UMass’ Tory Verdi will be Pitt’s new women’s basketball coach
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The University of Pittsburgh will hire UMass’ Tory Verdi as its next women’s basketball coach.
The school made the announcement Friday morning.
Verdi will bring to Pitt a wealth of experience as a head coach and assistant on the high school, collegiate and WNBA levels.
The Minutewomen improved steadily under Verdi’s stewardship through each of his seven seasons, with the exception of 2020-21, which was abbreviated by the covid-19 pandemic.
We got our guy ????
We’re excited to announce Tory Verdi as the 10th head coach in Pitt WBB history‼️
???? https://t.co/Q1gEFgkRmz#H2P pic.twitter.com/fitccBP21g
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_WBB) April 7, 2023
After a 9-21 record in his first season (2016-17), UMass won 14, 16, 20, 14, 26 and 27 games overall. Verdi led the team to three postseason berths, including its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 25 years in 2022 — a year the Minutewomen won their first Atlantic 10 championship. UMass advanced to the WNIT in 2021 and 2023.
Before losing to Saint Louis in overtime in the A-10 championship game this season, UMass won the regular-season title with the most A-10 victories in program history (14, including a UMass record 12 in a row).
Overall, Verdi compiled a 126-85 record at UMass.
Coach Verdi has landed in Pittsburgh! ????
And he already looks good in the ????&???? pic.twitter.com/nDnhU6UVpa
— Pitt Panthers (@Pitt_ATHLETICS) April 7, 2023
Verdi’s top player the past two seasons was North Catholic graduate Sam Breen, a two-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Year.
A native of New Britain, Conn., who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Keene State and Hartford, Verdi began his career as an assistant men’s coach at Keene State in 1995-96. From there, he coached men’s teams at Hartford, Pomperaug (Conn.) High School and Western Connecticut before he was hired as an assistant coach with the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA in 2003.
He served as assistant women’s coach at Columbia, Nebraska and Kansas before he was named head coach at Eastern Michigan in 2012. In four seasons, he led Eastern Michigan to a 72-61 record, taking a team that was 8-22 in his first season and finishing 24-13 in 2014-15 and 22-12 in 2015-16. Eastern Michigan advanced to the Mid-American Conference championship game in 2015.
Verdi’s time at Eastern Michigan overlapped for four seasons with Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke’s tenure as that school’s AD.
He takes over a Pitt program that was 42-99 the past five seasons under former coach Lance White.
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