Anthony Bozzella Inducted Into Glen Cove Hall of Fame
4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
GLEN COVE, N.Y. - Seton Hall women's basketball head coach Anthony Bozzella was inducted into the Glen Cove Hall of Fame on Thursday (April 14) at an Induction Dinner in his hometown of Glen Cove, N.Y. Bozzella was one of seven inductees in the 2016 Hall of Fame class.
"It's an incredible honor to be recognized by my hometown and be inducted with these other members of the Glen Cove community," said Bozzella, who recently completed his third season as head coach at his alma mater. "I'm truly humbled to be recognized by a place where I was born and raised and which shaped my life in so many ways."
In three short years at The Hall, Bozzella has transformed the women's basketball program into a perennial contender on the BIG EAST and national stage. Taking over a program that averaged nine wins per season in the four years prior to his arrival, Bozzella has recorded three-straight 20-win campaigns culminating in back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. Overall at SHU he holds a 71-29 record in three seasons and has mentored nine All-Conference performers along with a pair of All-Americans.
After going 20-14 and making the third round of the WNIT in his inaugural season at The Hall in 2013-14, Bozzella upped the stakes in year two with a program-record 28 wins in 2014-15. The Pirates made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 20 years in year two of Bozzella, and followed that up with a second-straight invitation to the Big Dance at the conclusion of the 2015-16 season. The most recent Pirate squad was picked fifth in the BIG EAST following the graduation of four starters, but Bozzella guided the team to a second-place finish in the league.
Several program records have fallen with Bozzella at the helm, most recently Tabatha Richardson-Smith (Bay City, Texas) becoming The Hall's all-time leading scorer on Feb. 14. Ka-Deidre Simmons ('15) played her final two years under Bozzella and posted two of the three highest single-season assist totals in program history, finishing her career as the all-time leader with 562. The 2014-15 Pirates scored a program-record 75.6 points per game, including a record 105 vs. DePaul on Jan. 15, 2015. Also on Thursday night, Shakena Richardson (Neptune, N.J.) became the first WNBA Draft Pick in Seton Hall history.
Overall in his career Bozzella has compiled a 377-347 record in 23 seasons as a head coach. Prior to Seton Hall he spent 11 seasons at Iona, guiding the Gaels to six winning seasons for a program that had zero prior to his arrival. He was the head coach at Long Island University for two seasons, the first two winning seasons in program history, and went to the NCAA Tournament in his first season. Bozzella began his coaching career at Southampton University and closed an eight-year run with six-straight winning seasons, including the first six postseason appearances in school history.
A graduate of Glen Cove High School, Bozzella was a member of league and district title-winning golf and basketball teams at GCHS. He was a two-time class president and the student body president during his senior prep year and was voted "Most Inspirational" by his classmates in his senior yearbook.
