The world of an assistant coach in collegiate athletics can be a difficult and thankless one. The hours are long and the season essentially lasts 12 months a year. A lot of your time is spent on the road, traveling with the team or making recruiting trips, sometimes out of the country. Turnover at these positions can be frequent, as coaches often decide that this world is not for them, or in some cases, they take different coaching jobs somewhere else.
But everybody on the inside, from the players to the administration to the diehard fans, knows that you can’t win if you don’t have great assistants.
Quinnipiac University has 21 varsity sports in all. They range from established, nationally-recognized programs like hockey and basketball to those in the NCAA’s designated “Emerging Sports” category, such as rugby or acrobatics and tumbling. And the assistant coaches of these programs wear many different hats. Their responsibilities can extend far beyond the field of play. They come from a variety of backgrounds, from age to tenure to experience level. Some have long-standing connections to the school; some are working in the Northeast for the first time. But they all have their own stories, their reasons for pursuing the path of a college coach, and the aspects of their job they enjoy the most.
Bradley Jacks: Growing with the Program
No sport at Quinnipiac has more coaches on staff than men’s basketball. Beyond head coach Tom Pecora, the program has an associate head coach, three assistants, a director of player development and operations, and a graduate assistant. This is standard operating procedure in college basketball, a revenue-generating sport where the coaches face a lot of pressure to be competitive within your conference. In this modern world, where basketball players are now allowed to transfer without penalty and over a third of all NCAA men’s basketball players have entered the portal this season, the pressure continues to grow for the coaches.
Bradley Jacks knows how quickly the landscape of college basketball is changing. He came to Hamden in 2019 as a graduate assistant under then-head coach Baker Dunleavy, following one year as an assistant coach at Division III Randolph-Macon College (Va.). After receiving his master’s degree in business administration from Quinnipiac, he was promoted to video coordinator before being elevated to a full-time assistant position in 2022. Dunleavy left for Villanova’s GM role after the 2022-23 season, but Jacks had developed a relationship with Dunleavy’s successor, Tom Pecora, during their time working together as assistants, and Jacks was retained following the coaching transition.
For Jacks, building relationships with the other coaches on staff has been key to his longevity at Quinnipiac.
“We’re all here to work toward a certain goal,” he says. “That’s first to help these kids grow through the game of basketball; second, watch them graduate; and third, win basketball games. Everyone that’s in this building is on the same mission, and everything we do is for the greater good of the team. My role as an assistant, it’s not my team, it’s the head coach’s team. The biggest thing is, how can I help make the head coach’s life easier?”
While Jacks does enjoy being on the sidelines during games, it’s at practice where he feels that the most fulfilling parts of his job are.
“Games are fun, the environment is awesome here, but practices are where we learn a lot about our guys and how well they handle adversity. That’s the part that makes being a basketball player fun. Seeing their competitive nature, being on the court every day, it really brings me back to the days when I played. I know how much they care, how much they want to be good.”
Emily Roskopf: Giving Back
Most college coaches would tell you that the relationships you build with your players extend far beyond their years as student-athletes, and at Quinnipiac that is no exception. A number of standout Bobcat athletes returned to Hamden some time after graduation to help mentor the next generation of Quinnipiac stars, including head baseball coach John Delaney and associate men’s hockey coach Joe Dumais. Emily Roskopf represents the next generation of Quinnipiac athletes who have come back to help their alma mater continue to be successful. A four-time All-American and three-time national champion on the Bobcats’ rugby team, Roskopf is one of the program’s most decorated athletes. By the end of her collegiate career, she decided that coaching was a path she wanted to pursue, and in 2021 accepted the head coaching job for the new program at Division II Newberry College (S.C.), which she had to help build without any existing rugby infrastructure at the school. In 2023, longtime Quinnipiac coach Becky Carlson reached out to Roskopf and asked her to apply for the recently-vacated assistant coaching job, and that brought the California native back to Connecticut. As she is the only assistant on Carlson’s staff, her schedule can get pretty hectic, especially during the season. “I handle a lot of the more administrative side of things,” says Roskopf. “The week leading up to a game, whether it’s a home game or we’re traveling, I’m the one putting together the itinerary for the weekend. We have meals on the road, so I put all those orders in. We book the hotel, coordinate with the bus company, give the team the travel pack list. For home games, it’s similar, but we have to get the game balls ready to go, make sure the team has all the equipment they need.” In addition, Roskopf handles emails from potential recruits, and has also taken on the responsibility of creating many of the team’s social media graphics.
There are only 12 women’s rugby teams in Division I. The community of people around the game is insular, but it is very close-knit. Roskopf believes that her background as a recent graduate of Quinnipiac makes her job a little bit easier.
“I know people on the other side of campus,” she says. “I know what to expect reaching out to admissions or student life from when I was a student here. The athletes come here because of the academic programs and the chance to play rugby, but they stay because of the relationships they build.”
Madison Skeie: Putting the Building Blocks Together
Madison Skeie always wanted to return to the Big East. A two-year captain of the field hockey team at Providence College, she worked as an assistant at Division III Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) and CAA school Monmouth before jumping at the chance to join new Quinnipiac head coach Nina Klein in 2023.
“Quinnipiac was always a school that I thought had everything they needed to win,” Skeie says. “I want to be a part of that process here.”
Keeping the exact same staff for multiple seasons is becoming increasingly rare in NCAA athletics, especially for a rebuilding program. But Klein, Skeie, and fellow assistant Abby Lucas will enter their third season together in the fall of 2025, which Skeie attributes to their relationship that extends well outside of practice and game hours.
“It’s important that I know what Nina needs,” Skeie says. “You have to have your head coach’s back, and the players have to see that you guys are all on the same page, all communicating the same things. You can disagree, but when you’re in front of the players you have to put on a united front.”
When asked about her favorite part of the job, Skeie doesn’t hesitate.
“The relationships formed with the girls,” she says. “Obviously, there’s a line, you’re still a coach, but I love giving them the confidence to be leaders and empowering women to go on and be great people when they leave Quinnipiac.”
Quinnipiac senior forward Grace LaBarge felt the end in silence. The Bobcats had just lost to Seton Hall 57-40, and were sitting in the visiting locker room of Walsh Gymnasium. LaBarge had just taken off her shoes, which were a hybrid of pink, purple and blue.
It was only players in the locker room at this point, no one was speaking, though. Some had their heads down, others were crying. It wasn’t until a minute or two in that sophomore forward Anna Foley said something, then LaBarge spoke.
She thanked them for her senior year and how proud she was of all of them. With her shoes off, and her uniform eventually coming off, LaBarge had a realization.
“Wow, I’m not going to put these back on,” LaBarge said. “I’m never going to be suited up for a game again.”
Former Bobcat guard Jillian Casey has been on that road before. Her basketball career ended in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the year before at the MAAC Tournament. Casey is now a physical therapy student at the University of Rhode Island pursuing her doctorate.
She texted LaBarge right after the game ended, “How are you feeling?”
“[LaBarge] said, ‘definitely weird, and I’m not really sure what to think of it,’” Casey said.
The morning after, LaBarge was in a haze. It was 10 times worse after sleeping. She texted a group chat she has with sophomore guards Maria Kealy, Ava Sollenne, Paige Girardi and Foley.
“It feels like we’re still in a nightmare,” LaBarge said. “This is reality.”
This was the second sit-down blow of the end for LaBarge. Quinnipiac was clobbered 76-53 in the MAAC Championship game by Fairfield, so that and the permanent end created a “double whammy,” for LaBarge.
A month later with fresher eyes and now a “NARP”, (a non-athletic regular person), LaBarge sees the end of her basketball, hell, her college life as simply the end of chapters. College is a four-year chapter, sure, but basketball has been a 17-year chapter for LaBarge. It’s been a chapter filled with joy, camaraderie, injury, anxiety and, above all, love.
Where it all started
LaBarge first started playing like most kids with her siblings at around five years old. She’s the baby of the family. She has three older siblings, a brother, Michael, and two sisters, Emily and Hannah.
That’s how her love of the game developed.
“I would go to all of their games, and I loved watching them play,” LaBarge said.
From there, her next memory concerns something LaBarge has become all too accustomed with: three pointers on the wing. LaBarge attempted the fourth most three pointers on Quinnipiac this past season.
She was in fourth grade, playing up against fifth graders and she put up a prayer.
“I shot the shot, and I immediately started running back on defense,” LaBarge said.
It went in. From there, a love of the three-ball started with LaBarge. Of her 601 career points with Quinnipiac, 213 are triples.
Pretty early on — in late elementary school/early middle school — LaBarge knew that she wanted to play collegiate basketball. She played up for most of her life, in preparation for playing for William Fremd High School.
When she got there, LaBarge instantly made an impact. She was on the varsity team as a freshman, although the varsity team was like LaBarge at the high school level, inexperienced.
“We were really young,” then-assistant coach and interim head coach of Fremd James Han said. “We actually didn’t have a great season, per se, because we were so young.”
Dave Yates was the head coach of Fremd when LaBarge went there. He had to step down in 2024 because of a brain cancer diagnosis. He was the Fremd girls basketball head coach for 18 years and died on June 11, 2024.
He was instrumental in LaBarge’s growth. LaBarge struggled with self-confidence her sophomore year. She would get on the court and think that she couldn’t do it and she would mess up. She was locked in her head.
“There was a time where I was like, I can’t do it anymore. I don’t want to play basketball anymore. I’m ready to give up,” LaBarge said.
It was Yates who convinced her not to. Through being there for LaBarge, he put her on the path she’s on now.
“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have ever made it to Quinnipiac,” LaBarge said.
In LaBarge’s junior year, Fremd went on to win the state championship, its first in program history. It beat Lincoln-Way West 58-47 to take home the trophy.
But trophies weren’t of the team’s concern.
“None of us wanted to be done,” Emily Klaczek, the then-point guard on Fremd said.
“One of our mantras Grace’s junior year was ‘keep winning so we could spend more time together as a group,’” Han said.
It was Dave Yates first ever state championship. Yates’ family held a celebration of life in the Fremd library, where the whole state championship team came to show their support. Both LaBarge and Klaczek flew back for the occasion.
“I’m so glad I made the trip home for it,” LaBarge said. “It really encapsulated the type of person he was, that he was having so many people come around for him.”
The Quinnipiac experience
LaBarge celebrates with teammates sophomore guard Karson Martin (center) and freshman guard Gal Raviv during the Bobcats MAAC Tournament win over Merrimack. (Rob Rasumssen | P8 Photos)
LaBarge committed to Quinnipiac over the pandemic. One of her AAU coaches put her on a phone call with Quinnipiac, which was news to LaBarge, both the phone call and the school she would shortly be talking to.
“I have never even heard of Quinnipiac,” LaBarge said. “What is that?”
LaBarge knew right when speaking to Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri that it would work out. She talked with former players Rose Caverly and Cat Almeida, took a visit and committed shortly after that.
She moved in over the summer for the two summer practice sessions with four other freshmen — senior guard Jackie Grisdale, Rose Caso, Reiven Douglas and Korin Mereste.
Talk to anyone about LaBarge, and they’ll mention how funny she is.
“She was certainly a goofball,” Han said. “She’s always been silly.”
She instantly left that impact upon her fellow freshman, regardless of what they were doing.
“We would sit in the common area and play board games,” Douglas said. “She would be one of the ones making jokes about the games.”
Her humor left a lasting impression on Casey too. The team was shooting around, some were shooting others were rebounding. LaBarge walked up to Casey and left her with seven words.
“Born to yap. Forced to play basketball.”
Her and Casey became close, over humor, yes, but also over common struggles. Throughout LaBarge’s four years as a Bobcat, she dealt with uncertainty about her playing time, having to miss family events, multiple sprained ankles — including one that sidelined her for a little over two weeks this season.
Casey has been through all of that. She had a concussion her junior year and then broke her pinky her senior year. But she had Grace to lean on throughout it all.
“I can honestly say that I’m not sure that I would have gone through my last two years without being friends with her,” Casey said.
For LaBarge, former director of basketball operations Jasmyne Fogle and senior associate athletic trainer Becky Mella are who helped her get through the four years in Hamden. In the first summer session, Mella gave all of the new freshman hugs.
“Even from day one, I already knew that I was going to be very close to her,” LaBarge said. “As the years went on, I would find myself turning to Becky if I needed help.”
