Rich Conover has been named assistant women’s basketball coach at East Carolina University according to an announcement by head coach Heather Macy.
Possessing more than a decade of head-coaching experience at the NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA levels, Conover will assist with recruiting, scouting and game planning.
“Rich brings a wealth of experience and advanced coaching knowledge to our staff,” Macy said. “His leadership and consistency are two of the most important factors in all of his successes, and will be vital assets toward what we want to accomplish.”
Conover joins the Pirates after three seasons under the same title at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC). Following his arrival, the Retrievers saw their win total grow by eight games between his first and second seasons, and by another six victories between his second and third years on staff. In 2015-16, UMBC won its first postseason tournament game in program history and reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI).
Prior to his time at UMBC, Conover was the head coach of Division II Le Moyne University for four years where he also served as the Coaches Council Chair. In that role, he implemented an academic progress plan which raised the Dolphins’ women’s basketball team’s grade point average from 2.6 to 3.4.
In 1999, Conover began a four-year stint as an assistant coach at Binghamton, where he helped the Bearcats transition from a Division II institution to Division I. During the 2002-03 campaign, Conover was named the acting head coach for the final 16 games of the year and earned the head coaching job following that season’s end.
Conover spent five seasons (2003-08) at the helm of the Bearcats, posting a 74-87 overall record, including a 62-55 mark in league play. He registered a seven-win improvement in his first full season as the head coach, the 18th-best improvement in the nation that year, on his way to earning America East Women’s Basketball Coach-of-the-Year recognition.
Conover began his coaching career as the head men’s basketball coach at the College of St. Joseph in Rutland, Vt., in 1994. After leading the team to a 13-win improvement in 1995-96 and earning Mayflower Conference Coach-of-the-Year accolades, Conover took over as the head women’s basketball coach at Castleton State College in Castleton, Vt. His squad was ranked fourth nationally in team defense for the 1996-97 season and sported the nation’s top team defense the following year. He then took the reins of the women’s basketball program at Oneonta State for the 1998-99 season.
A Yonkers, N.Y., native, Conover is a 1987 graduate of Green Mountain College where he received his bachelor’s degree in leisure facilities resource management. In 1993, he earned his M.A. in education from the College of St. Joseph.
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