Le Moyne College Athletics

Gina Castelli enters her 30th year as a head coach and eighth season on the Le Moyne bench. Castelli has posted a career coaching record of 458-376 (.549) in her 29 seasons as a head coach. 

In the 2018-19 season, Castelli coached the Dolphins to a 26-6 record, recording the most wins in a season in Le Moyne Women's Basketball history. The 2018-19 campaign, the most successful season since 1994-95, saw the team finish second overall in the Northeast 10 Conference, and first in the Southwest Division. The Dolphins went on to win the NE10 Tournament Championship over top-seeded and 12th-ranked Bentley in dominating fashion, 67-45, to capture the program's first conference tournament championship. Le Moyne was seeded fourth in the NCAA Tournament East Region and recorded the first and second NCAA tournament wins in program history to advance all the way to the East Region championship. The historic run came to an end in a hard-fought loss to Saint Anselm in the East Region championship. McKayla Roberts garnered All-American honors for Coach Castelli, becoming the second All-American that Castelli has coached at Le Moyne. After six seasons with the Dolphins, Castelli holds a record of 103-71.

In her first season, Castelli led the Dolphins to a 15-13 overall record, a nine win improvement from the previous season. The Dolphins earned a berth into the NE-10 Championships and defeated Saint Anselm in the first round for the program’s first postseason win since 2008. Le Moyne's 15 wins tied the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons for the most since the 2001-02 team won 20 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

In her second year on the Heights, the Dolphins went 17-14, including their second straight 10-10 record in Northeast-10 play. The Dolphins earned their second consecutive berth into the NE-10 Championships and defeated Merrimack College in the first round for the program's first postseason road victory since 2002. The 17 wins were the fourth-most in the program's 39-year history and were the most since the 2001-02 season.

Castelli came to Le Moyne after spending the 2012-13 season as the women’s basketball program’s Director of Player Development at the University of Rhode Island, a Division I program in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Prior to her stint at URI, Castelli served as the head women’s basketball coach at Division-I Siena College for 22 seasons.

“I can’t imagine a better pair of hands to place the future of Le Moyne women's basketball in than in the hands of Gina Castelli,” said Le Moyne College Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics Matt Bassett at the time of Castelli's hiring. “From day one, Gina has demonstrated a passionate, limitless vision for what Le Moyne women's basketball can and should be. We have hired a truly successful coach, a driven coach, a coach who has a proven record for going about things, and achieving things, the right way.”

Castelli, the winningest basketball coach in Siena history, registered a record of 336-296 (.532) over her 22 seasons in charge of the Saints, including a mark of 225-146 (.606) in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) action, the third-most wins in the conference’s history. Named the MAAC Coach of the Year five times (1991, ’94, ’98, ’01 and ’02) and the New York State Coach of the Year twice (1991 and 1999), she led the Saints to seven MAAC Regular Season Championships (1994, ’98, ’99, ’01, ’02, ’03 and ’04), while winning the MAAC Tournament championship during the 2000-01 season.

The Saints won at least 20 games seven times during her tenure in Loudonville. Additionally, Siena made four postseason appearances, including berths in the NCAA Tournament in 2001 and the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in 1999, 2002 and 2003. In the 1999 WNIT, the Saints hosted and defeated Georgetown of the BIG EAST, while hosting and topping Seton Hall, also of the BIG EAST, in 2003. The 2002-03 squad set a program record by winning 25 games, while Castelli guided the 2001-02 team to a program-record 19 consecutive victories.

Castelli, who graduated 100-percent of her student-athletes, guided 41 of her student-athletes to All-Conference honors, while 11 were named to the All-Rookie Team. Seven of her players were named MAAC Player of the Year, four were tabbed Rookie of the Year, three earned Defensive Player of the Year honors and one was selected as the Sixth Player of the Year. Upon completing their eligibility, 20 of Castelli’s student-athletes continued their careers professionally, including five that are still active.

In the classroom, Castelli’s teams have enjoyed unparalleled success. Siena was recognized by the NCAA in 2006-07 and 2007-08 for recording a multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) in the top-10 percent of all Division I women’s basketball programs. The Saints landed in the top-32 in 2007 and top-35 in 2008 for their APR. In the 2009 NCAA Division I Federal Graduation Rates and NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) Report, Siena registered a 93-percent GSR compared to the national average of 83-percent. In 2011, two student-athletes earned MAAC All-Academic Team accolades. Of the 64-team NCAA Tournament field in 2001, Stanford was the only other institution to have graduated 100 percent of its incoming player over a seven-year span. In 2003, Siena tied for the national lead with a 100-percent graduation rate.

Prior to assuming the reins of the Siena program as the fourth-youngest coach in Division I at the time (27), Castelli served as an assistant coach for the Saints for the 1989-90 season. During the 1986-87 season, Castelli was an assistant coach at Marquette University under her collegiate coach, Sister Maria Pares.

An active member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and a former WBCA captain, Castelli has previously served on the NCAA East Regional Advisory Committee, USA Today Top-25 Selection Committee and NCAA Gender Equity sub-committee. Off the court, Castelli has volunteered with the Special Olympics, Girls Inc., Albany Boys and Girls Club, Capital Region Action Against Breast Cancer (CRAAB!), Miracle League and Ronald McDonald House. During her partnership with CRAAB!, Castelli helped raise $75,000 over three years through breast cancer awareness games. In 2008, she received the Susan G. Koman BMW Hero Award and then was a recipient of the Women of Excellence Award in 2010 from the Albany Chamber of Commerce.

Castelli, who graduated from Canisius College in 1986 with a B.S. in Physical Education/Athletic Training and a K-12 Teaching Certification, was a four-year letterwinner for the Golden Griffs. She completed her career as the second-leading scorer in the history of the program (1,524 points, currently 5th). At the time of her graduation, Castelli made the most field goals (682, eclipsed in 2002, still 2nd), had the top free-throw percentage (82.9, surpassed in 2009, still 2nd), dished out the most assists (578, exceeded in 1993, still 3rd) and recorded the most steals (273, topped in 1993, still 3rd) in the program’s history. Additionally, Castelli still holds the record for the most assists in a single-season, 218, which she dished out in 1983-84. A 1997 and 2012 (for her 1982-83 team’s accomplishments) inductee into the Golden Griffin Hall of Fame, Castelli earned Academic All-America accolades during her playing career.