Bobcats 81, Red Foxes 51<\/a>.<\/p>\nQuinnipiac clinches yet another MAAC championship.<\/p>\n
As the buzzer sounds, head coach Tricia Fabbri eagerly storms the court with her team, making sure she hugs each and every person she can find.<\/p>\n
Her family \u2013 who, from the 25th row in a mostly empty arena, berated the referees endlessly throughout the game \u2013 comes down and gets their chance at a hug. A long embrace between the family, tears inching down some faces, and then it\u2019s back to business.<\/p>\n
The next day, she\u2019s in her office preparing for the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n
Fabbri and her five seniors celebrate the 2019 MAAC title. (Photo by Morgan Tencza)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Fairfield University to Quinnipiac University.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a short, 30-minute drive north on I-95.<\/p>\n
For the last 32 years, Tricia Fabbri\u2019s life has been defined by those two schools. And for the last 25, the 30-minute drive has been a staple of her daily life.<\/p>\n
It all began in 1987, when a 5-foot-11 forward from Delran Township, New Jersey was a freshman on the Fairfield women\u2019s basketball team. Tricia Fabbri \u2013 then Tricia Sacca \u2013 was a bruiser on the court, tallying 1,622 career points and 1,037 rebounds \u2013 both ranking her among the program\u2019s top five.<\/p>\n
That fall, though, Tricia found something that she didn\u2019t go to Connecticut expecting to find.<\/p>\n
Paul Fabbri graduated from Fairfield in 1987 \u2013 just a few months before Tricia arrived \u2013 and stayed at the university as a part-timer in the sports information department. He worked with the women\u2019s basketball team during Tricia\u2019s freshman year.<\/p>\n
After three All-MAAC First-Team selections, Tricia stayed with the Stags as an assistant coach until 1995, when she saw an opening at Quinnipiac College \u2013 a Division II school in nearby Hamden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m ready to become a head coach at 26,\u2019\u201d Tricia said. \u201cI knew a couple people at the University of New Haven who made some calls to (then-Quinnipiac AD) Burt Kahn. I\u2019m still convinced (I was hired because) Burt had two golden labs, and when I went into his office for the interview they were very happy to see me, I was unfazed and we had a good conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was a monumental year for the young couple. Tricia and Paul got married in 1995, and both started new jobs that summer \u2013 new jobs that each of them still hold 24 years later.<\/p>\n
Tricia went to Quinnipiac, while Paul started teaching and coaching baseball at Ridgefield High School, as the couple resided \u2013 and still does \u2013 in Stratford, a town neighboring Fairfield.<\/p>\n
Quinnipiac wasn\u2019t an ideal landing spot for Tricia. It was a lowly Division II program coming off back-to-back 4-22 seasons and it hired a new athletic director \u2013 Jack McDonald \u2013 soon after Tricia was hired. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have aspirations to be a head coach, you have to start somewhere,\u201d Paul said. \u201cQuinnipiac was in the area and it offered a great opportunity for her just to start and have her own program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you have to take a risk, but never did I think it would become what it\u2019s become.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tricia inherited the program and won 15 games in her first three seasons. Despite the on-court struggles, McDonald and then-Quinnipiac president John Lahey were determined to elevate the university to Division I.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a difficult time,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cShe had no full-time assistant coach. She had an office next to the elevator, as big as a closet. The proper support was not there for her. The first three or four years were a real struggle.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cTo top it all off, we then dropped on to her, \u2018Oh, coach, now you guys are Division I.\u2019 We were playing a Division I schedule with Division III resources<\/strong>.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\nQuinnipiac didn\u2019t finish above .500 until Fabbri\u2019s sixth year, but that year was almost her last. <\/p>\n
On Dec. 4, 2000, Fabbri nearly left Quinnipiac.<\/p>\n
The Quinnipiac Braves (2-2) hosted the Seton Hall Pirates (2-3) at Burt Kahn Court. The Pirates played in the highly-competitive Big East with teams like UConn and Notre Dame, among others. The Braves led by double digits at halftime, but the Pirates stormed back and won in overtime, 63-58.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crowd was disappointed \u2013 some people chirped some bad things at Trish,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cI go up to my office and I\u2019m shutting down my computer and all of a sudden she walks in. She looks at me \u2013 and if the tears weren\u2019t coming down her eyes, they were pretty close. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe said \u2018Jack, I can\u2019t handle this. You deserve better than me. I want to resign.\u2019 And I said \u2018Trish, I\u2019m going to pretend you never said that. Get the heck out of my office, go home, have a glass of wine, kiss your husband and hug your kids and we\u2019ll talk on Monday.\u2019 Frankly, that\u2019s sort of the benchmark moment for the program.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n
Fabbri (left) was emotional after the 2018 MAAC Championship Game.<\/p>\n
