Anthony Bozzella has been named the new head women’s basketball coach at Seton Hall University it was announced Wednesday by Director of Athletics Pat Lyons.
Bozzella, a 1988 graduate of Seton Hall University, is the fourth women’s basketball coach in Seton Hall history. He has 21 years of collegiate head coaching experience, spending the last 11 seasons at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., where he resurrected the Gaels’ program into a perennial contender in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to come home and coach at this great University,” Bozzella said. “Seton Hall has always been a very special place to me. This is where I grew up, met my wife and now I have a beautiful family that I look forward to sharing this wonderful experience with. With the leadership of President Esteban, Pat Lyons and the support from all the staff, this is a school where we have a great opportunity to be very successful.”
Over the past eight season’s Bozzella’s impact at Iona really began to take shape. During that stretch he posted a 138-116 overall record, reaching three MAAC title games and earning four WNIT berths over the past seven seasons.
With a 20-13 overall record in 2012-13, Bozzella recorded his third 20-win season at Iona, reached the MAAC championship game for the third time and guided the Gaels to their fourth WNIT appearance.
He has coached a pair of MAAC Players of the Year, most recently Damika Martinez in 2013, seen four of his players earn MAAC Rookie of the Year accolades, and has had 21 players named All-MAAC since 2006.
“We are excited to welcome Tony back to the Seton Hall family to lead our women’s basketball program,” Lyons said. “He brings a wealth of experience to his alma mater after enjoying a plethora of success at his previous three head coaching stops. Tony emerged as the unanimous selection by the committee in a thorough search process. We believe his track record mentoring student-athlete success both on and off the court will continue at Seton Hall University. “
Bozzella’s 85-56 record in the MAAC over the past seven years is the second best mark in the league. He was named the Co-MAAC Coach of the Year in 2005-06, when he guided the Gaels to their first winning season in 23 years, tying for third place in the MAAC standings before advancing to the semifinals in the conference tournament.
Prior taking the reins at Iona for the 2002-03 season, he commandeered an amazing turnaround in just two years at the head coach at Long Island University. There he coached a team that had not posted a winning record in 21 years to the Northeast Conference championship in just his first season, earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
In his second season at LIU the Blackbirds went 18-12 and reached the conference championship game for a second-straight year.
Bozzella received his coaching start at Southampton College of Long Island University. In a similar fashion to the way resurrecting programs would come to define his career, Bozzella took over a program that never had a winning season and turned them into a consistent winner.
It took him just three seasons to guide Southampton to the first winning record in program history and that started a streak of six-straight winning campaigns, culminating with a program-record 20-9 season in 1999-00.
