Denise Dillon Gets Contract Extension As Women’s Basketball Coach
Denise Dillon, the Dragons’ head women’s basketball coach, has agreed to a multi-year contract extension which will keep her at the school through 2020 the school announced. Full terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Dillon, who recently completed her tenth season at the helm of the Drexel women’s basketball program, has guided the team to unprecedented heights. The Dragons are coming off a 28-win season in 2012-13, setting a new program record for victories. They captured the 2013 Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship with a 46-43 victory over Utah on April 6, making Drexel the first Division I women’s basketball team in Philadelphia history to claim a postseason tournament title.
Sitting at 179 victories, Dillon stands as Drexel’s all-time winningest Division I women’s basketball coach. Over the past five years, she has guided the Dragons to the postseason each year, including a 2009 CAA championship and NCAA Tournament berth and the WNIT in each of the following four seasons. Drexel won its first-ever postseason game under Dillon in the first round of the 2012 WNIT, following that with its run to the championship in 2013.
The Broomall, Pa. native has won two CAA Coach of the Year Awards, once in 2005 and again in 2009. She is one of just five coaches in CAA history to win 100 regular season league games, and has led the Dragons to six consecutive winning seasons. Dillon was a standout during her playing days at Villanova, and is a member of the Philadelphia Big Five, Delaware County Athletics and Villanova Athletics Halls of Fame.
Drexel Joins EIWA In Wrestling
Will Battle Penn In The Wrestling Battle of 33rd Street
Drexel wrestling will have a permanent new home for the 2013-14 season as the Dragons join former CAA conference-mate Hofstra as two of the newest members of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. The association announced on Thursday that it was adding Drexel along with Hofstra University, Binghamton University and Boston University.
Drexel wrestling will be entering its third season under head coach Matt Azevedo, The Dragons won eight dual matches last season, including a 24-19 win over George Mason in the first ever Grapple at the Garden, held at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The Dragons sent two wrestlers, Frank Cimato and Brandon Palik, to the NCAA Championships, where each won an individual match.
Drexel joins the EIWA after 12 years as a member of
the Colonial Athletic Association. The Dragons boasted five CAA champions, including Palik this season at 197. During that time, Drexel sent a total of 34 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships.
Current EIWA membership includes: Ivy League members Brown University, Cornell University, Columbia University, Harvard University, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania; Patriot League members American University, Bucknell University, Lehigh University, the United States Military Academy at West Point, the United States Naval Academy; Current Big East Member Rutgers University; Northeast Conference (NEC) member Sacred Heart University; and Centennial Conference member Franklin and Marshall, which wrestles on the Division I level.
The Big Red of Cornell has captured seven consecutive EIWA championships. Columbia and Pennsylvania have each competed in 109 EIWA Championship Tournaments with Princeton (107), Cornell (105) and Lehigh (101) close behind. Lehigh has won 34 team titles while Cornell has captured 21.
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