Press Releases

Jun 16, 2000
Women's Basketball Coach Resigns; Goes to Brooklyn Campus

Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

Head Coach Tony Bozzella, who turned the Southampton College women's basketball team from doormats to champs, resigned this week to take the reins at Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University. Southampton College and CW Post Campus, where Bozzella worked previously as an assistant, are also part of the Long Island University system.

Bozzella, 34, took over a Southampton College program in 1992 that had never had a winning season. Through tremendous recruiting efforts (including in the Baltic nations of Europe) and a vast knowledge of the game, he turned the team into a winner. The Lady Colonials made the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference finals the past three years, winning titles in 1998 and 1999. He has a 120-104 career record. Before his arrival, the Lady Colonials were 30-119 since the team's creation in 1989.

"Not only did Tony win on the courts, he also made sure his students won in the classroom," said Southampton College Athletic Director Mary Topping. "His team has a 100 percent graduation rate and the highest grade-point-average in the state for NCAA Division II."

Bozzella is coming off a 20-9 season. He will be replacing Patty Delehanty who led the Division I Blackbirds to a 13-16 record in 1999-2000. Southampton College is now beginning a search for a new head women's basketball coach, which is a part-time position.