PHILADELPHIA – Bernadette Laukaitis, a 10-year assistant coach for the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team, has been named the head women's basketball coach at her alma mater, Holy Family University. The announcement was made Wednesday by HFU.
Laukaitis arrived to Penn with Head Coach Mike McLaughlin in April of 2009 and has remained on the sideline with the Quakers since then, helping guide Penn to four Ivy League regular-season championships, an Ivy League Tournament championship, two Big 5 titles, three trips to the NCAA Tournament, and seven straight appearances in the postseason.
"It has been such an honor to coach at the University of Pennsylvania these past 10 years," said Laukaitis. "Working with extraordinary coaches and players, whom I consider family, my experiences have positively prepared me for this next chapter in my basketball coaching journey. Coach McLaughlin, in particular, recruited me and coached me at Holy Family, and it has been a privilege to work alongside him on the bench; he has been an integral part of my life as a role model, mentor and friend. The standard of excellence he sets on the court, matched with the family culture he creates, will continue to be the driving force that makes Penn a premier choice for any student-athlete. I am certainly excited for my next challenge, taking over at my alma mater, but I know great success will continue at Penn and I look forward to being the Quakers' biggest fan!"
"I am extremely happy for Bernadette and her family as she takes this next step in her coaching career," said Coach McLaughlin. "For the past 10 years at Penn and for over 20 years in all, I have been so fortunate to have had Bern by my side. This is such a bittersweet time for me as I see her move on from Penn Women's Basketball, a program that she has poured her heart and soul into every day for the last 10 years, but I am excited to see her take her talents to Holy Family University and ready to support her as she instills that same love and passion on the women's basketball program there. With her strong skill set and knowledge of the game, matched with her ability to develop strong relationships with those around her, I know Bern will be successful at Holy Family."
Penn is in the midst of its most successful stretch of women's basketball in history as the only program in the Ivy League to boast at least 21 victories each of the last six seasons. Penn featured three Ivy League Players of the Year, four Ivy League Rookies of the Year, four Ivy League Defensive Players of the Year, and 23 All-Ivy honorees during Laukaitis' tenure with the Red and Blue.
Laukaitis is no stranger to Holy Family as a 2000 graduate of the school where she played point guard for the Tigers under Coach McLaughlin before spending time on McLaughlin's staff at HFU, leading the team to eight regular-season championships and trips to the postseason. That stretch included a 32-1 record breaking season during her final year as an assistant coach in 2008, a team that was inducted into the Class of 2017 CACC Hall of Fame.
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