Denise Dillon

Denise Dillon (born September 22, 1973)[1] is the head women's basketball coach at Villanova, returning to her alma mater from Drexel, where she was the program's most successful coach since it moved to Division I in 1982-83. She had been at the helm of the Dragons program since 2003, and was named the 2005, 2009, 2018, and 2019 CAA Coach of the Year.

This article is about the basketball coach. For the actress, see Denny Dillon.

Denise Dillon

Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Villanova
Conference	Big East
Biographical details
Born	(1973-09-22) September 22, 1973
Playing career
1992–1996	Villanova
Position(s)	Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1997–2001	Villanova (assistant)
2001–2003	Drexel (assistant)
2003–2020	Drexel
2020–present	Villanova
Head coaching record
Overall	329–211
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
WNIT (2013) 3 CAA regular season (2009, 2018, 2020) CAA Tournament (2009)
Awards
3× CAA Coach of the Year (2005, 2009, 2018, 2019)

Dillon guided the Dragons to the 2009 CAA Championship and a berth in that year's NCAA Tournament. The star of that team was Gabriela Mărginean, a junior at the time who would go on to become the all-time scoring leader in the history of Philadelphia area collegiate women's basketball. Following that championship season, Dillon steered the Dragons to four-consecutive WNIT appearances, the program's first-ever postseason victory in the 2012 WNIT over Fairfield, and the 2013 WNIT championship.

From 1993 to 1996, she was a star basketball player at Villanova University. She earned three All Big-East honors at Villanova. She became just the 12th player in school history to score 1,000 points. She later served as an assistant on the Wildcats basketball team from 1997 to 2001. For her playing career, Dillon was enshrined in the Philadelphia Big 5 Hall of Fame, the Villanova Wildcats Hall of Fame, and her native Delaware County, Pennsylvania Athletics Hall of Fame.

On March 27, 2020, it was announced that Dillon would become the head coach of Villanova's Women's Basketball team; taking the helm from coach Harry Perretta after his 42nd season with the team.

Head Coaching Record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Drexel (Colonial Athletic Association) (2003–2020)
2003–04	Drexel	10-18	7-11	T-7th
2004–05	Drexel	19-10	12-6	3rd
2005–06	Drexel	15-14	9-9	T-6th
2006–07	Drexel	10-21	4-14	9th
2007–08	Drexel	18-12	13-5	T-3rd
2008–09	Drexel	24-9	16-2	1st	NCAA 1st Round
2009–10	Drexel	17-14	11-7	T-4th	WNIT First Round
2010–11	Drexel	19-13	10-8	T-5th	WNIT First Round
2011–12	Drexel	19-14	12-6	3rd	WNIT Second Round
2012–13	Drexel	28-10	13-5	3rd	WNIT Champions
2013–14	Drexel	15-16	9-7	T-3rd
2014–15	Drexel	20-11	14-4	2nd	WNIT First Round
2015–16	Drexel	19-14	13-5	T-2nd	WNIT First Round
2016–17	Drexel	22-11	11-7	3rd	WNIT Second Round
2017–18	Drexel	27-8	16-2	T-1st	WNIT Second Round
2018–19	Drexel	24-9	14-4	2nd	WNIT First Round
2019–20	Drexel	23-7	16-2	T-1st	Postseason cancelled due to COVID-19
Drexel:		329–211 (.609)	200–104 (.658)
Total:		329–211 (.609)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

References

1. "Women's Basketball". NCAA. Retrieved 16 Aug 2015.

External links

• Official bio