Seton Hall Introduces Donovan, Willard as New Basketball Head Coaches
3/31/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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On Wednesday, March 31, 2010, Seton Hall University officially introduced Anne Donovan as it's new women's basketball head coach and Kevin Willard as new men's basketball head coach. The introductions were made before Seton Hall's press core and a sizeable group of Pirates' fans in Walsh Gym.
Donovan is currently the head coach of the WNBA's New York Liberty, having taken over on an interim basis halfway through the 2009 regular season. She will remain on the sidelines for the Liberty through the 2010 season. She owns a remarkable 132-10 (.930) all-time record on the sidelines for USA Basketball. As head coach, she led the 2008 United States Women's Senior National Team to gold in Beijing and as a result was chosen with Mike Krzyzewski as co-recipient of the 2008 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year award. Donovan also helped the U.S. capture gold at the Olympics in 1998 and 2004 as an assistant coach.
"All of us in the coaching business know Phyllis (Mangina)," Donovan told the press. "She is a legend in our game, and 25 years in one program speaks for Phyllis expertise and her commitment and passion of the game and this University, and their commitment to keep good strong individuals in place. That's what Phyllis is, a great mentor and great role model. She has been a big help in the transition and I know I'm going to have a 101 questions for her, and her presence here means a lot to me, so I appreciate it Phyllis."
As the tallest player in the women's game, the 6-8 Donovan quickly made her presence known both on and off the court as a collegian. She was recognized by virtually every post-season and All-American squad in the nation during her career at Old Dominion, earning Kodak All-American honors for three years and Academic All-American honors for two straight seasons. Her honors culminated in 1983 when she claimed the Naismith Trophy as the national Player-of-the-Year and was awarded an NCAA post-graduate scholarship for her academic achievements. Donovan completed her four years at Old Dominion with a 3.5 cumulative average in her major of recreational services and became the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Monarchs' history with 2,719 points and 1,976 rebounds. She remains the NCAA's all-time shot blocker with 801.
"Coach Battaglia is the one that got this coaching wheel started for me," Donovan said. "When I found out the job was open there was a quick call to coach and a conversation about 'What do you think?' and she said 'Absolutely. Let me call Joe.' And it started off as a little bit of intrigue on my part and turned into a fabulous journey of meeting wonderful people that represent this fine University. There was no doubt in my mind, it became very clear very early, how excited I was going to be to be a part of it. So just by you being here it shows me your embrace to not only me, but to Kevin, and that's much appreciated."
Donovan won gold medals as a player with the 1984 and 1988 U.S. Olympic Teams, the 1983 and 1987 Pan American Games Teams, the 1986 World Championship Team and the 1978 and 1979 U.S. Olympic Festival East Teams. She played five years of professional basketball in Japan before returning to Old Dominion in 1987 as a part-time assistant coach.
"It's a great first day," Donovan said. "For me, I've had a lot of blessings in my life and my career. I've coached and played in a lot of places and been fortunate and blessed every step of the way. It always comes down to people. That's the beauty of basketball. I'm not going out to golf course and hitting a golf ball. It's a team game. And for me it's always comes back to the individuals that makes the success of that team. I had the opportunity to meet with the young ladies this morning and talk about Pirate basketball and we had a nice conversation got a little bit of an introduction. We have quality student-athletes here and I look forward to building the program, and just re-energizing it. Are you all watching the women's tournament now? Are you all sick of UConn beating up on people? So am I. So I just want to say this Jersey girl is finally coming back home, and I can't think of a better place to be."
On May 15, 1995, Donovan was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. She was one of the twenty-six inductees in the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June of 1999. Additionally, she is a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame, the Old Dominion Sports Hall of Fame, the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame and the CoSIDA Academic All-American Hall of Fame. In 2004, Donovan was named by the Sun Belt Conference as its All-Time Women's Basketball Player, and in 2008, she received the NCAA 25-year Award in Nashville, Tenn. Donovan was presented with an honorary Doctorate's degree from Old Dominion University on Dec. 13, 2008.
