Bozzella Rebuilds Iona
by Ray Floriani
ALBANY, N.Y. – The job done building the Iona women’s program has been nothing short of spectacular. Upon closer inspection, the turnaround shouldn’t have come as a complete shock. Tony Bozzella, as they say, has “been there done that”.
Bozzella was hired several years ago to get LIU on track. The Northeast Conference school wound up going to the NCAA tournament in 2001, his first season on the job. Bozzella then decided to attempt a similar reclamation project at Iona. Only this one was much tougher.
“When we came to Iona, we took over a program that had no history of winning,” he said at the MAAC tournament. “LIU was similar in they didn’t have a winning history, either, but there was a talent base.” Part of which was his current Iona assistant Mandy Myers.
Bozzella went on to explain that at Iona he had to get players who were talented and tough, physically as well as mentally. “We had a base to work with at LIU,” he said. “Here (Iona) it was like starting from scratch.” Simply, the collective culture of the program had to be altered.
In the first year (2002-03) he won one game. Successive years with 7, then 6 wins followed. But the foundation was slowly being put in place. The 2005-’06 campaign saw a break through with a17-12 record and a 13-5 ledger in the MAAC. That conference record was the Lady Gaels’ best in eight years.
Last year the Lady Gaels won a school record 21 games and got to round two of the WNIT after dropping a heartbreaker in the conference final to Marist. The final loss in the MAAC tournament was indeed hard to handle. As Bozzella spoke Marist was pulling away from St. Peter’s in the conference semifinal. Iona punched their ticket with a win over Fairfield earlier that morning.
“We think about last year’s loss but don’t dwell on it,” Bozzella said. “If we face Marist tomorrow we will remember the game but not let it be our only motivation. If that is your only incentive to avenge a loss, you won’t be at your best.”
A day later Marist would get a three-peat over the Lady Gaels 83-63. Iona finished 19-13 with hopes of another WNIT invite. Regardless, the season has been a success. Senior guard Lauren DeFalco led all scorers with just over 11 points per game. Iona had four players average double figures. Bozzella was especially pleased with Thazina Cook. “She averaged 1.3 points per game last year and this year really played well,” he said of the sophomore guard, who was third in team scoring with 10.4 points per game. Senior forward Jessica Smith made the most of her last go-round for the Lady Gaels.
Credit Bozzella for changing the program’s mindset. Also, he will be the first to credit his assistants. They all have winning backgrounds, beginning with Myers and including Christi Abate and Jessica De Palo. The latter played for New Jersey girls prep power Red Bank Catholic before starring at Lehigh while Abate has worked on Bozzella’s Southampton College and LIU staffs.
The change at Iona has been dramatic. The hard days of only a few years back seem distantly removed.
