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| Trevor Woodruff is familiar with the Scranton, Pa., area. This will be his first job coaching women's basketball. Misericordia athletics photo |
By Pat Coleman and Dave McHugh
D3sports.com
As Hoopsville and D3hoops.com originally reported, Trevor Woodruff will be the next women's basketball coach at the University of Scranton.
Woodruff has been the head men's basketball coach at Misericordia for the past 11 seasons. Former Misericordia athletic director Dave Martin was recently named athletic director at Scranton.
The Scranton women's basketball program has been without a permanent head coach since Sept. 19, 2014, when Mike Strong retired, the winningest women's basketball coach in Division III history. At that time, then-athletic director Toby Lovecchio named former assistant coach Deanna Klingman interim coach.
Klingman led Scranton to a 24-4 mark. But when the university had not named a permanent hire by mid-May, she left the program, taking a head coaching job at an area high school.
On June 3, Nate Davis, a successful women's basketball coach at Eastern University and a likely candidate for the Scranton job, took the head coaching position at Gettysburg.
The next week, Lovecchio stepped down as AD to take an assistant athletic director job within the department.
Woodruff has led Misericordia's men's team to a 21-7 mark twice in the past four seasons, including this past year when the Cougars lost to Wooster in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He has posted a 159-135 mark.
"I am honored to accept the position of head women's basketball coach at The University of Scranton," Woodruff said in a school news release. "I am well aware of the lofty expectations and look forward to embracing the tradition of excellence while at the same time working with our student-athletes to move the program forward. I would like to thank Fr. (Kevin) Quinn, chief of staff Bobby Davis and director of athletics Dave Martin for providing and trusting me with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
He takes over a Lady Royals program which should return two starters from last year's team, which fell to Eastern Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.