In one of the most memorable evenings in the history of Seton Hill’s (SHU) women’s basketball program, head coach Ferne Labati recorded victory number 500 in the illustrious 30th season of her coaching career.
By Sean Maiolo
Business/Ad Manager
In one of the most memorable evenings in the history of Seton Hill’s (SHU) women’s basketball program, head coach Ferne Labati recorded victory number 500 in the illustrious 30th season of her coaching career.
The win was number 71 in her short time at SHU, which dates back to 2006. Most of her wins came while leading the Lady Hurricanes from 1988-2005. She stands as the University of Miami’s winningest head coach and was named Big East Coach of the Year in 1992.
Labati is enjoying her most successful season yet with the Lady Griffins, who improved their record to 19-6 (15-5 WVIAC) following the historic win.
“I just want to thank Seton Hill University for giving me an opportunity to coach here,” said Labati while addressing the packed McKenna Center at half court following the victory.
“To our great coaching staff, and our seniors and our great team, I feel very blessed today to be able to do something that I really, really love, and that’s coach and be with student-athletes.”
Since arriving at SHU, Labati has quickly and remarkably turned the Lady Griffins into a force not only in the WVIAC conference, but also on the national scene. The 2008-09 season was the first time the team was eligible for postseason play in the NCAA’s Division II and they did not disappoint.
The Lady Griffins compiled an 18-11 record under Labati’s direction and won their first ever WVIAC tournament game. One of that team’s stars, senior forward Katie Lintner, has continued to excel and improve under Labati even after garnering first team all-WVIAC honors last season.
“She’s definitely pulled us through a lot of games,” Lintner said of her head coach. “She’s a great person outside of basketball and inside basketball we know that she gets really rowdy and excited so we know that we just have to play through everything.”
Nearly everyone close to Labati both professionally and personally would agree with Lintner’s sentiment.
“I’m really blown out and happy for Ferne with 500 wins,” said men’s basketball head coach Tony Morocco. “Do you realize what that is? I mean 500 of anything is something, but 500 in this business [is remarkable].
I’m very proud of her. That’s a good coach and a good team.”
“One of the reasons I like coach Labati so much is not from the basketball standpoint but that she’s such a good person,” said assistant coach Tony Grenek. “She allows me to coach and also be a family man. Some coaches will make you work 24/7 around the clock during the season.
Grenek continued, “Coach isn’t like that. We make a commitment during the day to get our team prepared but my other time is free to be able to spend with my family and I greatly appreciate that.”
Despite all the high praise from both her colleagues and her players, coach Labati insisted there were far more important things than just getting her 500th career win.
“I think the greatest thing of all, and I said this to everyone, is that I am very, very happy to have the opportunity to coach at SHU and to coach just really great kids,” she said. “I love the game and I love the kids, and I say that over and over again. I’ve been saying it my whole life, my whole career.
“That’s what it’s all about. It’s about the kids.
That’s why I’m kind of low key because it is about the kids.”
Since notching win number 500, Labati led the Lady Griffins to the second seed in the WVIAC tournament. They won their final 12 regular season games and dominated Bluefield State 92-44 in their opening round WVIAC tournament game at the McKenna Center.
Although they were upset in Charleston in their quarterfinal game against Shepherd, the ladies’ strong finish earned them their first ever bid in the NCAA Division II national tournament as the five seed in the Atlantic Region.