- 2014 & 2019 Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Champions
- 2014 & 2019 NCAA Tournament Appearances
- 2019 Atlantic 10 Regular Season Co-Champions
- 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, & 2022 WNIT Appearances
- 2013, 2018, & 2019 Maggie Dixon Metropolitan Coach of the Year
- 2019 BCANY Coach of the Year
- 684-393 Career Record (36 Years)
- 220-123 Record at Fordham (11 Years)
Stephanie Gaitley was announced as the head coach of the Fordham women’s basketball program on April 1, 2011. Prior to her arrival, the Rams had gone nearly two decades without a winning record and were just three years removed from a winless campaign. In the 11 seasons since, Gaitley has become the program’s winningest coach and has brought two Atlantic 10 championships and nine total postseason berths to the Bronx. The owner of a 684-393 career record over 36 years, Gaitley has previously coached at Monmouth, LIU Brooklyn, Saint Joseph’s, and Richmond. In total, she has compiled six conference titles, 19 20-win seasons, and has led her team to a postseason berth on 19 occasions, including nine trips to the NCAA Tournament. At Fordham, she owns a 220-123 record and a .641 win percentage, and has been named the recipient of the school’s Iron Major award four times, given to the department’s Coach of the Year.
Gaitley, a three-time Maggie Dixon Metropolitan Coach of the Year and the Basketball Coaches Association of N.Y. Coach of the Year in 2019, has led the Rams to eight postseason berths and what should’ve been a ninth in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic ended the season early. Her Rams have also earned one Atlantic 10 regular season championship and one other trip to the conference finals, in 2013. Seven of the 11 years under Gaitley have resulted in 20 wins or more, as well, with two other seasons over a .620 win percentage, including the shortened 2020-21 campaign. Prior to her hire, the program had just five 20-win seasons and five postseason berths over a 41-year span, with four of those coming prior to 1981.
There is no mistaking the ideology of her teams: defense, defense, defense. Her Rams have finished within the top-45 nationally in scoring defense in every season since her appointment and within the top-20 in seven of them, reaching an apex of ninth in 2018-19 with 54.4 points allowed per game, while the 2012-13 squad’s average of 52.4 were the fewest allowed despite finishing 16th in the country. The Rams finished the 2020-21 campaign 31st nationally with 57.4 points allowed. Though the 2008-09 team holds the single-season record of 47.9 points allowed, Gaitley’s teams hold the other nine spots in the record book. One illuminating stat to show their defensive dominance is the program’s 88-8 record when holding an opponent under 50 points, something that’s happened in 28.2% of games under Gaitley.
Academically, she has overseen seven student-athletes earn All-Academic honors from the Atlantic 10, most recently Kaitlyn Downey this Spring, who earned her second straight honor, the first Ram to do so, with DeWolfe also garnering back-to-back CoSIDA Academic All-District honors, as well, and 29 total student-athletes with at least one appearance on the A-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll. The 2017-18 Rams were also named to the WBCA Top-25 Honor Roll nationally.
Professionally, she has seen several of her former players play abroad following their collegiate careers. Most recently, Mary Goulding has played in Australia and Sweden, and G’mrice Davis has played in Greece, Australia, Israel, and Turkey after participating in preseason camp with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx following her graduation, although she returned to the Lynx's preseason camp in 2021. Erin Rooney went on to play in several countries, as well, while six other Rams have gone on to or still are playing abroad.
Following a 12-win inaugural campaign, Gaitley entered her second season with a few key additions. With graduate transfer Marah Strickland, junior transfer Erin Rooney, and prized recruit Samantha Clark donning the maroon and white, Gaitley’s Rams put together a historic season. They finished the year with a 26-9 record, second-most wins in program history, and the finest season at Fordham in over 30 years. The Rams unfortunately fell in the Atlantic 10 championship game by one point, but the team deservedly made its first-ever appearance in the WNIT, advancing to the Round of 16 with wins over Army and Boston, the program’s first postseason wins since 1980. Their 52.4 points allowed over 35 contests ranked 16th nationally and second-fewest in school history. Gaitley was rewarded with her first MBWA Coach of the Year honor.
That group, minus Strickland, took a step forward in 2013-14, winning the school’s first-ever Atlantic 10 championship and securing Fordham’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1994. In the Atlantic 10 championship, the Rams cruised past three schools that they had gone 0-4 against during the regular season. During the year, the team set new school records with a 12-game win streak and 11 nonconference victories, and won their first Thanksgiving tournament, the Lady Rebel Round-Up, hosted by UNLV. The team finished the year with a 25-8 record and fell by one just one point at #24 California in the NCAA Tournament.