There’s disagreement among those closest to Grace about what their favorite Quinnipiac basketball memory was of her. Her parents, Ann and Jim, recall the 20-point performance against Princeton on Dec. 6, 2023. LaBarge went 6-6 from the field, and 3-3 from beyond the arc.
Brody Limric, a former Quinnipiac player and Grace’s boyfriend, however, likes to think about her layup against Fairfield from this past season.
— Quinnipiac Women's Basketball (@QU_WBB) March 8, 2025
LaBarge got the ball on the right wing, she drove to her left side, got banged in the paint and while falling to her left toward the M&T Bank Arena stands, lofts a left-handed shot off the glass into the bucket. It sealed a regular-season finale win over Fairfield.
At that moment, it felt like Quinnipiac could win the MAAC, and Grace’s last memory would be hoisting a trophy. But only if we could live in “what ifs,” life would be so much different.
The future
No one truly knows what the future holds for them. For LaBarge, though, the next steps may lay in a cat she adopted over the summer. Meet Oliver, he’s a little over a year old with light brown fur and black stripes all over his body. He’s also missing his left eye. He loves to go on walks outside, he begs LaBarge every day to make it happen. LaBarge loves doing it.
However, some of the students on Quinnipiac’s York Hill campus think otherwise.
“I’ve been walking outside with him and people will yell out their windows at me, and they’ll say ‘that’s not a fucking dog,’” LaBarge said. “I vividly remember some guy yelling that, and I wish I knew where he lived, because I’d be like ‘are you serious?’”
LaBarge worked at the Mount Carmel Veterinary Hospital on Whitney Avenue. She only worked a little during the school year, due to basketball and classes, but a lot more in the summer.
LaBarge came in one day, and saw Oliver on the recovery table, post surgery from removing his left eye. He was mangled — the vets believe he was hit by a car — which caused his left eye to bulge out of his skull.
He needed help with recovering, and it was in part LaBarge’s job to do that. It was a challenge for Oliver to recover.
“It got to the point that I was like, I feel so bad leaving him here overnight in a cold crate, so I asked the vet if I could take him home just nights with me,” LaBarge said.
The answer was yes, and LaBarge grew attached with each night.
“He wanted to be with me the whole, entire time,” LaBarge said with a wide smile. “He was also just so cute and had one eye, how could you resist him?”
LaBarge holding Oliver in her dorm at Quinnipiac University. (Courtesy of Brody Limric)
Oliver eventually went up for adoption, and it was LaBarge who adopted him.
“She loves that animal,” Limric said. “She does a lot for it.”
Oliver is a representation of LaBarge’s love of animals, which inspired her to become a veterinarian. She’s always had that love, dating back to the ditch at the end of her driveway in Inverness.
“That [love] probably started sooner than basketball for me,” LaBarge said. “This is so gross, I have so many memories playing in our little ditch at the end of our driveway, because there would be so many frogs there.”
“I loved hanging out with the frogs, I would spend hours outside with them.”
She’s waiting to hear back from two veterinarian schools, the University of Illinois and Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. She had a job interview on May 2 to work at a vet back home. The summer plan is to go back home and work there, then spend the year with Limric — who is currently in the transfer portal — wherever he ends up, if LaBarge doesn’t get into vet school.
LaBarge isn’t going to walk the stage at graduation. Her collegiate end won’t be in a cap and gown. It will be among family and friends back in Illinois. That won’t be in silence either, but once in solitude, LaBarge is filled with nothing but gratitude about her journey.
“If I was there, I would just be grateful for all of the good experiences that I had, and the bad,” LaBarge said.
Hamden, CT – Tricia Fabbri was hired as Quinnipiac College’s first full-time women’s basketball coach in 1995.
She did not have an arena to call home like she does now. Her resources — as a Division II school in the mid-1990s — were limited. She didn’t even have an office to herself.
Coming from Fairfield University, Fabbri had a stellar playing career. Known then by her maiden name, Tricia Sacca, she finished her career with 1,622 points, 1,036 rebounds and three First-Team All-Conference selections. Fabbri knew what winning looked, felt and sounded like early in her life.
Fabbri wasn’t coaching when she got a call from her former coach at Fairfield, Dianne Nolan, asking her to join her coaching staff as an assistant after graduating.
Fabbri was working as a cocktail waitress in Atlantic City when Nolan called her back to Connecticut.
As an assistant for four seasons, Fabbri helped the Stags to a record of 64-51. Once Quinnipiac had an opening for its head women’s basketball coaching position, then athletic director Burt Kahn reached out to Fabbri about moving to Quinnipiac.
This article is a profile of Fabbri’s 30 years in Hamden (on and off the court) told by her peers, players, assistant coaches, family and all those who became family along the way.
Early Days
Nolan: “It also made a lot of sense. They were just getting their program off the ground. [Fairfield] at the time had done a similar thing. We went from Division II to Division I. We had made the NCAA Tournament a few times. I think the administration at Quinnipiac looked at Fairfield and said, ‘Wow. We want to kind of do what they did,’ and she is all part of that. Let’s hire someone who’s been through it and has had success with it.”
John Lahey, Quinnipiac President 1987-2018: “She was very young … And I’ll have to give Burt Kahn credit … He recognized the quality and potential there to hire [a] younger coach.”
Billy Mecca, Quinnipiac MBB Coach 1991-96/Senior Associate Athletic Director 1998-Present: “She was full of energy and a bundle of joy. And really anxious in a good way, about the opportunity that Quinnipiac provided for her.”
Lahey: “You hire young leaders and you hope they’ll turn out to be great, but you never know for sure. So, whatever Trish has, I wish I could clone it. I wish I could have every coach that we hired turn into a Trish Sacca. You know, she’s very impressive. She’s a big woman. I mean, she’s a presence. I can only imagine her boxing somebody out. I see why she had the rebounding records.”
Fabbri had the potential to be a great coach, and 30 years later many can attest she’s achieved that status. It wasn’t always that way, though.
After a 33-98 record in her first five seasons in Hamden, frustration weighed heavily on Fabbri. Her story at Quinnipiac almost ended before it really even started.
Nolan: “I don’t think she ever shared this story that she was ready to resign. Her first few years were not successful and nor were mine at Fairfield … She hates to lose and the losing killed her.”
Mecca: “She just wanted to walk away because she was so competitive, and winning was such a part of the institution of the Sacca name, that her not winning (was) what she would call failing … But her ability to get past that and use it as a springboard, to me it’s a remarkable story of perseverance.”
Nolan: “When you lose as a coach, self doubt creeps in. No matter what anybody says, you are what your baseball card reads. So it was hard, but we knew she had it. The school was on the right path. It was just going to take time.”
Who is Coach Fabbri?
Whether it’s from playing for her or working alongside her, there are many ways to describe Fabbri on the court and around the game of basketball. Her success at QU came once she started to find her footing in recruiting.
Mecca: “Her ability to get kids committed versus her grabbing kids just to be involved, that’s when you saw the transition from being an average basketball team to the powerhouse she created.”
Nolan: “Winning breeds winning. When you win a championship, you can go get a higher level recruit and it kind of snowballs.”
Greg Amodio, Quinnipiac Athletic Director 2015-Present: “She finds kids that fit into her program and will work with her mindset. And then there’s a level of expectation that is within the entire program that we’re not just here to be mediocre, we’re here to try to compete for championships.”
Nolan: “When you win your first conference championship, it’s hard to do … Once you win one, it’s very addicting. Us coaches all have addictive personalities. Thank God we coach. We don’t gamble.”
Amodio: “With success comes other eyes on your program and on your coach … Am I going to get a phone call? Is Trish going to get a phone call? And there were phone calls. Those coaches who get phone calls from other schools about an opportunity to move up just means that they’ve been doing a really good job where you are … [With] Dr. Lahey, who was here at the time, we were incredibly proactive in rewarding Tricia for her success and showing her that she was important to us.”
Fabbri’s precision and honesty keeps her atop the game and helps her earn respect from her players and staff.
Gillian “Boo” Abshire, Quinnipiac Guard 2011-15: “She’s all about the details and going the extra mile, and I really think that’s what makes her so great is just paying attention to those details – showing love and passion every single day, and she’s really just the best human out there.”
Lisa Lebak, Quinnipiac Guard 2009-13: “She’s willing to call you out for your mess ups, but she’s willing to do the same for herself, and have ownership in what she may have or could have done better or differently.”
Pat Kraemer, Quinnipiac SID 2023-Present: “She doesn’t even tell [the players] how to fix [anything]. She just expects them to know how to fix it and how to change their attitude, their effort, whatever it is. She’ll just say out loud ‘I don’t like our effort.’ She’ll just be brutally honest with them. She doesn’t tell them how to fix anything. They just already know.”
Mackenzie DeWees, Quinnipiac Guard 2018-23: “It can sound harsh sometimes, but Coach is just preparing you for life. There’s obstacles that we face. There’s mistakes that we make and you have to pick back up and readjust and keep going.”
Amodio: “I think the thing I love about her is there’s no nonsense. There’s not a lot of drama with her program and with her, she holds her student athletes accountable.”
Jasmine Martin, Quinnipiac Guard 2011-15: “She loves her players, she loves coaching, she loves what she does, and she shows up for us 110% every day. In all my years playing, I never felt like ‘Man, she doesn’t want to be here’, or ‘It’s just too much for her.’”
Abshire: “And obviously being a Division I athlete is really tough, but you have this female coach who’s been in my shoes before. So it’s just like, why wouldn’t I listen to every single word that she says?”
Lori Landino, Men’s & Women’s Basketball Administrative Assistant 2007-Present: “Her success is different, but it’s also what she does every day to come to the table – to how she’s prepared, how she prepares along the way and all the little details how she handles her business to get to the final point.”
Mountain MacGillivray, Quinnipiac Assistant 2009-18: “Coach is utterly unflappable and just ready to go. When we were playing a game where we were supposed to win, she was always a nervous wreck. Because she never liked being in a situation where we had a big lead, so … It allowed me and the assistants to be assistants, and kind of took her off the ledge when we had already done our job and put a team away, we could try to get her to calm down.”
Jen Fay, Quinnipiac Forward 2014-19: “I would say she’s demanding, but in the best way possible.”
DeWees: “When I was a freshman and we had been losing at halftime to Harvard, I remember she came into the locker room and it was like [this] fire in her eyes. I felt like she had fire in her eyes and fire in her hair, and instead of being shocked, everybody just honed in … Some people misinterpret it for being angry, how her demeanor and stuff are being angry or mad. It’s not, she’s just a passionate, caring woman that wants to win games and wants to play basketball.”
Lebak: “She told you what she needed from you, and there were no secrets or confusion whatsoever. I think direct is probably the best thing you can be as a coach, and she absolutely was, which was super helpful.”
Carly Fabbri, Daughter/Quinnipiac Guard 2014-18: “I think that’s why she’s made such a niche for her in this career. I just think that kind of trickles down throughout her players and her best players are normally the ones that are really tough-nosed, really competitive, will outwork you, and I think that’s her coaching style as well.”
An example of this tough-nosed nature comes from Jen Fay needing a “gentle” reminder on the bench during a game.
Fay: “We’re at Marist and I think it’s my senior year. I’m absolutely playing terribly. She pulls me out, she turns to me and goes, ‘Are you ready to get your head out of your ass now? You ready to go play?’ In that moment I was like, ‘I love you.’ It was like ‘Yeah, you’re right. You’re exactly right.’”
Fabbri is transparent with who she is from the minute players she is recruiting step onto Quinnipiac’s campus.
Martin: “A lot of times you get recruited, it ends up being the people who recruited you aren’t the people who actually are coaching you. It’s a facade. I didn’t know what I was getting into. But with Coach, my dad always said, ‘Go where you’re loved, not where you’re liked,’ and Coach showed that she loved me.”
Jacinda Dunbar, Quinnipiac Forward 2008-2012: “I’d never even heard of the school Quinnipiac until I was being recruited … But the one thing I can remember about her that made me comfortable was just more or less just the warmth that she just has, whether she knows you for a long time, whether you’re brand new, it’s always consistent and it’s always inviting.”
Fay: “I remember driving up this huge hill. I’m like, where am I going? I was an hour and a half away. Her and Mountain both recruited me heavily out of New York City. And I remember on my visit, just kind of getting out of the car. As soon as I got out of the car, the energy and the passion were just right there.”
Kraemer: “That’s a big way that Trish sells this place, is just being comfortable from the minute you step foot on campus.”
