Last Wednesday, Fairfield announced the hiring of a new head women’s basketball coach.
Joe Frager, who led Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) to the Division II 2007 National Championship last season with a 34-2 record, accepted the job and will become the fifth coach in the program’s history.
Despite his success at SCSU, Frager decided the opportunity at Fairfield was too good to pass up.
“At the conclusion of the interview process, driving off the Fairfield University campus, and after having come in contact with so many people throughout the course of the day, it was very apparent to me that Fairfield University was a special place and I desperately wanted to be a part of Fairfield University,” said Frager in his opening remarks at his introductory press conference on April 18.
He will replace Dianne Nolan, who guided the Stags for 28 years before stepping aside in March. The past year, the women’s record was 15-16, entering them into the semifinals of the MAAC tournament.
“There is a strong desire to win here, I sensed that from the very moment I stepped on campus,” he said. “And if I did not believe that there was a commitment to excellence here from top to bottom, then I would not be standing here today.”
Frager has been successful at both of his previous coaching positions. At Seymour High School, he won 208 games while only losing 58, all while winning three state championships. He then moved to SCSU where he went 189-83, earned a national championship and was the recipient of the Molton/Women’s D-II National Coach of the Year Award.
“You don’t try to recreate step for step everything that you’ve done in previous coaching. But there are certain core philosophies that have been really good and worked in both high school and at the college level,” said Frager. “We want to guard, take care of the ball, take high percentage shots, and cultivate a group of people that don’t respond well to losing.”
Frager will be joined by Laura Scinto, his long-time assistant coach at SCSU and hopes to have the rest of his staff finalized by the end of this week.
He said he believes in the direction that the women’s basketball program is going and is anxious to work at Fairfield.
“I believe in what Fairfield University stands for, and I believe in the direction that our women’s basketball programs is going to go,” said Frager.
Athletic Director Gene Doris mounted the diverse nationwide search for potential candidates immediately after Nolan stepped aside. He contacted Champsearch, who also assisted in the hiring of men’s basketball head coach Ed Cooley.
“We were looking for someone who had a track record of success, either as an assistant or as a head coach at any level,” said Doris.
“In addition, we were looking for things that were a good fit for Fairfield,” he said. “I think he just gave us the best fit at this point and embodied everything we were looking for.”
“Sometimes it’s a feeling everyone has with him,” said Doris. “Everyone had a positive feeling with him.”
In keeping with the Jesuit mission and University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx’s vision, Frager said his goal for success is to build the women’s basketball program around the core values of the University.
“I take great pride in our various coaching staffs because I know they understand and practice all aspects of our mission,” said von Arx.
Vice President of Student Affairs Mark Reed, who introduced Frager as the new head coach at the press conference, said he is excited for Frager to begin his coaching career at Fairfield.
“Whether he’s realized it or not, Joe Frager has incorporated the Jesuit ideal of living and learning into the development of his team,” Reed said.
Every starter will return next year, providing a solid core of players for Frager. There is only one player, Cara Murphy ’07, who is graduating.
The team has a lot of potential for the coming season, Frager said.
“A lot of times when you inherit a team, you inherit a team with cupboard bare, but that’s not the case here at all,” said Frager. “There’s a nice nucleus of players here.”
Frager is excited to begin coaching each individual player and the players as a team. He plans to identify their strengths and weaknesses before making any formal decisions on their style of play.
The players are also excited to work with Frager, who told the players they will work extremely hard on the defensive end of the floor.
“We were excited to meet our new coach. We were laughing, just talking about different things, about himself, and we were talking about ourselves,” said guard Sabra Wrice ’08, the team’s leading scorer this past season.
“We’ve got a lot of great players coming back, good players coming in, so I feel like we still have the same possibilies to do just as well as last year, or better,” she said.
Another player, Baendu Lowenthal ’09, said she is confident that Frager will be the right coach for the job and will work hard to reach the goal of winning the MAAC Championship.
“I had no idea [of his national championship],” said Lowenthal. “That’s a great accomplishment and that just shows that we have a great coach.”
“We’re looking forward to see what happens,” said Frager.
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