For the first time since 1977-80, the Rams tallied a third straight 20-win season, finishing 2014-15 with a 21-12 record and a WNIT berth after falling to nationally ranked and top-seeded George Washington in the semifinals. The Rams once again led the league in scoring defense, their 55.5 points allowed good for 18th nationally, while Gaitley ascended to second in school history with 84 wins. The 2015-16 squad struggled to a 14-17 record and missed out on a postseason berth, but the squad rebounded the following year.
Behind the ascendancy of junior G’mrice Davis, the 2016-17 team went 22-12 and once again reached the WNIT. Davis earned First Team All-Conference and All-Defense honors, while Gaitley became the program’s all-time leaders in wins, surpassing Kathy Mosolino (1974-80) with her 116th win with the Rams coming at home against Massachusetts in a 74-43 trouncing. Fordham came from behind to defeat Georgetown on the road in the opening round of the WNIT before finishing its season at Penn State. In the second game of the season, the Rams played at #1 Notre Dame in the second round of the preseason WNIT, holding the Fighting Irish to one of their lowest scores of the year.
Davis became the program’s first ever WBCA All-American regional finalist, ending up as honorable mention, as the 2017-18 Rams went 24-10, the fifth-most wins in school history, and matched the team’s longest postseason run, beating Harvard at home and Drexel on the road in overtime to reach the Round of 16 and a trip to Virginia Tech. Davis averaged a double-double for the year and was named the A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, while redshirt freshman Bre Cavanaugh burst onto the scene by nearly setting every freshman record at Fordham, if not for Anne Gregory’s historic 1976-77 season, and was named the Metropolitan Rookie of the Year.
The 2018-19 Rams brought yet another historic season to Rose Hill as one of the youngest teams in America went on a 20-3 run after beginning the year 5-5 to finish with a program record 13 conference wins and a second Atlantic 10 championship, plus a share of its first-ever regular season crown. The Rams finished 25-9 on the year, tied for the third-most in school history, set a new record with nine consecutive league victories and tied the benchmark with 12 overall wins in a row. The Rams coasted to the title with an average margin of just under 23 points across three games, leading to Fordham's third appearance in the NCAA Tournament and a trip to #12 Syracuse. The Rams allowed just 54.4 points per game on the year, ranked ninth nationally at year's end, and rarely beat themselves, finishing with just 11.5 turnovers per game (seventh nationally) and 13.3 fouls per game (ninth). The squad also set a new single-season school record with 267 made three pointers. Gaitley was named Coach of the Year by both the MBWA and the BCANY, while Cavanaugh was named the MBWA Player of the Year. She and teammate Mary Goulding became the first Fordham teammates in the A-10 era to both earn First Team All-Conference honors. Both were named ECAC honorable mention, as well.
Though the 2019-20 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the team would've secured a fifth WNIT berth after a 21-11 season and appearance in the A-10 semifinals, the Rams had plenty to be proud about. With an even younger squad than the year prior, with not one senior, Fordham enjoyed its fourth straight 20-win season and a third consecutive Holiday Classic crown. After an 0-4 start, which included a record sellout of the Rose Hill Gym for the season opener against #16 Notre Dame, Fordham enjoyed a 21-6 run before the final game of the year at the A-10 Championship in Dayton. Bre Cavanaugh upped her game once again, garnering the program's first-ever conference Player of the Year award (in any conference), with a spot on the First Team for a second straight year. She became the second Ram to earn WBCA All-America honorable mention honors and earned spots on the First Team with the ECAC and MBWA, as well. She will enter her senior season as the NCAA’s returning leading scorer.
Though the Rams were limited to just 18 games in 2020-21 due to the pandemic, Fordham still finished second in the regular season standings with an 8-2 league record, 12-6 overall, and earned yet another invite to the WNIT, with Coach Gaitley celebrating her 200th win at Fordham in a 51-36 win over Saint Joseph's at home on Febraury 12th. With the graduation of Cavanaugh, sophomore guard Anna DeWolfe stepped up in a huge way, averaging 20.8 points, just the third Ram to ever average 20 or more points in a season, en route to sharing Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year honors. She also became the third Ram to be named a WBCA All-America honorable mention. Two other Rams, Kendell Heremaia and Kaitlyn Downey were named Second and Third Team members, respectively, marking the first time in the Atlantic 10 era that the program had seen three players earn All-Conference honors. Downey became just the third Ram to average a double-double over a season, as well, leading the league in rebounding with 10.2 per game. DeWolfe and Heremaia were also named All-Metropolitan First and Second Team, respectively.
In 2010-11, the year prior to her hiring at Fordham, Gaitley led Monmouth to a 23-10 overall record, 13-5 in the Northeast Conference, and helped the Hawks tie the school record for wins in a season and advance to the title game of the NEC Championship. Following the championship game loss, Monmouth received its first ever WNIT bid and its first postseason appearance since making the 1983 NCAA Tournament. Her Hawks allowed just 55.7 points per game that season, tops in the NEC. In 2009-10, the Hawks were named to the top-25 Academic Honor Roll by the WBCA with a team-wide 3.4 GPA.