AJ Fabbri, Son: “I think my mom is really a salt of the earth woman. I think that’s why a lot of young women want to come play for her, because she can relate to a lot of different people from a lot of different walks of life.”
Fay: “My gratitude for her now is 10 times what it was as a player. I had no idea the behind-the-scenes stuff that you have to go through as a head coach and the decisions you have to make, trying to keep everybody happy. It’s incredible how much she can juggle.”
Her ability to recruit highly competitive players got the team its first NCAA Tournament win in 2017. Fabbri’s message to the team before the game still stays with her players to this day.
Carly Fabbri: “We were super dialed in … Fired up just to be in Miami, to be in the tournament. Sometimes you can get a little bit wrapped up, but I thought her and the rest of the coaching staff did such a great job of grounding us and making sure that we were so well prepared. She ended [practice] with ‘And when we win tomorrow, be ready, don’t act like you’ve never been there before, even though you really haven’t, but act like you deserve this and you’ve been prepared.’”
Every year, only a small number of teams end their season with a win, and everyone else has to end their season with a loss. Fabbri has had to address her teams in painful moments, including ones like the end of a season.
Amodio: “In the face of defeat, she still has an even keel about her. She’s as pissed off as anybody, but she can compartmentalize that and still bring it around to a positive message.”
Kraemer: “Probably one of the biggest losses we had this year was in the MAAC Championship. She didn’t even talk about the game afterwards. She said, ‘I don’t care about the game. We had a great season.’”
DeWees: “Once you’re in her group, she loves you like you’re one of her kids.”
Landino: “She stands the test of time.”
Who is Tricia Fabbri The Person?
Fabbri has 544 wins on her resume. It’s easy to talk about her as a coach and the success she has had, but it’s who she is off the court that has stayed with people the most.
Mecca: “Her personality has never changed. Her personality had the ability to open doors back then, but over time, the character that she developed kept every door open.”
Abshire: “One of my favorite things about her is she’s not afraid to show her emotions. I have countless memories of her getting choked up in a locker room because of how much she cares.”
Landino: “She wears her heart on her sleeve. Her vulnerability and her emotion, it’s so true.”
MacGillivray: “She also was not afraid to let the players see how much she cared. She wouldn’t hesitate to cry, she wouldn’t hesitate to show her emotions if the frustration got to a point where she was pouring herself out, and she didn’t feel like the team was… She wasn’t afraid to show it, and I think that vulnerability draws the players to be connected to their coach, and I think honestly to this day I still wish I had a little bit more of that.”
Fay: “Her ability to know what kind of message and tone needs to be said to the team at what point during the game and her ability to push the assistant (coaches) and really be emotional, but then know that, ‘okay, the kids need confidence right now.’”
Abshire: “I remember when I did my first scout. It’s kind of like a big project you do. You work on it for a lot of hours and then deliver it to the team. I texted her that morning and just told her that I was nervous. And she was like, ‘You know what, Boo? Why don’t you just share with your team that you’re nervous? Like, it’s okay to be vulnerable.’”
Fay: “It allows her to be demanding on the court because you know how much she cares about you off the court. But the way that Coach treats (people) from the custodian who’s vacuuming the locker room, to her best player to her assistant coaches, it doesn’t change.”
Becky Mella, Senior Associate Athletic Trainer 2011-Present: Even when there’s tons of injuries, that can be stressful, because it takes away their plan, right? Takes away their power a little bit, not on purpose, but, she’s just always so good. She’ll get stressed at times, but she’ll always come back and thank me. She always says the nicest things to basically appreciate us as a staff and what we do. We’re all on the same page, so that’s all you need really.
Fabbri even embraces her players and staff by opening up her home to them.
Fay: “She would have the team over all the time. Even those players like us, who couldn’t go home, ‘Come over for a meal, come over and do this and that.’”
Martin: “I was in Boston maybe, like I don’t know, 4 or 5 months ago I needed a place to stay on my way home, and she let (me stay). Her door is always open.”
MacGillivray: “She’s just a really enjoyable person to be around, she knows how to have fun, and she sure knows how to host a party like nobody’s business.”
And while she is a fierce competitor on the court, she has a fun, goofy side that she’s not afraid to show too.
Lebak: “I think one of my favorite things about Coach Fabbri is every now and then she would come in and we would finish practice, and we’d be in a circle, and she’d just start dancing. Like, where is this coming from?”
Nolan: “(My husband) had this one saying about her. ‘Sacca does everything large.’ She had big hair, she had a big car. That’s what made her fun. She did everything with great enthusiasm and great competitiveness.”
Paul Henry Fabbri, Son: “There’s a reason why girls come back with their kids and their families for the alumni weekend. Come see Coach Fabbri, and that’s most rewarding, being able to talk to all of them, whether it’s from 1999 or 2014. Girls are coming back.”
What Was Your First Impression of Fabbri?
Cass Turner, Women’s Ice Hockey Head Coach (2015-Present): “I think every interaction I ever had with Coach Fabbri has been an energetic one. I feel like I can remember first meeting her and just instantly knowing (she) was somebody who was successful, and that I (could) turn to when I needed to and (someone) to look up to as a great mentor in coaching.”
Tyrell Walden-Martin, Sports Information Director 2021-2023: “My first interaction with her was when they won the championship my freshman year. The entire crowd rushed the floor and everybody stormed the court … And as I was celebrating on the court I just bumped into Trish. But I saw Trish and I was just like, ‘Congratulations, Coach’ and she just gave me a hug. At the time I’m just a random student so I’m just like, holy crap. I just hugged the women’s basketball head coach (who) just won a championship on our floor.”
Tyler Brosious, Women’s Basketball Graduate Assistant (2017-18): “Everyone was always like, ‘You’re from South Jersey. Trish is from South Jersey. You guys have to go talk to each other.’ We found out that she is from the exact town where my dad was living at the time. Where she grew up and where I grew up was like a 10 minute drive. We were truly cut from the same cloth. There was an instant connection there that blossomed in the four or five years that we worked together.”
Abshire: “The morning of my (recruiting) visit, I remember (there was) something that paralleled to my mom. She walked up and introduced herself to me and she had her Starbucks cup, and it had red lipstick all over the part where you drink, and that’s the same thing as my mom. So that was a big reason why — I know it’s something so small and corny – but I was like, ‘I think I’m going to come here.’”
MacGillivray: “I went to main campus first, walked down to the center of the quad, didn’t know where the arena or the gym was. [I] looked back, saw Sleeping Giant over the dome of the business school and was like, ‘Yeah, I could get used to this.’ I was like ‘Man, I think I could talk anyone into coming here.’ So that was certainly a big sell.”
Brijesh Patel, Associate Athletic Director/Director of Athletic Performance (2008-Present): “Quinnipiac didn’t really have a strength coach before me … But right from the get go, I explained ‘Here’s the philosophy, here’s how we’re gonna do things.’ And she was like, ‘I’m all in. Let’s go.’ So it was fantastic to have that level of support initially, when you’re working with somebody for the first time.”
Mom Fabbri
When asked to describe Fabbri, “motherly” was used by almost every person, whether they played for her or worked with her. Her own children grew up at Quinnipiac as part of the team, accepting their “extra siblings” with open arms.
Fabbri’s oldest son, AJ, has one of his earliest memories at a Quinnipiac game.
AJ Fabbri: “When my mom was first starting out coaching, apparently (the other team) was on a fast break. I got loose from whoever was watching me and ran out onto the court and the game had to get stopped. They got delayed, the refs blew a whistle, all that. I saw my mom and just took off right in the middle of the game. My mom always gave me credit for saving a bucket for her on defense because I was able to stop a fast break as a five or six year old.”
And even with the demanding nature of running a basketball program, Fabbri went out of her way to make time for her own kids as they grew up.
Paul Henry Fabbri: “(During) my senior year of high school basketball she was scheduling practices around my schedule because she was like, ‘I am not missing any of your games.’ I was the last kid who was still playing, and I was having a really great year. But it’s so funny because she was so cool and tame in the stands. (She had) that different side of her being the intense coach on the sidelines, and then coming to her kid’s game and just sitting there waiting and never getting really too crazy.”
Her ability to have the same level of care for her bloodline and her “adopted family” is unwavering.
Fay: “That is my mom away from home. Her ability to push and to maximize potential and all of her players and at the same time to put an arm around them is incredible.”
AJ Fabbri: “It’s very gratifying to hear other players view my mom as a mother figure. That’s just the type of woman she is. I just think that that speaks to her character so much.”
AJ Fabbri: “As a young man growing up in today’s day and age, I just feel very grateful to have such a strong, brave and courageous female role model in my life. For me, it was never men’s basketball or women’s basketball. Basketball was basketball because in our household, it didn’t matter.”
While Fabbri’s daughter, Carly, eventually joined the team as a player, she was always involved with the program in some way from a very young age.
Carly Fabbri: Being on the bench (growing up) and seeing how the coaches acted, how the players acted. That was such an advantage for me. To be able to be like, ‘Okay, even if you have a bad play and you get subbed out, this is how you should act. You should just go to the bench, you shouldn’t hang your head.’ And just being around that at such an impressionable age … Taught me right from wrong.”
MacGillivray: “It felt like Carly was part of the team long before she started playing. She was there handing out the water and on the bench waving the towel long before her playing years, so it just seemed like a natural transition.”
Carly Fabbri: “I was a water girl. I took that job very seriously. I knew which girls wanted Gatorade, which girls wanted water, which girls needed an extra cup for whatever reason.”
Trica and Carly Fabbri’s dynamic changed from mother/daughter to coach/player as well in 2014.
Nolan: “I remember when she was going to coach Carly… I remember her calling Kim Mulkey and Chris Gobrecht (to ask) what it’s like having to coach your daughter. She had a couple role models there.”
AJ Fabbri: “I think my mom kind of wanted to be hands off and let Carly have her own college experience with it.”
Carly Fabbri: “I feel like we did a good job of keeping it relatively normal. I wouldn’t really call her mom on the court, she was always Coach on the court.”
Abshire: “Carly earned every single minute that she played. If you wanted me to print out a teammate being the perfect teammate, it would be Carly Fabbri, in every way that year.”
Carly Fabbri’s Quinnipiac playing career ended in Connecticut in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The cheers from her home state fans roared as she and her mom embraced in a quick hug for their final moment as coach and daughter.
Carly Fabbri: “(For my last game) to be up there at Gampel (Pavillion) and playing in front of 10,000 people with Geno Auriemma, and for that to how my college career ended… If I had to lose, it might as well be to UConn and in that kind of environment. But then obviously doing it with my mom it literally was like a storybook.”
Lahey: “I still remember when Carly came out of the game at UConn, there wasn’t a dry eye, at least among the Quinnipiac fans. There wasn’t a dry eye to see her come out, and it still chokes me up to see her hug her mom.”
Mecca: “But to see the hug and the culmination of a chapter of their life in a book that had closed. That’s all time, not every love story has a happy ending.”
Fabbri’s Lasting Legacy at Quinnipiac
Martin: “I cherish the legacy that we’ve been able to leave through the program, and it all starts with her.”
Fay: “I just want every kid that plays for wherever I’m coaching to love a school as much as I loved Quinnipiac and I loved playing for Coach Fabbri.”
Lahey: “It’s not just a great coaching career that she’s had over these past 30 years. It’s truly remarkable. I mean, it’s up there in a class by itself. I marvel at it. And the fact that she’s stayed with Quinnipiac when she could have left … You don’t see it very often.”
Dunbar: “When I talk about my current work ethic and everything like that, (my time at Quinnipiac) really did shape who I was and who I am, so now as a coach I carry some of those same passions and same fiery instincts.”
Mecca: “I don’t think a Trish Sacca/Fabbri sequel could be any better than your original one.”
Paul Henry Fabbri: “Honestly, something needs to be named after her when she’s all said and done at Quinnipiac, because of how much she’s done for the university.”
Sports can be the epicenter of a lot of emotions, excitement, grief, pain, you name it. Any given fan could experience the highest of highs — a monster walk-off home run to win an important baseball game with the crowd roaring in shock and excitement. A fan could also experience the opposite flow of emotions — their favorite basketball team’s star player misses the game winning shot with the season on the line. These things happen all the time in sports, it’s such an unpredictable concept.
You never know what you’re going to see or hear.
This same phrase can be applied when it gets behind the scenes of these athletes. What these athletes do in preparation and the purposeful and intricate actions that they take help them to prepare mentally for their next game or big moment.
