On second thought, Bobbi Morgan returns to college coaching at Ursinus

Bobbi Morgan was sitting on the beach in Delaware on Labor Day weekend when she got a call from Ursinus men’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director Kevin Small. He wanted to know if Morgan had any interest in the women’s head coaching position at the Division III school.

That job opened up when Margaret White left after six years and five seasons to become the head coach at Marymount University in Arlington, Va.

Morgan’s first response was no. She had been hired as the girls basketball coach at Agnes Irwin in June and started in that capacity in August.

Then Morgan received a call from Ursinus athletic director Lauren Moliken. Her response was still no, but then she started to think about it. The more she did, the idea of returning to the college ranks where she spent the last 18 seasons as a head coach at Haverford and Cabrini appealed to her and that no became a yes.

Friday, Ursinus announced that it had hired Morgan to coach its women’s basketball team.

“I feel bad that I’m leaving (Agnes Irwin) so quickly but it’s an opportunity that landed in my lap and it felt right,” Morgan said. “If that job had been posted I wouldn’t have applied because I just started a new job. The way it was presented to me it seemed like a great fit.”

Morgan is familiar with Ursinus and the Centennial Conference on a number of levels. Her daughter, Reilly, is a senior captain on the women’s lacrosse team. Morgan coached against the Bears many times in her 14 years as the head coach at Haverford College, where she holds the record for career wins (195) and guided the Fords to three Centennial Conference titles and four trips to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Prior to Haverford, Morgan was the head coach at Cabrini for four years and spent 17 seasons as a head coach at the scholastic level, 14 at Haverford High and three at the Academy of Notre Dame. She has an overall coaching record of 587-279, 261-161 at the collegiate level and 326-118 as a high school coach.

“I’m excited,” Morgan said. “(Ursinus) has a long history of success in athletics. I know Kevin. I know all those folks from being in the Centennial Conference. It will be a fun challenge. I left a really good team, a championship team (at Haverford) and that broke my heart, but I felt it was time to get out of it but here I am. I thought I was out of it and they pulled me back in.”

Meanwhile, Haverford announced that it hired Stephanie Carideo to fill Morgan’s old job. Carideo comes to the Main Line from Penn, where she spent the last two seasons on Mike McLaughlin’s staff. Prior to Penn, Carideo served on the men’s staff at Jefferson University under Hall of Fame coach Herb Magee. At that time she was just one of two women to work on a men’s staff at all levels of the NCAA.

Carideo has head coaching experience on both the collegiate and scholastic levels. She was the head coach at Penn State-Abington for two seasons and began her coaching career as the head coach at John W. Hallahan High School. She guided Abington to a 22-6 record and the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.

Her husband, Chris, is the long time men’s basketball coach at Widener.

“I’m extremely excited and honored to become the next head women’s basketball coach at Haverford College,” Carideo said in a statement. “I would like to thank John McKnight, Dean of the College, and Michael Vienna, as well as the search committee for giving me the opportunity to coach and mentor at such a prestigious school in Haverford College that is built on trust and respect.”