On Campus
McConnell-Serio Ready To Lead Dukes
By Stacy Gault

Duquesne Women's Basketball Head Coach Suzie McConnell-Serio recognizes the challenges she will face in her first year, but she also doesn't have a lot of room for failure. "I'm not a patient person, so I expect to win."

After last year's 7-20 season, McConnell-Serio replaced 14-year head coach Dan Durkin following his resignation in March.

"I knew Dan Durkin and it was unfortunate it didn't work out for him; but for me it was a great opportunity to get into college coaching," McConnell-Serio said.

After moving back to Pittsburgh, she coached her daughter's 5th grade basketball team along with private lessons and clinics, but McConnell-Serio still knew she wanted to coach at the collegiate level.

During Duquesne's search for a new head coach, McConnell-Serio's Alma Mater Penn State was also hiring, but her interest in the position was solely the perception of others.

"You wouldn't believe how many times I heard my name thrown out there for that job," she said. Although the more her name was associated with the vacancy, part of McConnell-Serio started to buy into it. She asked herself, "am I supposed to be the next coach at Penn State?" But Duquesne is where she really wanted to be because McConnell-Serio wasn't ready to pick up her family and move again.

"This is home to us," she said, "ultimately for me, my family is number one; every decision that I make, I have my family in mind." Not only was she happy to be coaching at a new level of playing, but she was also impressed with the university as a whole. Growing up in Pittsburgh and coaching at the Palumbo Center as a high school coach, McConnell-Serio never got a chance to see the campus. After her interview, she was amazed and came to the conclusion that "Duquesne is the best-kept secret in Pittsburgh."

Even more than the university grounds, McConnell-Serio was also impressed by the people, particularly second-year Athletic Director Greg Amodio and his excitement and enthusiasm for Duquesne athletics.

As an addition to the many new personnel in the Duquesne Athletic Department, McConnell-Serio sees this year as a fresh start for both the program and the individual players. With only film to rely on to evaluate her team, McConnell-Serio said she had no preconceived notions or perceptions of her players before the team began practices.

"Everything was to be earned and that is what I talked about the first time I met with them when I was hired," she said. Having a roster of 11 players, McConnell-Serio will be working with a short bench and limited player experience.

Currently, the 2007-08 roster has nine eligible players, two of whom are incoming freshman that have never played in a college-level game. There are two returning seniors, forward Jade Singleton and guard Jocelyn Chandler, but the rest of the team saw limited game time last year because of the team's five seniors.

Singleton ranked second on the team in rebounds last year, grabbing 148. Averaging 2.37 offensive rebounds per game, she was ranked 14th in the Atlantic 10. Although she won't be able to stay under the boards all season in the fast-paced games the team plans to play.

"We're looking to run this year, so we need to be in shape to run up and down the court," Singleton said. Chandler scored double figure points in eight games last year and she said she is pushing herself even harder this year to keep up with the speed of the game.

"You win or lose games the last few minutes," Chandler said, adding last year the team was unable finish off games and secure wins. Juniors Rachel Frederick and Eve Pyle are transfers who will have to sit out this season, but will have an entire year to practice with the team. Both are WPIAL products, played in Amateur Athletic Union basketball leagues together, and Pyle played for McConnell-Serio when she was the head coach at Oakland Catholic.

Along with McConnell-Serio, the team has three assistant coaches, all with impressive resumes. Dan Burt, a Washington, Pa. native, has nine years of Division I coaching experience and the last three were spent with Bucknell University women's team. Blaine Patterson was an assistant coach at Wyoming and Illinois University before he was hired at Duquesne. Maybe the most notable is Tasha Butts, a 2004 graduate of the University of Tennessee who has experience playing in a wining program.

In addition to playing and coaching for Pat Summit, Butts played on four Southeastern Conference championship teams and two National Championship appearances her junior and senior year. McConnell-Serio, then the head coach of the WNBA team the Minnesota Lynx, drafted Butts in 2004 who helped the team to their second playoff appearance in franchise history.

McConnell-Serio, a 1988 Olympic basketball team gold medalist, hopes her past experiences as a player and a coach will help her instill confidence and work ethic into her team.

"The more I wanted something, the harder I've worked," she said, adding her goal is getting the team to work harder and want to win even more.