After yet another season in which the women’s basketball team failed to meet expectations, the University’s decision to part ways with Head Coach Dianne Nolan is a sound one.
Nolan, who announced Tuesday that she and Athletic Director Gene Doris had mutually decided that she would not return for a 29th season, hadn’t led the Stags to a winning season in six years, and a fresh face could be what the team needs to get over the hump and contend for a MAAC championship.
But despite the lack of success the program had in the recent past, Nolan may go down as one of the most influential figures in school history, both in and out of the athletic department.
When Nolan took over as the program’s head coach in 1979, Fairfield had a Division II team and women’s basketball was barely on the national radar as a sport.
Twenty-eight years later, Nolan has more wins (517) than all but 26 coaches in women’s college basketball history, and is a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association board of directors and the Southern New Jersey Athletic Hall of Fame.
Her accomplishments on the court speak for themselves. She led the Stags to five 20-win seasons and, remarkably, three 25-win seasons, the last of which, in 2001, earned the Stags the only at-large NCAA tournament bid in school history.
Off the court, she has been a model for what a coach should be: a warm, passionate, outgoing person who reflects positively on both the basketball program and the University.
When Ed Cooley was hired last April to replace Tim O’Toole as the men’s basketball coach, one of the first experiences he had as a Fairfield official was playing a round of golf with Nolan, who shared with him the ins and outs of coaching at Fairfield.
Nolan was at Cooley’s introductory press conference wearing the ear-to-ear grin that became synonymous with her name.
She still wore that grin while talking to reporters on Tuesday, on what had to be one of the most difficult days of her professional life.
Nolan said Tuesday that nothing would make her happier than for the Stags to win a conference championship next year.
If that happens, they can thank Nolan not only for building the foundation of that team, but for making the program.
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