For those of you who don't know, I am in the midst of my second year as the Head Coach at Pitt-Greensburg. I absolutely love our campus -- aside from a beautiful lay-out, we offer great options for on-campus living, small class sizes, and consistent growth and expansion. Academically, I am proud to say that our students graduate with a University of Pittsburgh degree -- a degree that is both recognized and respected across the country.
All of these factors, as well as an opportunity to define the future of Bobcat Basketball, allowed us to welcome nine new freshmen to our squad. Eight of these student-athletes are from the state of Pennsylvania, while Lexi is making the 29 hour drive from Gilbert, AZ. All nine of them are moving into Robertshaw (the dorm right up the hill from our gymnasium) next Thursday, August 25. I couldn't be more thrilled to welcome them to our basketball family.
The excitement surrounding the upcoming season is almost too much for me to handle :) Along with a deep, talented recruiting class, we return seniors Casey Stanton, Ali Bilak, and Kourtney Laratonda. Sophomore Taylor Tresatti rounds out our thirteen player roster. Casey was the 2010-2011 AMCC Player of the Year, while Ali was an AMCC Honorable Mention selection. Kourtney and Taylor both provide us with experience and solid shooting ability at the off-guard position.
Aside from being my first recruiting class, there's just something special about this group of freshmen. We have all-section players, defensive stoppers, three-point specialists, a 1,000 point scorer, and the hardest working freshmen class in the nation (I'll let them introduce themselves later). I hear a lot of coaches say that “gym rats” don't exist anymore, but I don't buy it. We found nine of them. I think the world of our four returners, and I'm so excited to watch this group grow together under their leadership.
Now that I'm done rambling, I'd like to give a special shout-out to Caelyn Disanti and Qiuana Brown, our assistant coaches last season, who both accepted full-time jobs elsewhere. Coach D will be teaching special education at a school in South Carolina. “Q” is an associate account executive at ADP and will be graduating from Duquesne with her Master's degree in corporate communications and integrated marketing. From the entire BOBCAT FAMILY...congrats, we couldn't be happier for you both!!
It will be a hard task to replace last year's assistant coaches, but I'm sure our new assistant coach, Brooke Pioli, is up for the challenge. Brooke was a four-year member of the Bobcat Basketball squad, and she's one of the best pure shooters I've ever had the pleasure to coach.
Well, I guess that's it for now...
GO BOBCATS!!!
--Coach Eaton