“One of the biggest things that people don’t ever really pay attention to in sports is the preparation,” said Dr. Brett Denkin, a licensed sports psychologist based out of Westport, Conn. “It’s easy to see the guy struggle in a batting slump from the TV screen, but what is he doing behind the scenes to fix it? Is he changing his mental approach to the game?”
This is where one of the most intriguing concepts in all of sports come into play – superstition, routine and ritual. Professional sports have been littered with these odd, and often hysterical behaviors for decades.
Speaking of odd and hysterical, former Major League Baseball outfielder Yasiel Puig was well known for hitting home runs, but he was arguably more well known for licking his bat in the batter’s box. This isn’t necessarily mundane for any baseball player, but according to Puig, he the bat gave him extra energy needed to hit the ball.
Michael Jordan, regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, used to wear his powder blue North Carolina shorts under his Chicago Bulls shorts throughout his career, believing it would give him good luck. Leonard Fournette, the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft, wears his purple and gold pads from his college days at LSU under his jersey throughout every game. It’s often a stark contrast from the colorway on his pro jersey, but all he cares about is the comfort of having those pads on.
Wayne Gretzky, who’s widely accepted as the top pro hockey player ever, refused to cut his hair before a game. He also applied baby powder to his skates before hitting the ice. It may be hard to see how this could help an athlete’s performance, but it’s not all about what happens in the game.
“A lot of these behaviors stem from some from of performance anxiety,” said Dr. Denkin. “Doing these things either before or after the game can help to calm the athlete, get them in ‘the zone’ or even to shake off the rust after a bad game.”
These, often unusual, superstitions are not personal to the athlete. High school basketball games are notorious for these types of things. Any time an opposing player is shooting free throws, the home crowd is likely doing anything they can to try and make them miss.
“The superfans here love to wiggle their fingers as the court falls in silence, that’s been a staple in our gym for years,” said Bob Rodgers, the athletic director and boys basketball coach at Whitman-Hanson High School in Whitman, Mass.
When the home team is losing in a baseball game, fans are often seen all over the park flipping their caps inside out, then placing them on their head upside down. This is called the “rally cap” and in theory, it sounds wacky. But fans will do anything they can to try and get the outcome they’re looking for, much like the athletes.
One Quinnipiac baseball player absolutely needs to listen to his country music playlist before any game, or his entire day will be thrown off.
Knox at Nichols College in 2024 – Courtesy: Nichols Athletics/Michael Mason
“I listen to Riley Green before every game,” said Johnny Knox, a graduate infielder for the team. “I have a whole playlist filled with country [music] that I have on before and after my games. It just puts me where I need to be mentally, so I’ve continued to do it.”
While this may not be the most outlandish thing done by an athlete, Knox admits that he’s seen weirder.
“I’ve seen people spit on their batting gloves at the plate,” said Knox. “I’ve seen guys that slap themselves in the face before running onto the field. I’ve seen some pretty wild things, but they all have a purpose for the people that do them. These things get them ready to play, so I guess it’s worth it to have something like that to do, as long as it works.”
According to a study by Cognition Brain Behavior, around 55% of athletes at any competitive level participate in a routine or superstition, while close to 70% believe that their rituals had an impact on their performance. While there’s still no proven truth that these actions directly impact performance, it’s the belief and comfortability athletes get that allow them to potentially play better.
Courtesy: P8Photos.com/Rob Rasmussen
“My teammates and I juggle together before every game. We’ve been doing it since I got here and it just gets me prepared to play,” said Milena Branco, a junior midfielder for Quinnipiac’s soccer team. “If there’s a time where we don’t do it, I’m thinking about it all game. If I make a mistake, I almost wonder if that’s why.”
Women’s soccer at Quinnipiac has been on a roll the last few years, winning back-to-back MAAC titles in 2022 and 2023, and finishing as the runner-up in 2024. While the success likely isn’t directly linked to any superstitions around the team, the whole roster is aware of it.
“I grew up playing with a girl who would meditate on the field before every game,” said Branco. I also used to play with someone who would roll her jersey sleeves up with her shorts rolled up too. I never understood why, but I guess it made her feel comfortable in game.”
The sport of hockey is one of the most superstitious sports in the world, and Gretzky’s antics are just a fraction of what you can see around the game.
First-year forward Tyler Borgula of the Quinnipiac Bobcats ice hockey team is one of the most superstitious athletes at the university. What’s unique about him is that he doesn’t take part in one or two pre-game actions, he plans his day out ahead of time and he sticks to the same schedule every game day.
Courtesy: Quinnipiac Chronicle/Trip Menhall
“I’m waking up the same time every game day, around 8:00 or 8:30 a.m.,” said Borgula. “We’ll go to the rink and eat our breakfast. I get the same thing every day. Then we’ll pre-game skate.”
Borgula, along with the rest of the hockey team, gets Whitney Donut catered to the arena for game days. He goes for the classic bacon, egg and cheese, something he admits is pretty basic, but it puts him in the right headspace. At lunch, he’ll eat at Eli’s, a nearby restaurant in Hamden. He gets chicken and pasta with butter, something he’s done for the last four years.
Much like Knox, he also listens to a playlist before every game, but with the same songs in the same order. The playlist mostly consists of rap artists Meek Mill, Travis Scott, Gunna and Eminem. However, he admits that sometimes a song gets skipped, or even swapped out where a new song will take its place.
“Following a strict regiment can help a given athlete keep structure, which in turn limits out of character behaviors,” Denkin said. “If you don’t play great the next game, and it really eats away at you, you can always fall back into a comfortable environment that you’re used to, and in the environment you feel confident and familiar.”
This kind of routine runs deep, and Borgula admitted that he’s been doing this same routine, with a few minor additions and subtractions along the way, for over two years now.
“My first year of juniors is when I kind of started to realize that I needed to build a routine instead of just showing up. Moving away from home and being on my own definitely helped me develop it,” said Borgula.
However, some days he’ll miss a step of his routine, and this small missed step truly takes a toll on his mind.
“Some days I’ll forget to play the same song or something like that, and that kind of messes with me, which it shouldn’t. I guess it’s just my personal superstition, but I try not to let it get to me too much,” he said.
Borgula also cited that he tapes his stick from heel to toe, but will change it up if he deems that he had a bad game, switching to toe to heel.
“When I do this [routine], I truly think that it helps me and keeps me staying focused for the games,” the Michigan native said.
He also labeled pro athletes like Jordan and others as an inspiration for his routine.
“I’ve watched so many documentaries on Kobe, or Lebron and Jordan, and even watching the NHL day in and day out. These guys all have their own thing to be able to perform to their best, and I think that’s what I want to strive towards,” said Borgula.
This routine has worked out rather well for Borgula in his first year at Quinnipiac. He netted 12 goals and assisted on 13 more for 25 points in 38 games played.
“Over time, these things just melt into athletes’ brains,” said Denkin. “These oddities you see on the TV almost always start way before the pros. It’s something that athletes carry on with them for years, because it makes them feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations.”
The old saying “feel good, play good” is seemingly accurate for Borgula, Branco, Knox and a multitude of other athletes across the globe across all levels.
From the fan who’s sitting in their recliner at home watching a game, these things may always seem like edgy, selfish things that players do to attract attention from the press, but in reality, it’s much deeper than that. Forgetting to do the things that they do before or after every game or match can really affect the mindset of an athlete.
“As long as these behaviors aren’t harmful to anybody, these are great for sports. Having a personal tick that gets your body to get serious when you need it to is a fascinating thing, and I personally love to see these all throughout sports,” Denkin said.
To become a Division I athlete, the journey and the path to get there is a long one that varies from athlete to athlete. Different sports have different paths to ultimately get to the collegiate level. In some sports that pathway starts early on, and for other sports that pathway develops later. While that goal and ambition for these athletes remain the same, the process of getting there is not consistent.
Recruiting in college athletics has never followed a one-size-fits-all model, but the differences in recruitment between sports have only continued to widen with the nature of college sports today. In some sports, attending camps and showcase tournaments early on in middle school and high school are required. For other sports, athletes discover opportunities later in their high school careers, often through informal connections, or high school sports. In less well-known or emerging sports, recruiting remains a player-led process, built on highlight videos and reaching out to coaches.
The recruiting journeys for athletes from various teams at Quinnipiac University highlight how different recruitment can look even at the same school. Through the stories of athletes in men’s hockey, field hockey, men’s basketball, and acrobatics & tumbling at Quinnipiac, it shows how the process to earn a roster spot in Division I athletics is a long road with many ups and downs.
Different Sports, Different Timelines
An athlete’s recruiting journey can often define the rest of their college pathway. But the question of when that process starts and what it looks like depends heavily on what sport they play and their background in that sport.
Hockey: Early Exposure, Long Waits
For men’s hockey, committing early is common, many hockey players are scouted through showcases in ninth or tenth grade or through junior hockey programs and national tournaments. The hockey recruitment path relies heavily on early development leagues like the USHL or prep school circuits, which act as pipelines for Division I hockey programs. Hockey players are usually scouted many years before they step foot on a college campus.
However, even early commitments don’t mean immediate arrivals on those college campuses. Many players will go to play juniors after high school because they aren’t physically ready for the pace of college hockey yet. The college hockey path is a long one and the dream is oftentimes developed early.
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For Alex Power, a junior on Quinnipiac’s hockey team, the dream of playing college hockey started as early as he can remember. Growing up in Canada not playing hockey was not really an option and he always looked to play at the next level. When he was in prep school, he was faced with a decision familiar to many Canadian hockey players: pursue the major junior route or aim for NCAA hockey. Power was drafted to a major junior team and attended their camp when he was 16, but he already knew the path he wanted to take.
“I always pictured myself playing college hockey, from there, I just took steps that would move me closer to that goal,” Power said.
That path did not lead him right to college hockey. It first led him to junior hockey, where he played for two years after high school. For Power, this time was a critical step on his journey, for development and for gaining exposure to college programs. His breakthrough came during a showcase event early in his second year of juniors, where all the teams in the league played in a showcase in front of dozens of NCAA scouts. That’s where he caught the attention of Quinnipiac assistant coach Mike Corbett.
From there, the process was a slow build. Conversations began casually with check-ins and gauging interest. As Power started stringing together good play on the ice the talks turned serious.
Two months after the showcase, Power took the next step on his path and committed to Quinnipiac. And while official visits are common in many sports before committing, he never made the trip to Hamden before his commitment.
“I talked to people who had been here, and everyone had great things to say, I trusted what I’d heard and seen,” Power said.
While every athlete’s story is different, Power’s recruiting journey is considered “typical” in the world of men’s hockey, especially for Canadian players. The process is a long one, often starting years before the athletes ever arrive on campus. Exposure depends heavily on showcase events and performance in juniors, and most players don’t commit until they’ve proven they can handle the pace of play at the next level.
That lengthy timeline, though necessary, can be stressful. Power recalls watching other players commit ahead of him and wondering if his opportunity would ever come.
“Pretty much everyone in my class was committed before I was,” he said. “It wasn’t jealousy it was more just wondering, ‘Is this ever going to happen for me?’”
In the end, it did. And for Power, it was a reminder that the recruitment process doesn’t need to be rushed, just trusted.
Power’s story fits into the broader trends of men’s college hockey recruiting, especially for players navigating the decision between NCAA hockey and the major junior route. In hockey, early exposure is typical, but it rarely guarantees an immediate result. The recruiting process can include many stages: youth leagues to juniors, junior leagues to showcases, and finally, a college commitment. For most players like Power, it’s a long winding path. Junior hockey serves as both an in-between and a development stage, where athletes physically and mentally prepare for the demands of Division I. Power’s journey emphasizes how the timing and direction might not look the same for every athlete, but the destination that the path leads can be the same.
Field Hockey: Early Outreach and a Positive Payoff
For sophomore Quinnipiac field hockey player Katie Shanahan, the dream of playing Division I field hockey started earlier than most of her teammates. In eighth grade she was already thinking about her future, she was determined to find a place to play at the next level. She wasted no time in getting started.
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“I emailed about 45 schools. I was young and didn’t know exactly where I wanted to go or what level I’d end up playing at. But I’m a go-getter and I just wanted to start putting myself out there” she said.
When she was in 8th grade the current NCAA rules prohibited coaches from contacting players until June 15 of their junior year of high school. That left a long stretch of waiting after sending emails and attending clinics, without much feedback to gauge where she stood. These clinics were held by different colleges, and they played a key role in keeping her name in the mix with the coaches.
