Haverford College women’s basketball head coach Bobbi Morgan has announced that she is resigning her position at the end of July to become the assistant athletic director and varsity basketball coach at The Agnes Irwin School in Bryn Mawr. In addition to recently concluding her record-breaking 13th season leading the Fords, Morgan served the athletic department as an associate athletic director, senior woman administrator, and fundraising coordinator.
“I will be forever grateful for my time here and the opportunity to coach so many amazing and talented women,” said Morgan. “I treasure the relationships I have built with my players and their families, my assistant coaches, and everyone in our athletic department who worked so tirelessly for our students. I am very proud of what our teams have accomplished over the years. It has been a labor of love for me and I will cherish the great memories and moments I have shared with our teams.”
During her career, Morgan transformed the Fords into a conference, regional, and national contender. The winningest coach in school history, Morgan led Haverford to a 195-120 record. She guided the Fords to the NCAA Tournament during each of her final three competitive seasons, which included back-to-back Centennial Conference Championships in 2019 and 2020. Overall, Morgan led the Fords to four NCAA Tournament appearances and three Centennial Conference Championships. She first broke through to the national stage with a school-record 24 wins during the program’s first-ever conference title and NCAA automatic bid during the 2013-14 season. Haverford made the Centennial Conference Tournament during each of its last nine seasons after never qualifying for the postseason prior to Morgan’s arrival.
“Bobbi leaves an incredible legacy in setting the standard for women’s basketball at Haverford College,” said Director of Athletics Wendy Smith. “Her competitive success, commitment to the overall care and development of each of her players, and administrative support throughout the department has been outstanding. We wish her the best of luck in all of her future endeavors.”
Morgan was recognized as the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Region Four Coach of the Year following her first conference championship in 2014 and was additionally honored as the Centennial Conference Coach of the Year on three separate occasions. The Fords advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament during their first-ever appearance on the national stage and also won an NCAA Tournament game following the 2019 championship season. Morgan also represented Haverford on Centennial Conference and NCAA committees, highlighted by her time as chair of the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Committee from 2016-18. With defense as one of the hallmarks of the team’s success, Haverford ranked in the top 10 defensively during six of Morgan’s final seven seasons. That included holding the opposition to the third-fewest points per game in all of Division III during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.
Numerous individuals flourished under her leadership as Nina Voith ’14 and Anna-Sophia Capizzi ’20 became the first two All-Americans in program history. Capizzi was further recognized as the program’s first Centennial Conference Player of the Year during her senior campaign. Julianna Clark ’21 became the program’s first conference rookie of the year while Jacquelyne Pizzuto ’15 was an NCAA statistical champion in assist-to-turnover ratio. Morgan mentored a total of seven Gregory Kannerstein ’63 Award recipients, two Stephen G. Cary ’37 Award winners, and two Archibald MacIntosh 1921 Award honorees.
Haverford’s success extended well beyond the court as the Fords were honored on the WBCA’s Academic Top 25 multiple times during Morgan’s career, ranking as high as eighth in the country following the 2014-15 season. Samantha Wetzel ’18 was twice honored as the Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year while a combined 65 Fords were named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll. That total includes a record-breaking nine student-athletes honored on the academic honor roll during this past academic year. Morgan’s teams also had the chance to travel internationally in 2012 (Ireland) and 2017 (Barcelona). Community service was another focus of the team, highlighted by her team’s annual Martin Luther King Day Jr. Hoops from the Heart Basketball Clinic which supported the Community Action Agency of Delaware County. In honor of the late Libby Meeks, the mother of former captain Dominique Meeks ’13, the women’s basketball team supported many ALS awareness events including hosting the Annual Billy Lake ALS Marathon and volunteering at the Joe Schwartz ALS Run. Libby Meeks lost her fight with ALS in August of 2013.
Morgan came to Haverford from Cabrini College where she was the head coach for four seasons and led the Cavaliers to the team’s first Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC) title in nearly a decade. Overall, Morgan holds a 261-161 career coaching record at the collegiate level. She is certainly no stranger to the high school scene as she made the jump to the college level after a highly successful 17-year high school coaching tenure at The Academy of Notre Dame in Villanova (1986-89) and Haverford High School (1990-04). During that time, Morgan amassed an impressive 326-139 career mark to give her 587 career victories as a head coach. Morgan took Notre Dame to the District I Class AA title game in 1988-89 and crowned the season with the school’s first PIAA state playoff berth. At her next stop, Morgan turned Haverford High into a perennial District I powerhouse while winning six Central League titles and qualifying for the PIAA Class AAAA State Playoffs seven times.
Morgan will continue her coaching and administrative responsibilities at Haverford through the month of July while a national search for her replacement will be undertaken.
https://www.haverfordathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2020-21/releases/20210629fq610u
Tagged with: Centennial Conference D3 Haverford