"Last, but not least, I'm not going to stand up here all day and keep you here, but I want to have my sister Patrice and niece Bridgette stand up and tell you family is very important to me," Donovan said. "Coming back home my family is here and I plan to make a much bigger family here at Seton Hall. So thanks for having me."
Kevin Willard, 34, becomes the 19th head coach in Seton Hall history and joins the Pirates after three years as head coach of the Iona College men's basketball team. In 2007, he inherited a Gaels team that had won just two games the prior season. Only three seasons later, Willard guided Iona to a 21-10 overall record and was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the year. During his first year as a head coach, the 2007-08 season, the Gaels finished with 10 more victories than the previous year, one of the top turnarounds in NCAA Div. I. He instilled his foundation of up tempo, aggressive play with an emphasis on having fun playing the game of basketball to his young team.
"I would like to thank and really welcome Anne," Willard said in his remarks. "I had a really close friend in Iona Tony Bozzella, and he was the women's coach. When I got hired there one thing we said together was, 'Let's build something special.' So today Anne, it's great to be introduced with you and I'm really looking forward to building something great and putting some more banners up there with you as a partner. So thank you and welcome."
Prior to the start of his career as a head coach, Willard served the previous six seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at the University of Louisville, where he was mentored by college coaching legend Rick Pitino. Willard also credits his father, Ralph, as one of his coaching influences. Ralph Willard is currently Pitino's associate coach at Louisville, but enjoyed a successful 19-year run as the head coach at Western Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Holy Cross.
"It's an honor to be here," Willard said. "I say that being the head coach of Seton Hall is a privilege would be an understatement. Growing up in Long Island, three teams is all you ever heard... Seton Hall, St. John's, Syracuse. This is so much more of an honor, I can't put it into words. I stand here humbled, hungry, determined, and really ready to get going. This is an opportunity that I never thought would happen 10, 12 years ago."
During his tenure, Louisville was ranked in the Top 25 for five seasons and reached the post season in each of his six years. The squad reached the NCAA Tournament on four occasions including a visit to the 2005 Final Four, the first time in 19 years that the Cardinals had advanced that deep into the post season. In his six seasons at Louisville, the Cardinals posted a phenomenal 142-58 record averaging nearly 24 wins per season.
Prior to Louisville, Willard worked with Pitino as a coaching associate with the Boston Celtics for four years. His duties with the Celtics included game and practice preparation, scouting and assisting the coaching staff in all basketball matters. He provided advance scouting, video tape breakdowns and assisted with individual workouts prior to games.
"When you look at jobs, the first thing I look at is who are the people you are going to be working with, who are the students that are going to be in the stands," Willard said. "Who are the alumni, are they passionate, and as I walked around in two short days, something I realized was that this was a special place. I met four or five students just walking around on Thursday, they were excited - I'm not sure if they were going to class, Monsignor, it was an odd time - I met a couple of faculty and staff who were passionate, who talked about Seton Hall with such pride. And obviously Monsignor and Dean Hobbs and Joe Quinlan, they're passion just flowed through, and that's what you look for when you take over a job."
Willard hails from New York, but played his high school basketball at Bowling Green High School (Ky.) while his father was the head coach at Western Kentucky. He earned Second Team All-State honors as a senior and helped his team to a combined 76-15 record in his final three prep seasons.
"This program will be built on really three simple keys of life, character, focus, and hard work," Willard said. "Everything else besides that will be fun, will be passionate, we're going to play a great style of basketball that the fans, the alumni will enjoy going to. But most importantly, every player that comes in is going to want to play for Seton Hall University. They're going to have pride, they're going to show pride that the name across their chest means more than the name on their back. That's something that this program will be built on. I'm looking forward to it. I am honored to be here and I thank everyone for coming out and let's get ready to Rock the Rock."
