Cathy Inglese, who coached UVM women's basketball teams to glory from 1986 through 1993, died on Wednesday, July 24 from complications from a traumatic brain injury. She was 60 years old. Most recently, Inglese served as associate head coach at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. It was there on July 17, before a summer workout, she tumbled down a stairwell and suffered the TBI.
Under Inglese's leadership, from November of 1991 through March of 1993, the UVM women's basketball team did not lose a single regular-season game. Their records were 29-0 and 28-0 in those two seasons, before the team lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament both years.
After the 1992-93 season, she was hired away from UVM by Boston College where she coached for 15 seasons.
UVM's Director of Athletics Jeff Schulman talked with Vermont Edition to share memories of Inglese's time at the school and about her impact on the program and community.
Another college community is mourning the loss of a popular former coach. Middlebury College announced that former men's basketball head coach and later Athletic Director Russ Reilly also died on July 24.
Reilly coached and then ran the athletic department for 29 years. He then continued to serve as a volunteer coach for the last 13 years. Anyone who ever attended a Middlebury College football game will also remember his remarkable voice as the PA announcer for the games. Reilly was just shy of his 75th birthday.
Broadcast live on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
