After a summer of big changes for Bulls athletics, the women's basketball team has landed former WNBA coach Linda Hill-MacDonald, who automatically becomes one of the most accomplished coaches in both the history of the team and UB itself.
As the head coach of the WNBA Cleveland Rockers, Hill-MacDonald set a record for consecutive wins for a first-year team and managed to win an Eastern Conference Championship in her second year with the Rockers.
Before winning championships at the professional level, Hill-MacDonald worked to perfect her college game. She started as an assistant coach for North Carolina State University, but soon went on to lead both Minnesota State and Temple University to each program's their first NCAA tournament appearance.
Hill-MacDonald has also earned various coaching awards, including Big 5 Coach of the Year honors, being named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year award and being voted runner-up for the WNBA Coach of the Year award in 1997.
"We won an Eastern Conference Championship with the Cleveland Rockers and I'm pretty proud of that," said Hill-MacDonald about her history. "The other major thing for me was winning the Carol Eckman Award because she was my college coach."
With more accolades than most accumulate in an entire career, Hill-MacDonald decided to join the ranks of UB in May of 2005.
"It was a great opportunity," said Hill-MacDonald. "When I came from my interview I was very impressed with the people, the facilities and the vision. I am originally from the northeast and it is basically a coming home for me."
As a replacement for longtime coach Cheryl Dozier, who was released last March, Hill-MacDonald has a lot of work ahead of her. Under Dozier's seven-year leadership, the team had an 89-107 record with few highpoints. In the last two years the team has complied a 10-45 overall record with a 6-26 record in the Mid-American Conference. Additionally, the team has failed to win outside of Alumni Arena, tallying just two road wins in its last 30 attempts.
"We do that one day at a time," said Hill-MacDonald when asked how she intends to create a winning program. "Our job right now is to help these young women think differently. It is very difficult when you come off the kind of season they had last year. We have to think about winning and learn how to win. We have to create a competitive atmosphere and help them get beyond where they were last year."
Hill-MacDonald added that although she is aware of the obstacles that are in front of her team, she is optimistic about the chances of improvement.
"Growth is an incremental thing. It doesn't happen overnight," said Hill-MacDonald. "This team isn't going to be great overnight, but I think we're going to be better. I think we can be better pretty quickly. I'm excited about the work effort and enthusiasm of these young women."
In other coaching changes around UB athletics:
Jim Lodes has taken the reins as the new head coach of the volleyball team. Lodes, who has already kicked off the team's new season with a 4-1 record, comes to UB from North Carolina University, where he was an assistant coach for three seasons.
Kevin Heck was hired as a new assistant coach for the men's basketball team. Heck has spent the last three seasons at Rutgers where he worked on off-campus recruiting, player development, scouting and game preparations.
Shannon Baugh joins the women's basketball team as an assistant coach. She spent the last year with Northern Illinois University where she handled team travel, broke down film and scouted opponents.
Kelly Morrone will also begin her first year as an assistant coach for the women's basketball team. Morrone has no prior college coaching experience.
Jeff Catrabone has joined the ranks of the wrestling team as a new assistant coach. Catrabone was a five-time All-American wrestler at the University of Michigan and has no college coaching experience.
Tucker Short is a new assistant coach for the volleyball team. Short has no prior full-time college coaching experience.
Ladi Lya joins the volleyball team as a new assistant coach. Lya has served as an assistant coach of the Nicholls State University for one year.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