She explained how college field hockey coaches don’t really come to high school games, especially for players like her playing in the public school system. So, these clinics and showcases were the best way to get seen before that period where coaches could finally contact them.
When that June 15th date finally arrived, she took the day off from school just in case the phone might ring, she really had no expectations going into the day.
“I got my first call at 8 a.m. from Princeton,” she recalled. “It was a little nerve-wracking because I didn’t know who would call, or if anyone would, but as the day went on I received eight phone calls.”
She heard from some schools with better programs on paper but already had a favorite in mind. Having attended clinics at Quinnipiac since eighth grade, she felt a strong connection with the coaching staff that made her feel at home.
Two weeks after receiving those initial phone calls, she made it official and committed to Quinnipiac. Her path would take her from Massachusetts to Connecticut.
She committed very early on in the process and that came with its own challenges.
“I was one of the first 10 to commit in my class in the area,” she said.
Her early decision to commit very early came with both perks and challenges. For almost seven months, she was the only player from her recruiting class at Quinnipiac to commit, which felt a little isolating.
Not only was it isolating it also caused her peers to question why she didn’t want to weigh her options and see if she could draw attention from bigger schools.
“My teammates from high school and coaches would say, why didn’t you go there? Why didn’t you go there? When I told them about my commitment,” Shanahan shared.
But for her, the choice wasn’t about chasing the biggest conference or athletic department, it was about finding the right fit.
“I’d rather pick a school that I love than a school that’s ranked just for the name,” she said.
The Quinnipiac culture, coaching staff, and campus environment all aligned with what she envisioned for her college athletics experience.
Shanahan’s recruiting journey was different because she did not take the wait-and-see approach that many athletes in her sport take. She proactively emailed dozens of coaches before high school and worked hard at many different clinics which directly translated to her receiving early offers. While Shanahan’s early and proactive approach to her recruitment helped her secure a Division I spot, not every athlete’s journey follows such a straightforward path.
Basketball: The Importance of the Late Push
For Akintola Akinniyi a sophomore on Quinnipiac’s basketball team, basketball was never just something he did for fun, it was his steppingstone. Growing up with athletic promise in Texas, people told him that he had the tools to make it and he aimed to prove them right. From the very beginning his goals for where basketball could take him were high.
Quinnipiac Athletics
“I wasn’t even thinking about college. I was thinking about the NBA, and I knew college was just part of that path” he said.
However, the path hasn’t been as simple as he once anticipated. His journey in the recruiting circuit began as it does for many talented basketball players with AAU hoops. He participated in tournaments held on weekends during and in the summer that drew scouts and coaches from around the country.
The thing that mattered the most from these tournaments was getting the all-important “write-ups”. Write-ups are short scouting reports written by scouts evaluating a player’s skills and potential. Akinniyi remembers getting his first one in eighth grade, it was a validation that he was on the right path. More write-ups continued to roll in, especially after strong performances at summer events leading to interest and offers.
“AAU makes your money, that’s what gets you the offers, the write-ups, the rankings” Akinniyi explained.
Despite opportunities to play at a prep school like many of the top players his age, Akinniyi chose to stay at his public high school for all four years. This decision kept him closer to home but may have slowed his recruiting process. His first Division I offer didn’t arrive until late in his senior year, just three days before his graduation. He felt pressure to commit because it was so late in the game, so he committed to Army.
The transition to a service academy proved challenging for him. The military regiment just wasn’t what he was looking for. By the fall of his freshman year, he decided to step away from the team and enter the transfer portal. This decision was a risk because he didn’t want to give up on basketball entirely but knew there could also be limited interest in the portal.
“It’s a leap of faith,” he said. “There’s thousands of people in the transfer portal, and not everyone makes it out.”
Similar to Power, Akinniyi also felt a lot of pressure and jealousy when he saw the things his AAU and high school teammates were doing at nonservice academies. He also had a hard time accepting that Army was where he was supposed to be.
“I was very envious. When I was at Army and seeing other people at other schools, obviously non-service academies I was very envious, very jealous. And it was kind of like, dang, what am I doing wrong?” Akinniyi said.
That self-doubt and desire to do more did not defeat him, he used it as motivation to change his setting. Akinniyi didn’t want his path in basketball to be over, so he emailed several programs in the middle of the semester hoping for another opportunity.
The timing was right, Quinnipiac was searching for a forward after suffering some injuries. He emailed them and heard back the next morning. He visited campus during Thanksgiving break and accepted their offer, officially enrolling on his 19th birthday. The next stop on his path led him to Connecticut.
His commitment to Quinnipiac was the next step towards his long-term goal but getting there did not come without roadblocks and stress.
“It’s very stressful, because you just don’t know what your future entails. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Especially for me, I’m at Army and it’s like if I don’t find an offer, I’m going to have to stay here. I’m going to have to stay in the Army”.
Akinniyi’s journey is an example of how chaotic and uncertain the recruiting and transfer process can be. Recruitment is a long road and although every athlete and sport has differences in what it takes to play at the Division I level, similarities do exist as well.
Akinniyi’s story isn’t considered an outlier, it’s a reflection of how modern college recruiting has evolved and the evolution of the transfer portal. The path to a Division I roster spot today is rarely the same.
In addition to recruitment, many athletes’ paths include navigating the transfer portal, which has reshaped the recruiting landscape in the last five years. The transfer portal was always used as a fallback option, but it is now a key part of how coaches build rosters and how players find new opportunities.
His decision to bet on himself and re-enter the recruiting circuit is something more and more athletes are doing. Like so many other athletes navigating this new recruiting environment, he learned that sometimes the journey takes detours before it arrives at the right destination.
Acrobatics & Tumbling: The Emerging Path
For junior, Quinnipiac acrobatics and tumbling athlete Ally Murray, the road to college athletics didn’t begin in a recruiting database or at a national showcase. It started through a casual conversation. A family friend who was a former college football coach mentioned a unique fast-growing NCAA sport that combined gymnastics, cheerleading, and team-based stunting. It was a path she knew nothing about and hadn’t considered going on.
“I was a gymnast my whole life,” she said. “I think going into college I wanted to still be an athlete, but I also wanted a change.”
The more she researched acrobatics & tumbling, the more it made sense for her. It offered her the chance to keep competing at a high level while joining a sport that had a larger team approach in a way she never had while competing in gymnastics. The recruiting process, however, looked different than it did for many of her friends in other sports. Rather than campus visits and showcases, her recruitment was built on emails, online questionnaires, and video submissions of her gymnastics routines.
“For me, my recruitment was all videos, I think now there are showcases, but at the time it was just film from my meets,” Murray said.
After looking more closely at different programs Quinnipiac quickly became her top option. From the first email reply to the initial phone call, the program stood out. As conversations progressed, she set aside other schools and focused her attention on the Bobcats. When she finally arrived on campus for her official visit, the decision was easy.
“All of my current friends now, we were on the same visit,” she said. “We bonded so fast. Meeting those girls and seeing how close the team was, I knew it was going to be a family.”
Like many acro athletes, Murray’s experience comes from competitive gymnastics. The transition to a team-based sport came with challenges. Learning to stunt and being on top of a pyramid was a new experience after years of competing alone.
“The hardest part was working with other people, in gymnastics, it’s just you. I wasn’t used to having to rely on someone else or have them rely on me” Murray said.
Even the equipment was a change. While gymnastics routines take place on a spring floor, acrobatics & tumbling is performed on what athletes call a dead mat, with no bounce to assist in tumbling passes. But with experience, hard work, and adjusting on the fly she made the necessary adjustments quickly.
As the sport continues to evolve, so does the interest and the diversity of the athletes that make up the team. Many of these athletes come from gymnastics, others arrive with cheerleading or even club acrobatics backgrounds. Quinnipiac’s roster reflects that mix, which is something that made her feel less behind when starting the sport in college.
Though the recruiting process wasn’t as high-pressure as what athletes in sports like hockey or basketball experience, it came with its own challenges. Waiting for emails, wondering about follow-up calls, and learning how she could fit into the sport. But ultimately Murray was grateful for how it all unfolded.
“It wasn’t super stressful for me, once I knew this was where I wanted to be, everything else fell into place,” she said.
What began as a casual chat with a family friend turned into a new athletic identity. This new identity allowed her to stay competitive, discover a team culture, and participate in one of college athletics’ fastest-growing sports.
Paths Aligned
With all the different recruiting paths and how different the starting points were the ultimate destination was the same. Powers was chasing his junior dreams in Canada, Shanahan was actively searching for the right fit, Akinniyi was chasing write-ups and late-night transfer portal emails, and Murray was sending tumbling videos to coaches in a sport she was still learning about. For all four of them, their separate winding paths eventually intersected in Hamden, Connecticut.
Across these four sports, the recruiting timelines couldn’t be more different. In hockey, commitments are early and often long-term. For field hockey, it’s all about clinics and trusting the process. In basketball, recruiting can be quick, fluid, and dependent on late exposure. In acro & tumbling, it’s about discovery and outreach. The similarity? It is difficult to navigate these pathways in a college sports environment that is constantly changing.
The stories of Power, Shanahan, Akinniyi, and Murray, make one thing clear: there’s no single path to being a collegiate athlete. Each athlete’s recruiting experience was shaped by both their individual talent and the experience and resources required of their sport.
College athletics offers many opportunities for student-athletes. The systems that deliver these opportunities are evolving rapidly, and with it so are the steps the athletes must take. The paths may look different from sport to sport or even player to player on the same team, but they can all eventually lead to a similar destination.
The date is April 8, 2024. As the clock hit right around 9:30 p.m. local time, a new king of the college basketball world was crowned. Well, in this case, the king extended its stay atop the throne. The UConn men’s basketball team won its second consecutive national championship with a 15 point beat down of Purdue, putting the program in an exclusive club of teams to go back-to-back.
Dan Hurley returned a good chunk of his production from the previous season in the likes of Tristen Newton, Alex Karaban and Donovan Clingan. He also managed to return his whole star-studded coaching staff headlined by Kimani Young and Luke Murray. Even down to the smaller roles on the staff, such as director of basketball operations and just general graduate assistants, the program had great continuity from 2023 to 2024.
There were some additions, of course. Cam Spencer transferred in from Rutgers and was one of the more impactful shooters in the country. Stephon Castle lived up to his five-star prospect value on the way to being a top pick in last June’s NBA Draft. On the staff, though, there was only one notable new face:
Rich Kelly found his way in Storrs after playing a year of basketball overseas following a five year collegiate career. The Shelton, Conn. native played his first three seasons in college at Quinnipiac before transferring to Boston College for a COVID restrictions-plagued senior season followed by a fifth year at UMass given to him due to the prior year’s circumstances. At 6’1” on a good day, he was usually the smallest on the court, but you’d never know it by how he played.
“A lot of my personality and psyche was developed within a very intense basketball environment,” Kelly said. “My dad was a coach. He pushed me very hard as a kid.”
Kelly grew up playing basketball with his younger brother John all around Fairfield county. From a young age, he showed toughness and grit that you rarely see even at the professional level. When asked about his favorite Rich story while growing up, John immediately pointed towards a notable middle school game from over a decade ago that showcased just that.
Kelly won a state championship as a junior at Fairfield Prep. (Photo: CT Post)
“He was in eighth grade and he was playing in a game and as he went up for a board, he landed badly on his ankle,” John said. “He was crying and the trainer put an ice pack in his long socks. Because that’s what we wore back then, and he played the rest of the game and single handedly won the game. I was thinking “this dude is different”.”
Kelly would showcase that same will to win in his later pre-college days, winning a Class LL state championship with Fairfield Prep High School in 2015 as a junior sandwiched between stops at Montverde Academy in Florida and Cheshire Academy for a post grad year right up the road from Quinnipiac. At Cheshire, he was discovered by then-Bobcats head coach Tom Moore and it was an instant match.
The roller coaster that was Rich Kelly’s college career took an instant turn, as after losing 20+ games for the second straight season Moore was relieved of his duties as head coach at Quinnipiac. In came Baker Dunleavy, who luckily for Kelly was also a good fit for his play style.
“When Baker got the job, I became even more excited about the opportunity to play at Quinnipiac,” Kelly said. “And then when I met him, it was just, it felt fated.”
Kelly played three seasons at Quinnipiac and was Second Team All-MAAC twice. (Photo: Quinnipiac Athletics)
As a freshman in 2017-18, Kelly was the only true point guard on the Bobcat roster and impressed as a starter from day one. His production gradually increased each year he was in Hamden and by the end of his junior year, he already joined the 1,000 point club at Quinnipiac and was averaging nearly 17 points per game.
