Gizzi counsels team during time-out.
By Mike Buchanan
mbuchanan@digitalsports.com
Tom
Gizzi has resigned as girls’ basketball coach at McDonogh, it was announced
today. Gizzi has accepted a position as Women’s Assistant Coach at Loyola
College.
McDonogh
Athletic Director Mickey Deegan issued this statement on Friday:
“McDonogh
School announces the departure of Tom Gizzi, the girls’ varsity basketball
coach for the past five years. Gizzi has
accepted a position at Loyola College, Baltimore, to assist Joe Logan in
coaching the Lady Greyhounds. In Gizzi’s
tenure, the Eagles returned to prominence and were contenders for the IAAM A
Conference title. We are grateful for Coach Gizzi’s leadership these past five
years and wish him the very best at Loyola College. All interested candidates for the head
coaching position should send their resumes to the attention of Mickey Deegan,
A.D., at: mdeegan@mcdonogh.org.”
McDonogh
was one of the top area basketball teams prior to the formation of the IAAM,
especially in the late 1990’s during the Vicki Brick era. During Brick’s four years, the Eagles were
88-8, along with 44 straight wins, a 26-0 record and a national Top 25 ranking
in 1999. Then the McDonogh program took
a tumble from its elite status, hovering around the .500 mark for a few
seasons.
Then
Gizzi arrived on the scene from The Hill School in Pennsylvania and took over
the program at the beginning of the 2003 season. There was no gradual transition. Under Gizzi’s
tutelage, the Eagles jumped back up to the upper echelon of area teams right
away, and stayed there.
In
his five seasons, Gizzi compiled a record of 100-32, an average season of 20-6
over the span. McDonogh reached the IAAM
Final Four in each of his five seasons, including one championship game
appearance. The Eagles had arguably the
area’s top back-court for awhile, with Becky Cox at the point and Brittany
Mallory at the shooting guard. Mallory would go on to finish as the school’s
second all-time scorer (1,824 points, behind Brick).
McDonogh
was the only team to beat St. Frances during the 2006-07 regular season, and
then faced the Panthers in the IAAM A Conference championship game. In one of the most exciting title games of
recent memory, McDonogh lost a thriller, as St. Frances prevailed in overtime,
68-63. The Eagles finished with the No. 2
area ranking and a 21-5 record.
Last
season, McDonogh was without Cox (out with an ACL injury) and Mallory (graduated
and off to Notre Dame), but Gizzi still found a way to manufacture a 15-11
season while playing one of the toughest schedules in Baltimore, with numerous,
challenging non-league games as well as the always-tough IAAM schedule. The Eagles improved as the season went
along. McDonogh defeated Towson Catholic
in the league play-offs, 51-48, after having lost to the Owls earlier in the
season. The Eagles lost to then-No. 1
Seton Keough, 61-43, in the semi-finals, in what would be Gizzi’s final game as
Head Coach.
In
five years at Hill and five at McDonogh, Gizzi was a combined 188-56, a 77%
winning percentage.
“Gizzi
will be missed,” said current St. Timothy’s Coach Mike Buchanan. “His teams were always well-coached and
well-prepared. He was upbeat on the
sidelines, but managed a game with a cool, calm demeanor which carried over to
his players. There were not easily
rattled. And he was a very creative
coach, as well. When I was head coach at
NDP, we pressed full-court, all game on our tiny, smaller-than-regulation
court. To prepare his team, he roped-off
part of the McDonogh court to make it smaller, and brought in boys to press his
team in practice. It had to help; we built
a 20-point lead on them, but they had a big second half and his team came back
to win. Preparation helps.”
McDonogh’s
loss will be Loyola’s gain. Gizzi will join Alisha Mosley and Erin Brady on
Logan’s staff. The Greyhounds went 13-17
overall last season, and 7-11 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).
Quotes
from Gizzi and Coach Logan will be added shortly.
Gizzi
joins the growing list of departed basketball coaches in the IAAM. There could be as many as eight or even nine
new coaches on the sidelines next season, nearly one-third of the league’s 31
coaches in the A and B and C Conferences combined. Previously, long-time coach Harry Dobson
resigned at St. Mary’s, and Deb Taylor stepped down at Spalding.