark in Patriot League contests. During her tenure with the Leopards, Nolan coached four All-Patriot League selections and three All-Patriot League Rookie Team members, including a Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Lafayette also had two Academic All-Patriot League selections during Nolan’s time at Lafayette.

Lafayette will immediately begin a national search for its next head women’s basketball coach. Current Lafayette assistant coach C.K. Calhoun will serve as the Leopards’ interim head coach.

Nolan boasts a career record of 575-509, which ranks her in the top-40 all-time in the Division I ranks. She guided four of her teams to NCAA Tournament berths and one WNIT appearance. Nolan’s student-athletes held a 100 percent graduation success rate during her career. She started her head coaching career at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. before moving to Fairfield University where she spent 28 years as the head coach.

During her tenure at Fairfield, she accumulated a program-record 456 wins and led the Stags to four NCAA Tournament appearances. Nolan’s teams won three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships, and she earned MAAC Coach of the Year honors on five occasions. With Fairfield’s 69-53 victory at Rider on Jan., 29, 2006, Nolan became the 28th coach in Division I history with 500 career wins.

Nolan took over the Fairfield program in 1979 and oversaw its transition to the Division I level in 1981. Her 28-year tenure is among the longest head coaching reigns at one school in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. Under her watch, the Stags captured four NCAA Tournament berths and a spot in the 2000 WNIT. Fairfield won three MAAC regular season crowns and three MAAC Tournament championships.

Nolan’s first two Division I Fairfield teams each won 18 games before her 1983-84 team posted a 22-6 record. That was the first of six 20-win seasons, including three 25-win campaigns. Her 1999-2000 and 2000-01 teams each won 25 games, earned back-to-back at-large postseason appearances and posted a combined 50-14 record during that span. The 1999-2000 team played Wisconsin in the WNIT, and her 2000-01 squad received just the second at-large NCAA Tournament bid in MAAC history.

Her first conference crown came in 1988, when the Stags knocked off La Salle, 55-50, in the MAAC Championship Game before falling to St. John’s in the NCAA Tournament. The Stags returned to the NCAA Tournament as MAAC champions in 1991 and 1998. In addition to her five MAAC Coach of the Year honors, Nolan was also named the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Coach of the Year in 2001 and earned New England Coach of the Year laurels in 1984.

Prior to her run at Fairfield, Nolan was the head coach at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. from 1974-79. She ranks second on the Terriers’ all-time wins list with 61.

Nolan earned a bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education from Glassboro State University (now Rowan University), where she was a four-sport student-athlete, in 1973. She earned a master’s degree in Physical Education from West Virginia University in 1974 and a second master’s degree in Political and Corporate Communication from Fairfield University in 1989.