Both coaches, AD, out at Mount St. Vincent

More news about: Mount St. Vincent | Mount St. Vincent
Jan 25, 2017
Brian Nigro, left, is a 2000 alumnus of Mount St. Vincent. Laura Pruitt, right, was the women's basketball coach and athletic director.
Mount St. Vincent athletics file photos 


Both head basketball coaches have been fired at Mount St. Vincent, and one assistant men's basketball coach resigned as well as part of an apparent shake-up in the college's athletic department.

Laura Pruitt, the women's basketball head coach, was also the athletic director and coached the team to an 11-5 record, including a current seven-game winning streak. The Dolphins are 7-2 in the Skyline Conference, a half-game out of first place. Pruitt, who was hired from Chestnut Hill before the beginning of last season, went 28-14 at Mount St. Vincent, including 20-5 in conference play.

Brian Nigro, the men's basketball head coach, is a 2000 graduate of the school. Assistant coach Brad Oringer left the program after Nigro was let go, and it is unclear who will be coaching the MSV men's basketball program. The school eventually settled on Thomas Tibbs as interim coach, a former assistant at Baruch.

The Dolphins men's team was scheduled to play tonight vs. SUNY-Maritime and that game has been postponed. SUNY-Maritime will instead play Hunter, a game rescheduled after its postponement on Monday night. The conference game between Mount St. Vincent and SUNY-Maritime has yet to be rescheduled.

Brian Lavelle, an assistant coach, will coach the MSV women's basketball team tonight vs. St. Joseph's (Bklyn.) and is expected to do so for the rest of the season. (It was initially announced that fellow assistant Keith Murray was taking over.)

Earlier in the season, Darnell Cudjoe, also a men's basketball assistant coach, was let go by Nigro. The only remaining assistant is Tian Tang, a 2016 alumnus of Manhattanville in his first year as an assistant coach. The Mount St. Vincent men, who are 3-14, will host Mount St. Mary on Saturday.

The departure of Nigro and Cudjoe also leaves a gap in the cross country program. With MSV already on NCAA probation stemming from not being able to meet the minimum number of participants and contests in cross country, Nigro and Cudjoe were put in charge of the programs jointly and coached them this past season.