Photo by Logan Reardon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Quinnipiac has had just three losing seasons since that day.<\/strong><\/p>\nNow, the only tears Fabbri cries are after winning MAAC championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the best thing for us, we took a great turn after that,\u201d Fabbri said. \u201cJack saw the big picture and I just couldn\u2019t see it. He saw the program moving, even if it was a step-by-step path. He believed in what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Off the court, the Fabbri\u2019s were young parents. Their daughter Carly was born in April 1996, and sons A.J. and Paul Henry followed shortly after.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember coming to her basketball camps when I was 3 years old,\u201d Carly said. \u201cI always had a ball in my hand. Growing up I was the water girl for the team and my mom would take me on any away trips I could go on. I loved being on the road and the bus with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it was cool to have her mom coaching a Division I team, it did have some disadvantages.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n
Carly Fabbri cuts down the net after winning the 2018 MAAC title.<\/p>\n
Photo from Logan Reardon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201c(Tricia) missed Carly\u2019s games when she was playing in high school, same thing with Paul Henry and A.J.,\u201d Paul said. \u201cShe missed their games because of her responsibilities and it was extremely frustrating for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sports are everything in that family. Both of Tricia\u2019s older brothers played Division I college football and each of the three children played in high school. They describe the family as a \u201cteam dynamic,\u201d as sports dominate their lifestyle.<\/p>\n
For Carly, knowing her mom had to miss some of her games was no big deal. She understood. It was the summer\u2019s that hurt the most.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it really hit home the hardest over the summer when she would go on almost two weeks of being on the road at a time and wasn\u2019t home,\u201d Carly said. \u201cThat\u2019s when I would miss her the most. When I was off from school and if I wasn\u2019t able to go recruiting with her, she was just gone for a long time and that\u2019s when I got the most sad.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the kids grew older, Tricia\u2019s program began to excel. <\/p>\n
Now the Bobcats of Quinnipiac University, Fabbri\u2019s squad won at least 10 conference games for six straight years from 2001 through 2006.<\/p>\n
Fabbri credited Kim Misiaszek (\u201801) and Colleen Klopp (\u201801) \u2013 two Connecticut recruits from Old Lyme and Southington, respectively \u2013 for getting the team so competitive early in the Northeast Conference (NEC).<\/p>\n
Still, people didn\u2019t know what Quinnipiac was. <\/p>\n
The name is funky and it\u2019s in the middle of nowhere. So, how was Fabbri able to sell her budding program to recruits?<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as recruits will say they choose the school for the school, the coach is a very, very big reason why,\u201d Mandy Pennewell (\u201809) said. \u201cIt\u2019s somebody that you\u2019re going to love, and love to hate sometimes. You have to be able to handle that relationship at a young age where you are getting critiqued and certain things are expected of you.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like she was the mother of our herd, and you don\u2019t cross that. You knew you had an environment where you were going to be protected, you were going to thrive and she was going to challenge you and hold you accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quinnipiac was \u2013 and likely always will be \u2013 the \u201cother\u201d women\u2019s college basketball program in Connecticut.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was getting recruited, no one knew what Quinnipiac was,\u201d Pennewell said with a laugh. \u201cHonestly, after I committed, I just started saying I was going to school in Connecticut and everybody would think UConn. If you don\u2019t know women\u2019s college basketball you wouldn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n
Quinnipiac lost to UConn in the 2018 NCAA Tournament Second Round, 71-46. (Photo by Morgan Tencza)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Now in 2007 with a growing program, Quinnipiac athletics changed forever \u2013 and people started to know the name. The People\u2019s United Center (then the TD Bank Sports Center) opened on Jan. 27, 2007, moving the men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball and ice hockey programs to the new $52 million arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe building separated us from other mid-major universities,\u201d Fabbri said. \u201cThis is just the brilliance of John Lahey. He wanted to continue to nationally build an academic reputation for the university, and he used athletics as the front porch. He saw athletics as a way to bring the university to national prominence.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it also brought a big responsibility, because if you build this, you better have success.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n
MacGillivray celebrates his fifth and final conference championship as a Quinnipiac assistant coach in 2018.<\/p>\n
Photo by Logan Reardon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Quinnipiac played its first full season on York Hill in 2007-08 (25-6, 16-2 NEC), and that coincided with the first postseason berth in program history. The Bobcats hosted future conference foe Iona at the TD Bank Sports Center in the first round of the WNIT on March 18, 2008, but lost, 71-59.<\/p>\n
Still, it was another step for the program. Expectations were high as Quinnipiac brought in Mountain MacGillivray as a full-time assistant in 2009.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got there, I said \u2018If we don\u2019t have the best roster in the league, we aren\u2019t doing our job, because we\u2019ve got a great school and a great coach and a great campus and a great arena,\u2019\u201d MacGillivray said. \u201cWhat happened next was kind of inevitable. You just have to work hard and not make mistakes \u2013 and Trish rarely made any mistakes when it came to evaluating players and getting the right fits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pennewell, along with Erin Kerner and Brianna Rooney, were some of the \u201cright fits\u201d that MacGillivray described. The trio graduated in 2009 and each made their mark on the program as part of that first postseason team in 2008.<\/p>\n
