For much of the past decade, both Boston College basketball teams have found themselves in the same downward spiral. After Gene DeFilippo had Cathy Inglese “resign” in 2008 and fired Al Skinner in 2010, both teams went on to losing season after losing season.
When Martin Jarmond hired Joanna Bernabei-McNamee to take of the women’s program in 2018, the team hadn’t put up a winning record since 2010-2011. In her second year behind the bench, she coached the Eagles to a 20 win season and a program-best 11 ACC wins. She has also already started recruiting top players - this year’s freshman class was the 21st best recruiting class in the country, and that isn’t even counting Ally VanTimmeren (a top 20 recruit in her position) and Allie Palmieri (Connecticut’s 2020 Gatorade Player of the Year) who joined the team a semester early due to COVID shutting down their high school seasons.