The class of 2007 St. Bonaventure graduate comes to the Mount from D'Youville College in Buffalo. Although it's name sounds like something from a Dr. Seuss story in a parallel universe, D'Youville is a private institution in Buffalo, N.Y., where Nagro has been the coach since early February 2008.
Nagro, who is from Buffalo, played catcher and finished seventh all-time with the Bonnies in at-bats (422) and fifth in doubles (tied, with 23), home runs (eight) and RBI (65). She served as a team captain and was a physical education major at St. Bonaventure and then began pursuing her masters in sports administration from Canisius College while coaching D'Youville. It is unclear whether she completed her masters.
The hiring of Nagro will mean athletic director Lynne Robinson has met her self-imposed deadline of Aug. 1 for finding a new head coach.
The Spartans were in the North Eastern Athletic Conference for Nagro's first two seasons as coach before joining the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference for the 2010 season.
Nagro also served as an assistant athletics director and the senior women's administrator at D'Youville.
The position has been vacant since former coach Larry Alvis was fired by the school in late May due to apparent player complaints. Alvis left as the winningest coach in school history.
Update 7/22/10 - 8:14 a.m.:
Mount U has obtained an e-mail sent to the players regarding the hiring of Nagro. It was written by an athletic department administrator other than athletic director Lynne Robinson, who is on vacation.
Excerpts from the e-mail:
"I am excited to let you know that we have offered the Head Coaching position for softball to Anna Nagro and she has verbally accepted our offer ...
"I know this process may have taken longer than some of you may have anticipated but it is very important for us and the department to find the right person to lead our softball program. We feel after receiving everyone’s input that was involved with the interview process and after conducting our due diligence with background and reference checks, we have the right person for the job.
"Once all of the final paperwork is complete, we will announce the hiring of Coach Nagro to formally introduce her as a member of the Mount community. We hope to have Coach Nagro on campus by the early part of August, but she will no doubt be contacting all of you in the near future."
Nagro will turn 25 on Sept. 23.
Mount U has obtained an e-mail sent to the players regarding the hiring of Nagro. It was written by an athletic department administrator other than athletic director Lynne Robinson, who is on vacation.
Excerpts from the e-mail:
"I am excited to let you know that we have offered the Head Coaching position for softball to Anna Nagro and she has verbally accepted our offer ...
"I know this process may have taken longer than some of you may have anticipated but it is very important for us and the department to find the right person to lead our softball program. We feel after receiving everyone’s input that was involved with the interview process and after conducting our due diligence with background and reference checks, we have the right person for the job.
"Once all of the final paperwork is complete, we will announce the hiring of Coach Nagro to formally introduce her as a member of the Mount community. We hope to have Coach Nagro on campus by the early part of August, but she will no doubt be contacting all of you in the near future."
Nagro will turn 25 on Sept. 23.
15 comments:
Seriously ??? a 24 year old-- from a unheard of school to coach D1? Cant imagine how many qualified applicants were passed over for that move. The Athletic Dept should be embarressed by this move.
I don't know anything about Anna Nagro but Jen Wivell would have been a nice choice - alumni and works in the athletic department already. Clearly a money-saving move, but hopefully Nagro proves wothy. She will certainly be a much more relatable figure for the players. Whether that is good remains to be seen.
I believe the Colgate coach would have been the best choice! I do not believe that any of the players opinions were considered at all with the firing and the hiring of the coaches!
I really hope that Nagro can come in and prove herself worthy of the postion as head coach because if she does not live up to the things accomplished by Alvis, many will not be happy.. along with the players.
BG.. as for your comment about Jen Wivell being a good fit for the program??? You are out of your mind.. she had NO coaching experience and took part in the release of Coach Alvis! That not only would have looked terrible for the athletic department but on the school as a whole. Wivell as coach would have sent the program right back to where it was in 2005!
Anna is a great hire and will prove to be a fine coach. She's young, but already has a lot of experience.
"Although it's name sounds like something from a Dr. Seuss story in a parallel universe, D'Youville is a private institution in Buffalo, N.Y."
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Actually, the school is named after St. Margeurite d'Youville and is basically across the street from Canisius College where Anna Nagro attended grad school and which is home to one of the most successful mid-level D-1 softball programs. I am sure one of Anna's references was Coach Rappl from Canisius. The Mount is getting a coach who works well with young players and knows softball inside out.
Lena, thanks for the insight and support of coach Nagro. I'm sure she's a well-deserved choice, I just don't know much about her. Don't take the Dr. Seuss comment personally.
Also, an acknowledgement on your Canisius blog for me breaking the story wouldn't hurt.
I didn't get the story from you :)
I believe you; that wasn't what I implied or requested. (Though my post is from 7/21 and yours 7/30.)
But please stop back often as we'll be glad to hear some more insight as the Nagro era gets under way.
I believe that the new coach will have very, very big shoes to fill. Coach Alvis was such an asset to the Mt's softball program. He worked very hard for the program and it is too bad that they couldn't see it. His recuiting of players have set up the new coach for at least the next couple of years. The Mt. doesn't know what they will be missing with Coach Alvis being gone. It is also too bad that he wasn't appreciated by the administration or the some of the outgoing players. This is again a sad situation. We will MISS Coach Alvis.....
Lena- next time I apply for a job, I'll use the school across the street as a reference. A 24 year old, with "a lot" of experience from a lower level
D3 program with a loosing record, is not qualified to coach at the D1level.
But she was across the street from a D1 school!!! There were several succesful D1 and D2 head coaches from winning programs that applied. These qualified candidates were not even called for interviews. It really speaks to how seriously Mount Saint Marys considers womens athletics.
@anon 4:02pm
Your sarcasm aside, Anna had references from a couple division 1 coaches.
The mid level schools have a couple ways to go, one of those ways is giving a new coach her start. Happens all the time and does not speak to the "seriousness" of a sports program.
No shot this is a good choice. How can the school bring in a coach who has no experience with handling scholarship, barely any experience coaching at the collegiate level period (Let alone division I)
The girl wasn't even a good player herself at a very poor St. Bonaventure.
I agree with the other anonymous, this really speaks volumes of how much the msm athletic department cares about womens sports.
Mount Saint Marys actually sent letters out to apllicants thanking them for meeting with the search committee. Two successful coaches that recieved these leteres "Never" met with any search committee !! They had not even received a phone call. But they were thanked for coming to campus and meeting with the Search Committe...Seems like the Search Committee doesnt even know who they interviewed.....
Larry Alvis deserves better! He worked harder than any coach in that athletic department. What is going on?
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