The Fairleigh Dickinson women’s basketball team and head coach Pete Cinella recently made the final adjustment to their coaching staff, promoting Cathy Inglese from assistant coach to associate head coach.
“Cathy is a big part of our program,” said Coach Cinella. “She’s as experienced and knowledgeable as any coach you will ever meet. She did great things with our defense last season, and she is going to bring a lot more to the table this year as well.”
Inglese was hired as an assistant coach to the FDU staff before the start of last season, helping the Knights improve by seven wins and reach 15 wins for the 12th time in program history. The Knights improved their scoring margin by over five points with Inglese on staff, reducing opponents’ scoring average by over two points per game. FDU also witnessed improvements in field goal percentage, opponents’ field goal percentage, assists per game, three-point percentage, opponents’ three-point percentage and assist-turnover ratio from 2016-17 to 2017-18.
Before arriving at FDU, the longtime coach served 27 years as a head coach at the Division I level, with stops at Vermont, Boston College and Rhode Island.
Over her 27 years on the bench, Inglese has reached 20 wins 11 different times, made 10 NCAA Tournaments and coached six WNBA draft picks. She was a four-time conference coach of the year and made three Sweet 16 appearances, winning three conference tournament titles and two regular-season titles. Inglese also coached back-to-back perfect regular seasons at Vermont, going 28-0 in 1992 and 29-0 the following season for a streak of 57 consecutive victories.
Fifty-three players have made all-conference teams under Inglese, including recent FDU graduate Amina Markovic last season. Overall, Inglese has won over 400 games as a head coach.
Inglese’s coaching tenure at the college level stretches back to 1983 when she was hired as the assistant basketball coach and assistant athletic director at the University of New Hampshire. She coached for three seasons at New Hampshire before moving to Vermont.
After leaving Vermont, Inglese took over the reins at Boston College for 15 seasons and then in 2009 was appointed the head coach of Rhode Island.
In addition to her collegiate coaching duties, Inglese has also spent time on several USA Basketball coaching staffs. Most recently, she was an assistant coach with the gold medal-winning World University Games team in the summer of 2005. Prior to that, she served as one of the court coaches for the USA Basketball Women’s Summer Development Camp/R. William Jones Cup Team Trials (2000). Inglese was one of four coaches that worked with players competing for a roster spot on the Jones Cup team.
A magna cum laude graduate of Southern Connecticut State, Inglese has been inducted into many different Hall of Fames, including the SCSU Athletic Hall of Fame, the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the University of Vermont Athletics Hall of Fame, the Connecticut Softball Hall of Fame, the Massachusetts Chapter of the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame, the Sheehan High School Hall of Fame, and the New Agenda Northeast Hall of Fame for advancing the role of women in sports.
Tagged with: Associate Head Coach DI