Then, it was decision time. Finish out his career where it started or make the jump to a higher level for a better shot at making the NCAA Tournament?
“It was a really difficult decision to leave Quinnipiac, because I loved it so much,” Kelly said.
“But at the same time, I felt that I was too comfortable and that something inside of me was telling me I needed to leave in order to grow.”
Kelly wasn’t the only Bobcat going through this same thought process after that season. Kevin Marfo, who had just led the entire country in rebounds per game, was also considering entering the portal. They each had only one more year of eligibility at the time and wanted to make the jump.
“We grew a lot together,” Marfo said. “Going through a similar COVID time situation and needing to adapt to the ups and downs.”
Marfo and Kelly got quite close during the transfer process, able to lean on one another through the uncertainties that were to come. Playing three years together helped too, even if there were some friendly arguing about things on the court.
“We used to fight a lot and argue about pick and rolls and stuff like that,” Marfo joked. “Fights in practice, just two people who cared so much.”
Marfo transferred to Texas A&M after that season and Kelly joined suit in the portal, after weighing his options ending up at Boston College in the ACC. The Eagles were fresh off declining for the third straight year record-wise and were looking for a fresh start in the portal. His one year, the 2020-21 season, was the one that was shortened due to COVID-19 and most teams only played 20 or so games compared to the typical 31 game regular season plus postseason.
“I even went into Quinnipiac with the idea that I would graduate in three years and go play in the ACC for my fourth year,” Kelly said. “ Which seems funny looking back because most people didn’t think I was good enough to play Quinnipiac in the first place.”
Kelly played one season at Boston College during the 2020-21 season. (Photo: CT Insider)
Having to adjust to a new system is hard enough, especially at a higher level. It’s even harder when you’re put in a position you aren’t used to.
“When I went to Boston College, I felt like I played well enough to be the starting point guard. And yet I wasn’t,” Kelly said. “I was really the backup shooting guard to start the season. So not only am I not starting, but I’m also not even playing my natural position.”
Eagles head coach Jim Christian, eventually fired in February, was playing Kelly off the ball, something he wasn’t used to. It wasn’t just on the court issues at Boston College during that dreaded 4-16 season. Off the court, it was just as bad.
“Our culture was piss poor at Boston College,” Kelly said. “It was a losing culture. It was a culture that at times expected to lose. It was like “Hey guys, let’s just keep it close”. And that blew my mind.”
Reality struck after one year away from “home” in Hamden for Kelly. Did he make a mistake?
“That really forced me to realize like, wow, I had a lot of good stuff going to Quinnipiac,” he said.
With all of the madness surrounding quarantines and cancelled games due to virus breakouts, all NCAA athletes who participated during that 2020-21 season were given the year back and allowed to play a fifth year. Kelly took advantage of this and entered the portal once again, unsure of his plans for the following season. He shortly committed to UMass to play in the Atlantic 10 for his final season playing college basketball.
After perhaps as bad of a season a team could have at Boston College, surely it couldn’t get much worse?
“I willingly hopped onto a sinking ship,” Kelly said.
UMass only played 15 games the year prior due to COVID pauses and went 8-7, so vibes around the program were up for a productive 2021-22. In what ended up being head coach Matt McCall’s final year at the helm of the program, that was far from the case.
Kelly wrapped up his playing career in college at UMass. (Photo: UMass Athletics)
“I really wanted to commit to winning being my number one priority in my fifth year,” Kelly said.
“I quickly realized that almost no one else had that agenda at UMass.”
Kelly cited that outside of him and McCall, there weren’t a lot of people in the Minutemen locker room that prioritized winning. UMass did go 15-17 that year, but finished near the bottom of the A-10 and officially squashed any chances Kelly had left of playing in an NCAA Tournament in his career.
“There were a lot of things I didn’t know and wasn’t aware of about UMass,” Kelly said. “I wasn’t aware of UMass’s basketball situation and the coaching situation and I became aware of it when I got there. It was similar to Boston College where I felt some resentment for myself because I was like, you know, I can’t believe I put myself in this situation again.”
For the second straight season, Kelly also primarily played shooting guard and off the ball. After having success at Quinnipiac as the primary ball handler, he never truly got that opportunity at either of his next stops.
There was one major positive to take from Kelly’s one year in Amherst, that being he got to play Division I basketball with his brother John. John played three games as a freshman at Fairfield before transferring to UMass to play with Rich, appearing in two games as a walk-on.
“We somehow got even closer while at UMass,” John said. “Which is crazy, because we still share a room at home.”
When the Minutemen fell in a heartbreaker to Dayton in the A-10 Tournament quarterfinals, it meant that Kelly’s career in college was over. Kelly only scored five points in the 75-72 loss, his smallest point total in a conference tournament game across his five year career. Having a few months off before graduation after the loss, he took some time to reflect on a big question that arose: Did he make the right decisions throughout his career?
“My heart says I wouldn’t change a thing. My mind says maybe I’d do a couple of things a little differently,” Kelly said. “But what I would tell myself is to just enjoy the moment because I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was next and worrying about what came next and working so I could get somewhere else.”
What came next for Kelly was a short stint overseas that ended in an injury. After that, he came back home to discover a new passion for coaching. He started hosting clinics and lessons with his father, but quickly realized that it wasn’t going to work with the two of them ‘butting heads’ while teaching. He needed to find something else.
Then it hit him in a way he didn’t expect.
“I was meditating and I started deeply inhaling and all of sudden like I started feeling this energy coursing through my body,” Kelly said. “You close your eyes and there’s darkness, but there were little fractals of light and little beads of light everywhere started coming at me in waves.”
“I’m like, “Yo, what is happening right now?” Kelly said. “And I heard this voice and it said to “reach out to Tom Moore. You’re going to coach at UConn.”
Kelly had a vision that he was going to join the staff at UConn. He immediately got in contact with Moore and received a firm “we’ll see”. Time went on and months went by and Kelly remained determined to get the graduate assistant job. The updates went from “maybe” to “highly unlikely” to “you should seek other opportunities”. Still, Kelly stayed persistent and stayed in touch. He didn’t want anything else. He didn’t need anything else.
“He (Moore) calls me back a couple of weeks later and says ‘Hey Rich, talk to one of our coaches,’” Kelly said. Two days later it’s ‘Hey Rich, you have an interview.’ Two weeks later, ‘Hey Rich, you have the job.’ Funny how that works.”
Kelly spent the past two seasons as a graduate assistant at UConn. (Photo: CT Insider)
Kelly jumped on the opening immediately, joining the reigning national champions and coaching under one of the best college basketball minds in the country in Dan Hurley. With that, came practicing against and teaching future NBA players. The standards were high and it wasn’t easy.
“It’s been really difficult here and I’m extremely grateful,” Kelly said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about quitting and leaving because of how difficult it’s been.”
For someone who dealt with some mental health battles in the past, being on this big stage got to him. Still, Kelly stuck through it and stayed the course. The result was a magical 37-3 season, the first time he had ever been a part of a college program that had great success. The Huskies won the national championship against Purdue and Kelly got to celebrate with the team on the floor at State Farm Stadium as a champion. The same person who was just three years removed from “keeping it close” at Boston College had confetti falling on him at the Final Four. Even if it wasn’t in the fashion he wanted or expected, it happened.
Kelly (far left) won the 2024 National Championship with UConn. (Photo: UConn Athletics)
Kelly kept the same position for this past 2024-25 season. The Huskies didn’t have the same success, falling to the eventual national champion Florida Gators in the second round to thwart any chance of a three-peat.
What’s next for Kelly? He doesn’t know yet, but there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be doing what he loves.
“I’d love to continue to coach,” Kelly said. “I’m currently navigating the waters, figuring out what comes next. And a lot of those patterns that I had when I was a transfer are coming up now.”
Wherever he ends up, Rich Kelly will be bringing quite the resume for someone who spent over half of his college basketball career nestled up on York Hill.
It’s game day at the M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Connecticut.
Workers arrive five to six hours before puck drop or tipoff to ensure everything is ready for the students and fans. Their goal is to create an experience that makes people want to return.
For a 7 p.m. game on a Friday, staff members typically arrive around noon or 1 p.m. At that time, the arena is mostly silent. The faces are familiar, and the atmosphere is all business. Workers hustle across all three levels of the arena to prepare for the flood of fans soon to arrive.
The mid-level is the hub of activity. It houses the lobby, ticket office, concessions, and marketing offices. This level also leads to the Lender Basketball Court on the left and the ice hockey rink on the right. Below that are the locker rooms—for home and visiting teams, youth teams, and referees—as well as the gym, press room, and facilities offices. Upstairs is the University Club, where boosters gather pregame, and the media level, home to the broadcast team, student media, and the game operations crew managing music, the video board, and public address announcements.
The marketing team is constantly on the move, setting up contests for intermissions during hockey or media timeouts and halftime for basketball. Downstairs, players stretch and prepare their bodies in the gym. Nearby, the television crews are prepping in the studios, while concession workers haul supplies from the lower kitchens up to the lobby stands to ensure everything is ready before the gates open. They are also in charge of the pre-game table in the lobby, giving out Quinnipiac gear and the post-game signings from the players. They are one of the first to get into the Arena and one of the last groups to leave.
Doors typically open an hour to 90 minutes before game time. At Quinnipiac, that depends on how many fans are waiting and what the weather is like. If it’s cold or rainy, staff often open the doors a bit earlier. Once fans are allowed inside, the mood shifts. The staff is still working at full speed—but now, thousands of people are inside, and that changes everything.
“On a big gameday, people are super excited about what the day is going to be like,” said Quinnipiac University Athletic Director Greg Amodio. “There is nothing better than when we get that occasional Friday night game, and we load up with a bunch of promotions and specials, and the place is packed. At the end of the day, it should be a student-based initiative, that’s what we are trying to build for the community.”
Big crowds
The ice hockey rink has a capacity of 3,625 fans. On February 21, 2025, it was packed for one of the biggest games of the year: Quinnipiac vs. Yale in the “Battle of Whitney Avenue.” The Bobcats won for the 17th consecutive time, a victory that reinforced the heated rivalry between the two nearby schools.
“Playing in front of a sold-out arena is definitely one of the best things about hockey,” said Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey goaltender Noah Altman. “As you grow up and start playing at a higher level, the crowd ramps up. When you’re playing well, it almost feels like you’re in control of the entire arena. It’s so special knowing thousands of people’s days rely on your performance. There’s pressure, but I’ve always played my best when the crowd is big and loud—it helps me focus.”
Photo provided by Quinnipiac Athletics.
For a game like this one, preparation starts from the moment the season schedule is released. The fans are just waiting on the tickets for this match-up up and tickets go out fast.
“The general public will buy those usually during the first two days after we start selling them,” said M&T Bank Arena Executive Director Eric Grgurich. “We sold out on those, and then we only have the student tickets. When we release the student ticket, it’s like our Super Bowl, where they go in under two minutes, 1,400 tickets will be gone.”
On the other side of the building, the Lender Basketball Court holds up to 3,570 fans. The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team has won the regular season title two years in a row, driving up attendance and enthusiasm. On February 28, 2025, the Bobcats faced Saint Peter’s on ESPNU. The arena was sold out, and the energy was electric. The game had extra meaning: Quinnipiac was seeking revenge after falling to Saint Peter’s in the conference semifinals the year before—part of the Peacocks’ run to March Madness.
Photo provided by Quinnipiac Athletics.
Big crowds aren’t new to Quinnipiac. The school has hosted marquee events, including the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Frozen Four in both 2014 and 2019.
“My favorite was the second one,” said M&T Bank Arena Executive Director Eric Grgurich. “We executed better because we knew what to expect from 2014. It was really cool—we sold out the championship game both times, and for the second one, we even had standing-room-only. We worked with departments all across campus to pull it off, and it came out fantastic.”
That 2019 tournament featured powerhouse programs: No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 2 Minnesota, No. 4 Clarkson, and No. 6 Cornell. In the end, the Wisconsin Badgers lifted the national championship trophy with a 2-0 win over Minnesota.
Dual-Use Facilities
Quinnipiac has one of the few dual-use facilities in the NCAA. The M&T Bank Arena houses two separate venues under the same roof. While other colleges like Holy Cross, UMass, or Army West Point use the same floor to transition between a basketball court and an ice rink, Quinnipiac’s advantage is that both sports have their own dedicated spaces.