After those three graduated, the program \u2013 and the university \u2013 took a detour from the progress they were making.<\/p>\n
In April 2009, Quinnipiac women\u2019s volleyball coach Robin Lamott Sparks and her players filed a lawsuit against the university. And as Pennewell, Kerner and Rooney left the school, Fabbri was forced to rebuild on the fly while her administration went through the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The Title IX case) really was a low point, but Trish did stay focused during it,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cA sign of a good coach is what you can do in adversity more than what you can do in success. She continued to be someone for all the younger women\u2019s coaches to lean on. She was a rock.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sparks was a newer coach at Quinnipiac, so she didn\u2019t really establish a relationship with Fabbri before the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was only there for about a year or two before the Title IX suit,\u201d Sparks said. \u201cAnd then after that, no one in athletics wanted to talk to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fabbri spoke on behalf of the basketball program during the case, but the suit didn\u2019t affect her program in any way. In fact, they tried to avoid it all together.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo a degree, there was separation by distance (because they were on York Hill and the rest of the sports were on main campus),\u201d Fabbri said. \u201cWith that separation, I didn\u2019t really know what was going on to be honest with you. No one was really talking about it because it was confidential. We were physically removed from it so I didn\u2019t really get the ins and outs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played a part in the trial, but I just had to answer everything that came and happened with the women\u2019s basketball program. I was resourced and supported very well. It was just basketball, basketball, basketball questions from me so I just answered them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n
Framed QU Chronicle cover in Fabbri\u2019s office after the Bobcats clinched their first NCAA Tournament berth.<\/p>\n
Photo by Logan Reardon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
While the program was not directly affected by the trial, the team did suffer back-to-back losing seasons in 2009-10 and 2010-11. It\u2019s up for debate whether that was more related to the loss of their three star players or the trial. Coaches and players will say the right thing, but no one will ever truly know.<\/p>\n
The case was settled in April 2013, and Quinnipiac agreed to keep all of its current women’s teams, add scholarships and improve facilities for its female athletes, according to a statement issued by the university.<\/p>\n
In 2013-14, Fabbri was faced with another challenge. One year after her first NCAA Tournament bid, Quinnipiac jumped from the NEC to the MAAC. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was definitely a step up in competition (to the MAAC),\u201d Adily Martucci \u201817 said. \u201cI think there\u2019s always going to be challenges when you are faced with teams you haven\u2019t seen before. We were getting comfortable in the NEC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martucci saw it all during her years. From her freshman year, the last in the NEC and the first in the NCAA Tournament, to her senior year and a Sweet 16 berth, Martucci likes to say she \u201cjoined the team at the perfect time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martucci, along with Morgan Manz (\u201817) and Carly Fabbri (\u201818) (remember the 3-year-old at basketball camp?), helped bring the program to new heights.<\/p>\n
Now, the Bobcats have been to three straight NCAA Tournaments and five of the last seven. It\u2019s a dynasty by every definition of the word \u2013 there\u2019s no way around it.<\/p>\n
So with everything she\u2019s achieved, what keeps Fabbri at Quinnipiac?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had the opportunity to go and talk to the perceived bigger and power conferences. That\u2019s been extremely interesting to go and do. But, just like recruiting, when you yourself are going and getting recruited, you find that the grass is never greener.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fabbri was a finalist for the Penn State job after last season, according to Blake DuDonis on High Post Hoops<\/a>. Despite the reports, Fabbri insists she\u2019s not interested in moving on.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m really happy where my feet are and I still can make an impact within this program,\u201d Fabbri said. \u201cWe can still achieve what I personally want to achieve. I really believe that second weekend (of the NCAA Tournament) is sitting there and I always like a challenge. It\u2019s extremely difficult, but it\u2019s also doable.\u201d<\/p>\n
If that\u2019s the goal, then so be it. Fabbri holds the key to her future.<\/p>\n
If she wants to use that key to make the drive north up I-95 for another 25 years, Quinnipiac will be better off.<\/p>\n
But she\u2019s earned the right to make that decision \u2013 whether she stays for life, or leaves tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Quinnipiac women\u2019s basketball program is now one of the most respected in the country, but it wasn\u2019t always like that. Here\u2019s the story behind head coach Tricia Fabbri and the last 25 years of the program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,142,6],"tags":[341,49,389,390,4],"class_list":["post-780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capstone-projects","category-homepage","category-quinnipiac","tag-bobcats","tag-basketball","tag-fairfield","tag-maac-hoops","tag-quinnipiac"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1932,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions\/1932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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![\"Carly](\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC_0636.jpg\")
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