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| Dean athletics photo |
Alycia Gervais has been named the head women's basketball coach at Dean, it has been announced by athletic director Todd Vasey.
Gervais, who spent the past two seasons as the head women's basketball coach at Pine Manor in Chestnut Hill, Mass., will also serve as Dean's head women's cross country coach when she begins her role.
She replaces Grahm Smith, who was the head coach of Dean for five years, including Dean's years as a two-year school.
"I am very excited to be the next head women's basketball coach at Dean College," said Gervais. "In meeting members of the athletic department along with women's basketball student-athletes, I instantly felt their energy and passion to continue their success."
Gervais takes over a Dean program that has seen tremendous success in the past few years, first as a junior college team and now as they make the transition to an NCAA Division III program, as a member of the New England Collegiate Conference.
The Bulldogs have made back-to-back trips to the USCAA national tournament and in the past two seasons have combined for 39 wins. In their first season as a member of the NECC in 2017-18, Dean tied for the regular season title and posted a 12-2 record in the league.
"As Dean College conducted a nationwide search for our new women's basketball coach, Alicia Gervais quickly rose to the top as a candidate," said Vasey. "Her commitment to the D-III student-athlete experience and passion for the game of basketball, is a winning combination that will strengthen our basketball program and support our efforts to ensure student success in athletics and academics."
During her two seasons at Pine Manor, Gervais guided the Gators to consecutive appearances in the American Collegiate Athletic Association championship game and her up-tempo style of play had Pine Manor averaging more than 70 points per game in 51 games as head coach.
Prior to her tenure with the Gators, Gervais was an assistant coach at the Virginia-Wise where she recruited and brought in a total of 12 student-athletes over a two-year span. During her tenure she helped lay the groundwork for what turned out to be a team that went 21-11 and advanced to the Mountain East Conference semifinals in 2016-17.
Gervais' collegiate coaching career began at Adelphi, a Division II institution which plays in the Northeast-10. While with the Panthers, Gervais helped lead them to the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in more than a decade in the 2013-14 season as well as a spot in the USA Today Sports Division II National Top 25 Poll.
She also played a key role in an offensive game plan that saw Adelphi rank second in the NCAA in field goal percentage and points per game as the Panthers had their most wins in a season (23) since 2002.
A highly decorated four-year letter winner at Daniel Webster, Gervais is a two-time all-region selection by D3hoops.com, a two-time NECC Player of the Year (2011, 2012) and four-time all-conference honoree who led the Eagles to the program's first-ever NECC tournament championship and subsequent NCAA Tournament berth (2011).
In addition to her basketball exploits, Gervais spent four seasons as a member of the Eagles' cross country team, serving as captain for two years and also played a season of softball (2011) and soccer (2012). A 2012 graduate of Daniel Webster with a degree in sport management, Gervais received her master's degree in sport management from Adelphi in 2014.