Facilities like the Lenovo Center—home to NC State University’s men’s basketball team and the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes—also operate under one roof, but they share the same surface for both sports. This requires both teams to carefully coordinate schedules.
Fan Experience
“We are always trying to make sure it’s a safe event for everybody,” commented Grgurich.
Fan experience is crucial in college sports. It plays a significant role in driving ticket sales, strengthening connections with fans and communities, and enhancing the overall success of athletic programs.
For a mid-major like Quinnipiac, winning the 2023 NCAA National Championship in men’s ice hockey has significantly boosted fan engagement. Merchandise featuring the championship team remains popular, and the atmosphere at games reflects that enthusiasm.
Every game at the arena includes at least one or two fan contests, mostly involving students. Whether it’s dizzy bat, a trike race, or the blue line battle, fans compete for prize packs featuring Quinnipiac athletic gear. Depending on the game and contest, prizes can be even more substantial. For example, the half-court shot contest during the 2024–2025 basketball and hockey seasons awarded Avelo airline tickets.
Quinnipiac is relatively small compared to larger institutions like UConn, Syracuse, or Clemson, which tend to draw more students to games. So, how does Quinnipiac keep its fans engaged?
One challenge is the arena’s location. M&T Bank Arena is situated on the York Hill Campus, which houses mostly junior and senior students within walking distance. However, the main campus—Mount Carmel—is home to the majority of underclassmen, who must take a shuttle to reach the arena. The shuttle service is managed by an outside company, Valet Park of America, meaning the athletics department has no control over routes or schedules on game days.
Another important factor is rivalries. Quinnipiac is a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and frequently competes with strong programs like Fairfield and Sacred Heart, both of which are geographically close and athletically competitive.
“The university should do a better job of promoting rivalries,” said Quinnipiac junior James Nolan. “Fairfield and Sacred Heart are local schools that we’re always competitive with. I’d love to see that narrative played up more.”
A more nationally recognized rivalry exists with Yale, stemming from the 2013 Men’s Ice Hockey National Championship in Pittsburgh, where Yale defeated Quinnipiac 4–0. Since then, the two teams have met regularly, with Quinnipiac dominating the series, winning all but two games. Quinnipiac has also built a strong rivalry with ECAC opponent Cornell. Since 2001, the two programs have faced off 55 times, with Cornell holding a narrow edge: 28 wins to Quinnipiac’s 21, along with six draws.
For junior outfielder Mary Fogg, music—like softball—is an outlet for expression.
In a sport that is primarily mental, Fogg uses music to focus. It’s a natural part of her pregame preparation, not just blocking out distractions or serving as background noise, but helping her reset.
“Softball is such a game of failure,” Fogg said. “It allows you to kind of regroup in yourself and be like, ‘OK, whatever just happened doesn’t matter anymore.’”
As Fogg steps towards the batter’s box, her walk-up song—Rihanna’s “Breakin’ Dishes”—plays for the crowd. At this point, it’s no longer just a song; it’s a ritual that sets her up for success.
“When you’re about to go up to bat, it’s just, like kind of a song that’ll get you in the right head space, make you feel good and clear your mind.”
But music’s influence isn’t limited to gameday. It extends to Fogg’s routine, including her training along with her team off the field. In Quinnipiac’s weight room, the speakers blare the softball team’s playlist, one that features contributions from the entire roster.
“Music is really important in the weight room, more than at practice itself,” Fogg said. “Everybody’s listening to music that they enjoy and that will bring their spirits up if their song plays, and it’s kind of like a little boost in their mood.”
The playlist leans heavily into fun, upbeat rap music—songs the team can sing along to while lifting. Drake tracks like “Rich Baby Daddy” and “NOKIA” are staples.
“It’s usually the songs that you can kind of make fun of in a way and make jokes out of,” Fogg said.
But for Fogg, music isn’t just about the preparation for competition—it also helps her find stability in what she calls “a game of failure.” Whether it’s after a rough inning or a bad sequence of events in a game, a single song can be therapeutic for her and her teammates.
“If something goes wrong and we all hear a song that we really like, then it helps reset,” Fogg said. “It sets the energy back and gets everybody back on the same page.”
The positive, upbeat music is essential—not just for Fogg, but for the whole team. If the music between innings were slow and sad, players would be down on themselves and remain frustrated.
That’s why Fogg and her teammates look to music that creates joy and a sense of camaraderie.
“One of the main things that we’ve been talking about this year is being able to have your teammates back and really supporting them,” Fogg said. “If they make a mistake, it’s like ‘That’s OK, you’re going to get the next ball, you’re going to do the next play for your teammate.”
If every Quinnipiac athlete added a track to a shared playlist, Fogg said hers would be Rihanna’s “Breakin’ Dishes.”
“It has to be, just because I feel like that’s my song of the year,” Fogg said.
Sophomore forward Kahlen Lamarche doesn’t turn to music for motivation—it’s her way of staying grounded.
“I’m a player who kind of doesn’t want to get too caught up in the game or the moment,” Lamarche said. “Songs take my mind off of a big game or having to achieve something in that game.”
Lamarche’s nearly 10-hour playlist is rich in country music, headlined by popular acts such as Luke Combs and Luke Bryan. The easy rhythm of the genre playing through her headphones is an important part of her preparation before taking the ice.
“They’re loosey goosey,” Lamarche said. “They just allow me to have fun and sing along.”
Songs like “When It Rains It Pours” by Luke Combs and “She’s Country” by Jason Aldean are “must plays” in her rotation. The latter, with its driving tempo, finds its way into her headphones closer to puck drop.
“That’s another big song that I love listening to before games,” Lamarche said. “It’s got an upbeat to it and it kind of just gets me in the zone and dialed.”
Even with a handcrafted playlist of country music that is longer than the average American workday, Lamarche has been surprised by her music. One of the most important songs in her life wasn’t one she was looking for—it found her.
“It was kind of like when you click a song and then it goes on a random queue shuffle,” Lamarche said.
That’s how she discovered “What Are You Waiting For” by Nickelback.
The song’s message about taking action and living in the moment helped Lamarche as the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team’s season came to an end, just shy of an NCAA tournament appearance.
“That song showed me that I’ve got to take action for what I want to come next,” Lamarche said. “If I dwell on the past and what happened, like the next steps, next year, won’t ever happen if I don’t come to terms with what happened.”
The song’s impact didn’t end with the 4-1 loss to Clarkson in the ECAC playoffs.
“It resonated with me at that time, and kind of still does,” Lamarche said. “Leading up to next season, I know that I’ve got to work.”
As Lamarche looks forward to next season, she knows exactly what will keep her ready: her music. Though she initially thought about adding a country song to the Quinnipiac athlete playlist, she ultimately decided against it.
“I’ve got to be considerate when adding country,” Lamarche joked.
Instead, she chose “What Are You Waiting For” by Nickelback.
As graduate first baseman Sebastian Mueller takes his last practice swing and leaves the on-deck circle, “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix vibrates through the field’s speakers.
“My dad’s fantasy football team was named Purple Haze because he really likes that song,” Mueller said. “So I was like, ‘You know what? This actually would be a really good walk-up song.’”
As he steps into the batter’s box, Hendrix’s iconic distorted guitar tone reminds him of the music he grew up listening to.
“It’s always been a part of my life,” Mueller said. “Me and my sister joke around, like going with dad somewhere, you got the dad tunes going. That music’s always flying around the house.”
Both a constant presence in Mueller’s life, rock music and baseball are interwoven when he takes the field for Quinnipiac. And when he says “dad tunes,” he means it—Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple and his favorite, Led Zeppelin.
“I don’t know what it is about their music,” Mueller said. “It’s something I’ve always connected with.”
The connection runs deep. On game days, there’s hardly room for anyone else in his pregame playlist. Led Zeppelin offers exactly what Mueller needs to get in the right mindset.
“Baseball is a sport mentally where you don’t necessarily want to be super jacked up. You want to be fired up, but not too excited,” Mueller said. “So that’s why, for me, I’ve always liked Led Zeppelin music. I just like the zone it puts me in; it’s good for baseball.”
Mueller’s love for music isn’t confined to his headphones—it extends into the team’s culture.
On the team, he’s known as the “music guy,” the one who controls the music at practice and while training. While this task seems easy, Mueller navigates different genres of music to keep the energy levels high among the team.
“Some days it’s country, some days it’s rock, some days it’s Spanish music,” Mueller said. “Certain parts of baseball are not the most exciting, so having some music going to keep guys in a good mood is very helpful.”
And what also keeps the guys in a good mood? Winning. That occasion has its own anthem. After a big win, Mueller breaks out “Heartache Medication” by John Pardi.
“I’m not sure how it started, but everyone’s kind of learned the words, like, after a big win, we’ll just kind of play that and everyone will scream the words to it,” Mueller said. “So that’s been really fun, it’s funny stuff like that, that just kind of starts organically.”
A playlist for all the Quinnipiac athletes wouldn’t be complete without the baseball team’s DJ. If Mueller had to add one song, it would be “Fool in the Rain” by Led Zeppelin.
“That’d be my pick,” Mueller said. “Just kind of the beat to it, and the song is just a very chill, but also uplifting. That’s probably my pick.”
Senior guard Jackie Grisdale’s music isn’t limited to one mood or emotion to get ready for tipoff. She has music for any headspace she needs to get into to be ready to compete.
“Music is a way that I kind of feel through my emotions,” Grisdale said. “Whether it’s I want to get myself excited before a game, or if I really want to calm myself down, there’s my comfort music that I’ll listen to, and it’ll just be calming to me.”
Grisdale’s 13-hour-long playlist titled “Chilling” is her No. 1 playlist and features a variety music artists, including Tame Impala, Cage the Elephant, Fleetwood Mac and Harry Styles.
“That’s just like songs that are smooth in my mind,” Grisdale said. “They’ll help me focus a little bit more.”
Grisdale’s pregame music has evolved. At one point this season, her music to prepare for competition was more upbeat, featuring more rock acts such as Green Day and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
After a Dec. 19 game against Rider, one in which Grisdale finished with 14 points, aided by three 3-pointers, she realized that calm music before the game helped her shoot efficiently.
“It was in the morning, so I was like, ‘I can’t listen to like super hardcore hype up music at nine in the morning,’” Grisdale said. “I started that game with a three literally off the tip play, and I just was like, ‘Wow, if I’m gonna shoot like that, then I’ll keep listening to this music that calms me down.’”
Being calm on the court during the heat of battle is crucial to Grisdale’s game, but staying calm off the court, especially while battling an injury, is just as important.
After being sidelined for most of the 2023-24 season with a lower body injury, the soundtrack of Grisdale’s recovery was calming music that helped take her mind off it.
“That’s when I really got even more attached to Taylor Swift’s music and Mac Miller’s music,” Grisdale said. “They just applied to the situations that I was going through, and I just really connected with that.”
Grisdale’s contribution to the Quinnipiac athlete playlist would be “Glorious” by Macklemore—a song that reminds her of one of the first times she met sophomore guard Maria Kealy, who also shared a love for it.
“That was something we really bonded over,” Grisdale said. “And then our friendship grew, and we always talk about how that song was a big piece of that.”
If you spot freshman tennis player James Lorenzetti on campus, chances are he’ll have AirPods in his ears playing calm music.
“I’m bad with AirPods,” Lorenzetti said. “I probably always have an AirPod in.”
But ahead of every tennis match, Lorenzetti swaps the mellow tunes for something with more energy. Motivational music is a must—it flips a mental switch.
“I know I will be in a zone where I’m going to be locked in before the match,” Lorenzetti said. “It lets me relax.”
As part of the Quinnipiac tennis team’s training, the players often run together to build stamina. During those runs, one song always makes the playlist: “Hard Work” by The U.S. Army Airborne, a team staple that boosts morale.
Anyone who has parked in Quinnipiac’s North Lot has likely heard just how central music is to the team’s training. With a playlist of nearly 200 songs, the team brings energy to every practice. Even as a freshman, Lorenzetti has already added a few tracks of his own.
“‘DTMF’ by Bad Bunny,” Lorenzetti said. “That’s my favorite song, it’s got a lot of meaning behind it.”
It’s a must play before every match. The lyrics help him focus, grounding him in what really matters.
“It’s talking about how you should take more photos with your family, or just more photos in general,” Lorenzetti said. “Not wasting any time or just living in the present moment. So I always listen to that song.”
