West Virginia University women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit has announced that Bernadette Devaney will join the support staff as the director of recruiting.
“We are very excited about Bernadette joining our staff as our director of recruiting,” Plitzuweit said. “She is energetic, highly organized and is an extremely driven individual. This is going to be a lot of fun working together. Let’s Go!”
Devaney comes to Morgantown after serving as an assistant coach at Lehigh for the previous three seasons. Prior to that, she served as the director of operations for the LU women’s basketball team for the 2018-19 season. During her four seasons at LU, the Mountain Hawks had an overall record of 69-38.
“I am pumped to join the staff and be able to work with such an amazing group of individuals,” Devaney said. “Everyone is highly motivated, hardworking and loves to have a great time on and off the court. I am honored and excited to step in as the director of recruiting. Let’s Go Mountaineers!”
Primarily responsible for recruiting and working with the Mountain Hawk perimeter players, Bernadette coached two All-Patriot League players in 2021-22, with guard Mackenzie Kramer and forward Emma Grothaus being named second-team honorees. Both players were also members of the Academic All-Patriot League team, with Kramer also being named the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
With Devaney’s guidance during the 2020-21 season, Lehigh captured the program’s fourth Patriot League Championship, and secured its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010, following a 64-54 victory over Boston University. Guards Frannie Hottinger and Mary Clougherty earned Second Team All-Patriot League selections, while both also were named to the Academic All-Patriot League teams. Freshman Mackenzie Kramer was a member of the Patriot League All-Rookie team, the program’s first honoree since 2016.
During her playing career, Devaney appeared in 111 games over four seasons as a member of the Mountain Hawks from 2014-2018. She ranked second on the team by shooting 37.8% from 3-point range and 82.4% from the free-throw line. She scored a career-high 20 points on two occasions, going 6-of-9 overall and 6-of-8 from 3-point range vs. Mount St. Mary’s (11/29/17), and scored 20 again vs. Loyola (2/21/18) with a 7-of-10 shooting performance.
A native of Cooper City, Florida, Devaney earned her bachelor’s degree in business management with a minor in sociology from Lehigh in May 2018, before receiving her master’s degree in sociology from LU in May 2020.
