Mountain MacGillivray, a Philadelphia native who helped lead Quinnipiac to seven straight 20-win seasons and a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2017, has been appointed the ninth head coach in La Salle University women’s basketball history, it was announced by Director of Athletics Bill Bradshaw on Saturday.
A press conference officially welcoming MacGillivray will be held on Monday, April 23 at TruMark Financial Center, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
“We are excited to welcome Mountain back home to Philadelphia as he takes over leadership of our women’s basketball program,” Bradshaw said. “He’s been a key member of an exceptional program at Quinnipiac over the last few years and has been an integral part of their success both in recruiting and game preparation. His deep roots in Philadelphia high school basketball will help attract the top local talent from the area to La Salle.”
MacGillivray spent the previous nine seasons at Quinnipiac, including the last three as the associate head coach. The Bobcats had tremendous success during MacGillivray’s tenure, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in four of the past five seasons, including three wins in NCAA play over the last two seasons.
Quinnipiac went undefeated in the MAAC in 2017-18 for the third time in six years, winning the conference regular season title for the fifth time in six seasons. After earning the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament with a victory over Marist in the MAAC title game, the Bobcats earned a No. 9 seed and defeated Miami (Fla.) in the opening round.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to coach at La Salle University,” “MacGillivray said. “The challenge of building a championship program at this proud and historic University is thrilling and I am excited to get started.”
In 2016-17, MacGillivray helped Quinnipiac to a pair of upset wins in NCAA Tournament action, defeating Marquette and Miami (Fla.) en route to the Sweet 16. The Bobcats have won four conference championships and averaged 26 wins over the past seven seasons, and head coach Tricia Fabbri won MAAC Coach of the Year four times with the contributions of MacGillivray.
Prior to Quinnipiac, MacGillivray served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of New Hampshire for two seasons from 2007-09, helping the Wildcats improve their finish in the conference in both seasons.
MacGillivray got his start in collegiate coaching as an assistant at the University of Vermont in 1999-2000, guiding the Catamounts to the NCAA Tournament that year after winning the America East regular season and tournament championships.
MacGillivray has 13 years of experience coaching at the high school and AAU levels, helping turn Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor, Pennsylvania into one of the most successful prep programs in the country. He also guided the Philadelphia AAU Lady Running Rebels from 2000-02 and Delaware Valley Comets AAU team in 2006.
A 1996 graduate of Temple with a degree in Journalism, MacGillivray and his wife Grace have seven children: Chiara, Mary, Brigid, Sean, Catherine, Joseph and Theresa.
http://www.goexplorers.com/news/2018/4/20/head-womens-basketball-coach.aspx?path=wbball