Among the other tracks that have become iconic parts of the team’s soundtrack are “Ugly Heart” by G.R.L. and “Lose Somebody” by Kygo and OneRepublic.
When asked the question, Spotify or Apple Music, most Quinnipiac athletes had a clear favorite. But Lorenzetti’s answer was a surprise.
“I use Musi, and I get so much hate for it from everyone,” Lorenzetti joked. “But I always say I don’t know why in the world I would pay for Spotify if I can have it for free on Musi.”
Even if he’s streaming through an unconventional app, Lorenzetti’s pick for the Quinnipiac athlete playlist is “Upside Down” by Jack Johnson.
“I listened to it so much when I was younger, way too much,” Lorenzetti said. “But it’s one of my favorite songs of all time. I think it’s an insane song.”
As the NCAA hockey and basketball seasons come to an end, both sports are entering another offseason defined by the transfer portal. Over 1,300 men’s and women’s basketball players have already entered since the window opened this week and men’s and women’s hockey are again expected to see a record number of entrants.
QUSportsPage will update this page with Quinnipiac’s departures and additions during the transfer portal periods.
Men’s Basketball
Portal opening date: March 24th
Portal closing date: April 22nd
Amarri Monroe | Forward
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
The 2025 MAAC Player of the Year from Newburgh, New York, averaged 18.1 ppg and had 14 double-doubles in his second year in Hamden. The All-MAAC First Team selection this past season has heard from multiple schools in the SEC, Big Ten, Big East and ACC since entering the portal, according to On3sports.
Paul Otieno | Forward
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Otieno spent three seasons with the Bobcats and garnered an All-MAAC First Team nomination in 2024-25. He finished behind Monroe in the MAAC’s double-double leaderboards (13) and was among the nation’s best in offensive rebounding. After spending his first collegiate seasons at Kilgore College (TX), the Kenyan native joined the 1,000 point club this past year, and was granted another graduate season after the NCAA’s junior college eligibility waiver ruling.
Doug Young | Guard
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Young played two seasons at the JUCO level, one at Odessa College (TX) and one at Midland College (TX), but has spent the past two seasons with the Bobcats. He averaged 5.4 ppg off the bench this past season and scored a season-high 18 points against Sacred Heart. Young was granted another year of eligibility under the same precedent as Otieno.
Ryan Mabrey | Guard
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Coming over as a transfer last spring after spending his first two seasons at Miami (OH), Mabrey averaged 4.3 ppg in 32 games (12 starts) with Quinnipiac in what’s looking like his lone season in Hamden. He scored in double figures five times including a 17- point outburst in November against St. John’s where he buried a season high five triples.
Khaden Bennett | Guard
Years of eligibility remaining: 2
In his second year in Hamden, Bennett had anything but a sophomore slump. He averaged 10.3 ppg on the season, including three 20-plus point games. He spent most the beginning half of the year as the primary ball handler with veteran guard Savion Lewis out with an injury. Many times guarding the opposing team’s second or third scoring option, Bennett compiled 43 steals during the season.
Women’s Basketball
Portal opening date: March 24th
Portal closing date: April 22nd
Gal Raviv | Guard
Years of eligibility remaining: 3
Raviv was the first player in MAAC history to win both Rookie and Player of the Year awards. The Kadima, Israel native finished the season averaging 17.9 points per game, the most for a Quinnipiac women’s basketball player since the 2013-14 season.
Men’s Ice Hockey
Portal opening date: March 30th
Portal closing date: May 13th
Noah Altman | Goaltender
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Atlman’s four years in Hamden made him the longest-tenured player in the program this season. He appeared in parts of seven games across four seasons, but his lively personality made him a favorite in both the locker room and among fans over the years. His impact on the program warranted his selection as an alternate captain for the 2024-25 season.
Nate Benoit | Defenseman
Years of eligibility remaining: 2
With his portal entry, Benoit is destined for his third team in as many seasons. He spent his freshman year with North Dakota before transferring into Quinnipiac for his sophomore season. In 2024-25 with the Bobcats, he appeared in 21 games and recorded two assists. Benoit’s last appearance for Quinnipiac was in its ECAC Tournament semifinal loss to Cornell, where he slotted in as the seventh defenseman but did not see any ice time. He was a healthy scratch in the team’s NCAA Tournament loss to UConn.
Michael Salandra | Forward
Years of eligibility remaining: 3
Salandra did not play in his first year in Hamden. During the 2023-24 season, he played in the BCHL, a part of the West Kelowna Warriors organization. During his second year with the Warriors, he was named an alternate captain and recorded 21 goals and 23 assists.
Noah Eyre | Forward
Years of eligibility remaining: 3
During his first year in Hamden, Eyre only appeared in five games and last played on Jan. 31 against Dartmouth. He came to Quinnipiac from the Sioux Falls Stampede along with two other Quinnipiac freshmen, Tyler Borgula and Chris Pelosi.
Chase Ramsay | Defenseman
Years of eligibility remaining: 2
Similar to Eyre, Ramsay only played a handful of games in his second season in Hamden. During the season, there were two months between each of his three appearances. Playing seven games total in two years, Ramsay did not record a single point while wearing the blue and gold.
Women’s Ice Hockey
Portal opening date: March 16th
Portal closing date: April 29th
Outgoing Players
Tiana McIntyre | Defender
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
McIntyre, a native of Park City, Utah, dressed for 36 of the team’s 38 games in 2024-25. She did not register a point, but recorded 21 shots on goal, had an even plus-minus rating, and tied for seventh on the team with 16 blocked shots. As a sophomore in 2023-24, McIntyre had two assists and a +6 rating.
Incoming Players
Calli Hogarth | Goaltender | Merrimack
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Hogarth played three seasons in North Andover, serving as Merrimack’s primary starter or a platoon goaltender in each of them. In 2024-25, she started 23 games for the Warriors, finishing with a 2.79 goals against average and .904 save percentage. At 6 feet tall, Hogarth reflects the growing trend of bigger goaltenders in women’s college hockey. She is expected to compete with rising sophomore Felicia Frank for playing time.
Alex Law | Forward | Boston University
Years of eligibility remaining: 2
Law was a highly-touted recruit coming into college, playing for Canada’s national team at two IIHF Under-18 World Championships. She played two seasons for the Terriers, putting up 13 points as a freshman and nine this past year as a sophomore. She recorded an assist in BU’s NCAA tournament loss to Clarkson. Law also was a member of BU’s lacrosse team and is expected to play both sports at Quinnipiac.
Anna Foley, Jackie Grisdale and Gal Raviv dragged their feet and stepped up onto the postgame press conference podium with their heads down following their loss to the Fairfield Stags in the MAAC championship game just five days ago.
It was clear that before facing the media, the players had shed tears together in the locker room. You could see the red around the three players’ eyes. You could hear their sniffles as head coach Tricia Fabbri gave her opening statement and you could feel that the team knew they were 40 minutes away from the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season. But they could not withstand the pure dominance from Fairfield.
Over the next 28 hours, more questions loomed for Quinnipiac women’s basketball. At that point, the Bobcats were 28-4. That was good for 15th-best in the country. Fairfield had claimed the conference’s automatic bid, but Quinnipiac’s fate still hung in the balance. The Bobcats had beaten three teams during the regular season that ended up being at-large and automatic qualifiers following the selection show Sunday night. Their chance for an at-large bid was low, but not zero.
— Quinnipiac Women's Basketball (@QU_WBB) March 16, 2025
Despite many media outlets, and even Fairfield’s head coach Carly Thiboult-Dudonis, trying to advocate for Quinnipiac with the NCAA Selection Committee to allow the Bobcats to get an at-large bid, ESPN’s Elle Duncan never uttered the words, “The Quinnipiac Bobcats,” during Sunday night’s selection show.
I asked Fairfield head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis what her pitch to the NCAA Selection Committee would be to get Quinnipiac – who is now 28-4 – into the NCAA Tournament
Quinnipiac’s season would be extended, however. Not in the NCAA Tournament, but in the WBIT. The Bobcats will be playing the Seton Hall Pirates Thursday night at 7 p.m. in South Orange, New Jersey in the opening round of the tournament.
How Quinnipiac got here
The Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated the No. 10 Iona Gaels in the MAAC quarter-final round in convincing fashion, 79-51. The Bobcats followed up two days later by beating the No. 6 Merrimack Warriors in the semi-final round 65-51. The team then ran into the buzzsaw that was the No. 1 Fairfield Stags, who were able to beat the Bobcats 76-53 in the MAAC championship game. The Stags had made 15 three-pointers during the championship game, tied for the most made three-point field goals in one game of the entire season for Fairfield.
“We have to give Fairfield a ton of credit,” senior captain Jackie Grisdale said postgame. “They played a great game and we couldn’t keep up.”
Sydni Scott scored all of her 18 points from behind the arc, not missing one of her six attempts from deep.
“Once I saw the first one go in, I knew it was going to be a good day,” Scott said after the game.
What is The WBIT?
The WBIT is the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament and it is offered to teams that did not qualify for the NCAA tournament. In 2024, the tournament was created to replicate the men’s version of the National Invitational Tournament. It is a 32-team postseason tournament and is sponsored by the NCAA, unlike the WNIT. The Bobcats will look to become the second ever winner of this tournament after Illinois who won the inaugural tournament last year and who now will be playing in the NCAA tournament.
There are certainly advantages to playing in the tournament as it gives younger players experience playing in a competitive tournament as well as increased exposure for players to give coaches or professional scouts another chance to take a look. There can be some downside however as the travel and schedule strain can be massive as if the Bobcats are to win, they will have to travel to the west coast immediately after the game to play Stanford or Portland. There can also be added injury risk playing in these games.
This season, Quinnipiac is one of four teams in the tournament that has five or less losses in the entire season.
— Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (@wbitwbb) March 17, 2025
How does Quinnipiac match up against Seton Hall?
Seton Hall head coach Tony Bozzella and the Pirates finished third in the Big East conference, behind Connecticut and Creighton. The two schools are a 2-seed and a 9-seed, respectfully, in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
“While we are all disappointed that the third-place team in the fifth hardest country did not get selected for the NCAA Tournament,” Bozzella said on social media. “We are very excited to once again represent Seton Hall in the postseason.”
Both Bozzella and Fabbri believed that they should have been a part of the NCAA Tournament this season. While Fabbri did not take the same approach as Bozzella, Quinnipiac’s head coach has made it clear in the past that the conference they play in deserves more respect than it receives.
A portion of head coach Tricia Fabbri’s opening statement after today’s win against Fairfield.
The MAAC will have to wait another year for the women’s basketball side to get two bids for the first time since 2001, Quinnipiac still has a game to play.
Quinnipiac (28-4, 18-2 MAAC)
Seton Hall (22-9, 13-5 Big East)
68.4
PPG
62.7
73.9%
FT %
77.9%
44.2%
FG %
38.6%
34.8%
3PT %
27.4%
32.7/G
REB/G
33.3/G
12/G
TO/G
14.2/G
The Bobcats and the Pirates are very similar on paper, but the biggest battle will be the point guard play for either side.
The two schools will meet for the third time ever. Seton Hall won the previous two matchups by a total of 10 points, the two first matchup since 2007.
Quinnipiac’s Gal Raviv was awarded the MAAC Rookie and Player of the Year award this season. It is the first time that the conference gave the player of the year honors to a freshman in its 43-year history.
The 5-foot-7 guard leads the team in scoring at 18.3 points per contest and forces all of her opponents to bring reinforcements her way when she has the ball in her hands. If the other team brings a second defender, she has the intelligence to find the open player and have the Bobcats play on the advantage. She also leads the team in assists.
On the other side, another 5-foot–7 freshman guard has been playing lights out for the Pirates.
Jada Eads is from Orlando, Florida and has the chops to be a part of “the best backcourt around,” Bozzella said during the season.
Averaging 13.8 points per game, Eads does a lot of the same things that her Quinnipiac counterpart does. She has a crafty handle, commands attention when she is on offense and limits turnovers to keep her team in the game.
It is a long road for the chance to compete for another championship, and while one team’s season will end Thursday night, the other will move on to the west coast for the second round of the tournament. The winner will face the winner of Stanford vs. Portland, though dates and times are still TBD.
“…It’s another opportunity for us to get postseason experience,” Fabbri said to WTNH News 8 Wednesday. “That will pay itself forward as we get ready for next year.”
