After a nationwide search, Melissa “Missy” Traversi has been tabbed the 11th head coach of the Adelphi University women’s basketball program, as announced by Director of Athletics and Campus Recreation Danny McCabe.
Traversi, a native of North Attleboro, MA., comes to Garden City after spending the past two seasons as the head coach at Division III Wheelock College in Boston. In two years, she led a program turnaround, posting the most wins in school history in 2014-15 before shattering that mark with an 18-7 record in 2015-16. The team finished in second place in the New England Collegiate Conference and led the league in three-point shooting last season, and Traversi led two players to All-Conference honors. In 2015, the team earned the NECC Team Sportsmanship Award and the 2015 Presidential Academic Cup, given to the team with the highest GPA on campus.
(Credit Wheelock Sports Information)
Prior to her time at Wheelock, she spent two years as the head coach at Dover-Sherborn High School (2008-10), one season as an assistant coach for the Harvard Crimson (2010-11) and three years as the head coach at Attleboro High School (2011-14). At Dover-Sherborn, Traversi was the Tri-Valley League Coach of the Year in the 2008-09 season, and was a two-time Sun Chronicle Coach of the Year at Attleboro. As part of the Division I staff at Harvard, she provided support in all aspects of recruiting, scouting reports and skill development.
“I would like to thank [Adelphi] President Dr. Christine Riordan, Athletic Director Danny McCabe and the search committee for giving me this tremendous opportunity,” Traversi said. “I am thrilled to have the chance to work alongside such accomplished coaches at Adelphi and within the Northeast-10 Conference. It is truly an honor to be a part of such an outstanding learning institution, which has a tradition of athletic excellence. I look forward to maintaining the program’s culture of winning— as one chapter in my basketball career closes in Massachusetts, a new one begins at Adelphi.”
As a Division I player at the University of Maine under Sharon Versyp, Traversi led her team to an NCAA tournament appearance, two WNIT appearances and three regular season America East titles. A 1,000-point scorer in her career, Traversi was tabbed First Team All-Conference as a senior captain for the Black Bears in 2005.
She continued her playing career in Sweden, where she averaged 23.5 points per game for Brahe Basket in the 2005-06 season, before returning to the country as a player and assistant coach for Jamtland Basket in 2007-08. She was also an invitee to the WNBA’s Chicago Sky training camp in 2006.
“I am thrilled to welcome Missy to the Adelphi family,” said McCabe. “We received a great amount of interest for this position and Missy rose to the top of a very talented pool of candidates. Her vision for the program and ability to teach the game combined with her playing experience and passion are the attributes that make her the ideal person to lead our women’s basketball program. Missy has been involved at various levels of coaching basketball and has been successful at every one of them”
Traversi has owned and operated MT Elite Basketball Training since 2006. As the sole proprietor, she managed and recruited players for the MT Elite AAU basketball program, which consisted of 12 teams and more than 300 athletes, led a team of 12 coaches, ran and operated summer basketball camps throughout Massachusetts.
A graduate of Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Traversi is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 2014. She earned her bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in public relations in 2005 before earning her M.S. in athletic administration from Ohio University in 2013.
Traversi will assume her role as the women’s basketball head coach on July 9.
