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For assistant coaches, click here ABOUT COACH GAITLEY With nine returning letterwinners and a strong crop of newcomers, Gaitley looks to build on last season’s five-win turnaround and have her team be a force in the NEC. Despite having a reputation as a defensive-minded team – the Blackbirds allowed just 61.2 points per game last season – Long Island led the league in both field goal and three-point field goal percentages. “Defense will continue to be the staple of our program,” Gaitley said. “However, the foreign tour allowed us the opportunity to work on our transition game. With the return of a strong backcourt and a solid group of incoming freshmen, expect an exciting offensive style this season.” With a 361-216 career record, seven NCAA Tournament berths,
four conference If you look past all Gaitley’s victories and postseason accomplishments, one true measure of her skill as a coach and leader can be found: personality. Her cordial and likeable demeanor is contagious. That, along with her efficiency and the foundation she has laid for the program has made the Ocean City, N.J. native a perfect fit. A true player’s coach in every sense, Gaitley’s likeability and love of basketball extends outside the United States border. She has recruited oversees extensively throughout her coaching career, including bringing 12 international players to LIU. Growing up in an athletic atmosphere with five sisters and two brothers, being part of a large family is nothing new for Gaitley. That environment is what helped lay the groundwork for the success she has enjoyed to this point. “I think by growing up in a big family, you learn to be competitive among your brothers and sisters,” Gaitley said. “Having a mom and dad who played sports and were very involved made a big impact on my life.” Gaitley was taught early on in life that losing was not an option. She competed for an Ocean City High School team that went 100-0 in league play from 1974-78 and honed her skills under quality collegiate coaches like Jim Foster at Saint Joseph’s and Harry Perretta at Villanova.“I learned how to win early and how to hate losing,” Gaitley said. “When you win a lot, losing hurts more. I feel I’ve taken a little bit from everybody who has touched my life and developed that into my own philosophy and helped get me where I am.” Gaitley took the reigns at Saint
Joseph’s from Foster
and added to the program’s success each year. Gaitley guided
the Hawks to five 20-win seasons, winning
Atlantic 10 Conference championships in 1997 and 1999 and at-large Gaitley, who had served as an assistant coach at the Philadelphia school from 1982-85, took her team on three European tours as head coach, visiting Ireland, England, Belgium and Luxembourg. She also helped secure an annual sponsorship of the program by a major supermarket chain and established the “Kid’s Fun Club,” bringing in over 100 supporters for the Hawks. The success Gaitley had with Saint Joseph’s carried from her experience at Richmond. She led the Spiders to a WNIT berth in 1989 and Colonial Athletic Association championships in 1990 and 1991. Gaitley took a mediocre squad and turned it into one of Virginia’s finest, notching 20-win campaigns in each of her last four seasons and compiling a combined 96-27 record. Gaitley was named CAA Coach of the Year in 1990 following a 25-5 mark and went 26-5 the next season. If defense wins championships, look no further than Gaitley’s teams as they were ranked among the nation’s top 10 in scoring defense nine times from 1989-2000. Saint Joseph’s allowed just 53.1 ppg in 1998-99 and led the nation in 1993-94 by yielding 53.9 ppg. Gaitley has also had success on the international level. She served as assistant coach for the United States in 2000 at the Jones Cup, helping to lead her country to a gold medal, and was coach for the West team at the 1995 U.S. Olympic Festival, winning a silver medal. Academic achievement has followed Gaitley wherever she has gone with a 100 percent graduation rate for four-year players as coach. She has coached seven A-10 academic honorees, four CAA academic winners, two A-10 Student-Athletes of the Year, two all-district academic honorees and one academic All-American. The knowledge Gaitley acquired has been passed down through SVG Camps, which she has been running for the past 19 years. She has also given clinics in Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ireland and England. Gaitley’s athletic accolades
go way beyond coaching. A From there, she and her sister Courtney Vanderslice were off to Villanova, where they enjoyed three outstanding campaigns from 1979-82. They helped lead Villanova to the Philadelphia Big Five title each season. Gaitley averaged 11.0 ppg during the 1981-82 season and helped guide Villanova to the Final Four. Earlier that season, Stephanie and Courtney played against Coco Vanderslice of Fairleigh Dickinson, marking the first time in NCAA history three sisters competed in the same contest. Gaitley graduated from Villanova in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in education and was an academic All-American that season. She received her Master of Science in secondary education at Villanova in 1983. The school inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 1993, three years after she was enshrined into the Philadelphia Big Five Hall of Fame. Gaitley served as chairperson of the Kodak All-America Committee from 1998-2001 and is a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. Gaitley and her husband Frank reside in Haverford, Pa., with their sons Dutch (19), D.C. (13) and Jordan Cooper (8).
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stephanie.gaitley@liu.edu