Prior to her time at Monmouth, Gaitley spent six seasons at LIU Brooklyn, accumulating a 95-82 record and becoming the winningest coach in that program’s history. In her final season, she guided the Blackbirds to a school record 24 wins and the top seed in the NEC Tournament. The year prior, in 2006-07, Gaitley was named the NEC Coach of the Year after leading her team to a 20-win season and the school’s first-ever regular season title and WNIT berth. Unsurprisingly, LIU Brooklyn led the NEC in scoring defense from 2006-08.
Gaitley spent the 1992-2001 seasons at Saint Joseph’s, leading the Hawks to five 20-win seasons and two Atlantic 10 championships, reaching the NCAA Tournament five times, including three At-Large bid, and advancing to the second round of the tournament on three occasions. She left Philadelphia with a 196-88 record and 109-39 in conference play. In 1992-93, her second season in charge, the Hawks went 21-8, kickstarting a run of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in three of the next four years, going a combined 39-18 over the next two seasons. In her final full year, 1999-00, the Hawks went 25-6 and won another A-10 title.
The University of Richmond gave Gaitley her start as a head coach, naming her to the position in 1985. The Spiders went 116-63 over her six seasons in charge, winning 20 or more games in four of those years. Over her final two seasons, Richmond was a combined 51-10, reaching the NCAA Tournament both years, one as a result of a CAA championship and one At-Large bid. Gaitley was named the 1990 CAA Coach of the Year, leading the Spiders to a WNIT berth that season.
Gaitley has coached five players who earned conference Player of the Year accolades, most recently Anna DeWolfe in 2021 and including Valerie Nainima, a longtime assistant coach under Gaitley at Fordham that took the same position at Michigan prior to the 2021-22 season. Nainima became the first player in Northeast Conference history to win the league’s Rookie and Player of the Year honors in the same season when she accomplished the feat in 2007. The other two student-athletes are Jana Lichnerova and Susan Moran, the 2000 and 2002 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year at Saint Joseph’s, respectively. Both Lichnerova and Moran were also named Atlantic 10 Student-Athletes of the Year for women’s basketball.
Nainima, a member and captain of the Fiji women’s national basketball team, Lichnerova, who played for the Slovakia Olympic Team at the 2000 Games, and Moran, one of the top women’s basketball players from Ireland, are a good example of Gaitley’s international roots that have served her so well in her career. Gaitley has had four of her former international players either drafted or in camp with WNBA teams, and has conducted SVG camps and clinics all over the world for the past 25 years. The current 2021-22 roster includes four players from Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.
Gaitley also has experience with the United States national team, serving as an assistant in 2000 at the Jones Cup and helping the team to the gold medal. She also served as head coach of the West Team at the 1995 U.S. Olympic Festival, winning a silver medal.
One of the most apparent attributes about Coach Gaitley is her likeable demeanor strongly influenced by family values. Gaitley has an outgoing personality that is contagious throughout her program. She has maintained a longstanding, successful career based around her attitude and ability to convey her beliefs as a coach and as a mentor to her players.
A native of Ocean City, N.J., Gaitley graduated from Villanova in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree in education and was an academic All-American that season. She was named to the Eastman Kodak All-America Team in 1981-82 and is currently sixth on the Villanova all-time rebounding list. She also received a Master of Science degree in secondary education at Villanova in 1983. The school inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 1993, three years after she was enshrined into the Philadelphia Big Five Hall of Fame.
Gaitley and her two sisters, Courtney and Coco, hold a piece of NCAA history. During the 1981-82 season, Stephanie and Courtney, while playing for Villanova, played against Coco, who played for Fairleigh Dickinson, marking the first time in NCAA history that three sisters competed in the same game.
Gaitley learned early on in her basketball career about success, as she was a member of the Ocean City High School girl’s basketball team that went 100-0 in league play from 1974-78 under head coach Pat Dougherty. She is a member of the South Jersey and Ocean City High School Halls of Fame.
Gaitley and her husband, Frank, have three sons: Dutch, an assistant coach with the Charlotte Hornets, D.C., a four-year member of the men’s basketball program and current staff member with the Miami Heat, and Jordan “Coop” Gaitley, a rising graduate student with the University of Richmond basketball program.
"After an extensive national search, we are excited to find someone like Stephanie Gaitley to lead our women's basketball program," said former Fordham Executive Director of Athletic Frank McLaughlin at her introductory press conference. "She has been a winner and has always had a conference-championship caliber team. Not only has Stephanie had great success on the court, she has always emphasized academic success and the full development of the student-athlete. Her outstanding coaching career makes a strong statement that Fordham is very serious about becoming one of the top women's basketball programs in the very competitive Atlantic 10 Conference."
