Quinnipiac University Director of Athletics and Recreation Greg Amodio has announced head women’s basketball coach Tricia Fabbri has agreed to a contract extension through the 2020-21 season. The two-time reigning MAAC Coach of the Year has elevated the women’s basketball program to new heights, winning back-to-back MAAC Regular Season titles while also advancing to the NCAA Tournament in two of the last four seasons.
“Tricia Fabbri has proven to be one of the top women’s college basketball coaches in the country,” Amodio said. “During her tenure in Hamden, Quinnipiac has grown into one of the top mid-major programs in NCAA Division I women’s basketball and has become a national brand through five consecutive postseason tournament appearances. As one of the longest tenured coaches at Quinnipiac, she has become an integral part of Quinnipiac Athletics as well as the University and surrounding communities. I’m very excited for what the future brings for Quinnipiac women’s basketball under her guidance.”
The all-time winningest coach in Quinnipiac’s women’s basketball history, Fabbri will head into her 22nd season at the helm of the Bobcats in 2016-17 armed with a career record of 350-269 while also sporting a mark of 238-148 in league play across her 21 seasons as the head coach. Since the 2011-12 season, Fabbri has helped lift the Bobcats to unrivaled success as the team stands with a record of 129-39 overall with a win percentage of .768 that ranks as the 16th-highest in the nation. In those last five seasons alone, Quinnipiac stands as one of just 32 teams in the nation to record five straight 20+ win campaigns.
“This has been an incredible journey for me and my family,” Fabbri said. “I’m humbled by the continued opportunity to lead the women’s basketball program at this prestigious university. Thank you President Lahey, Executive Vice President and Provost Mark Thompson and Director of Athletics and Recreation Greg Amodio for five more years of doing what I love to do, at a place I call home.”
The most-recent 2015-16 campaign was an incredibly successful one for the Bobcats as Fabbri overcame the loss of five senior starters, including four All-MAAC performers, from the record-setting 31-win 2014-15 roster and led a very young squad to a 25-9 season (17-3 MAAC) that featured a 19-game win streak and MAAC Regular Season title. Even though the Bobcats were denied in the MAAC Championship by Iona, Quinnipiac still managed to break through with the program’s first national postseason tournament victory as the Bobcats dispatched Maine, 90-44, in the WNIT First Round from Hamden. The 46-point margin of victory went down as the largest in the program’s Division I history (since 1998-99) in a game that marked just the second time Quinnipiac had played host to a national tournament game.
Also in the 2015-16 season, Fabbri guided the Bobcats to their fourth straight appearance in the conference championship game as well as their fifth straight trip to a national postseason tournament as Quinnipiac has appeared in the NCAA Tournament twice (2013, 2015) and three times in the WNIT (2012, 2014, 2016).
“It is a privilege to provide young women an opportunity to fulfill their dreams of playing Division I college basketball and have access to the outstanding education that Quinnipiac University provides,” Fabbri said. “This program looks to continue to build upon the tradition of success it has established.”
Fabbri’s transformative 2014-15 season redefined the record books at Quinnipiac as her squad went 31-4 (.886) overall and 20-0 in conference play on their way to winning the 2015 MAAC Championship and earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 12 seed. Fabbri led the Bobcats to their most wins (31) in a single-season in program history as well as their second 30-win campaign in the last three seasons. Quinnipiac became the first MAAC school in conference history (est. 1980) to finish 20-0 in league play and just the sixth squad to go undefeated in conference. As the No. 1 seed, Quinnipiac upended Monmouth, Siena and ultimately the nine-time defending MAAC champ Marist to claim their first MAAC Championship.
Throughout the 2014-15 season, Quinnipiac received unparalleled recognition in the national polls as Fabbri’s squad earned four votes in the Associated Press Top 25 National Poll, totaled two votes in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, ranked No. 10 in the ESPNW Mid-Major Poll and were ranked No. 6 in the College Insider Mid-Major Poll. All four distinctions in the national voting polls were good enough for program records.
A coaching legend on the campus of Quinnipiac, Fabbri stands as one of just five head coaches (Burt Kahn, Dan Gooley, Mike Quitko and Rand Pecknold) to win 300+ games in their time with the Bobcats. She is currently tied with Becca Main (field hockey) as the second-longest tenured head coach at Quinnipiac behind only Pecknold who is entering his 23rd season with the men’s ice hockey program in 2016-17.
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