Sept. 24, 2004
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Women's basketball head coach Traci Waites announced today that Salvatore Verdi, a former head coach in the NWBL and assistant coach in the WNBA, will join her staff as an assistant coach in early October. "I'm excited my staff is completed with Tory. He has extensive recruiting and scouting abilities and that is going to be a great addition to our staff. His personality and work ethic will blend very well with the team and coaches and he will be a huge asset to our post players. He will bring the level of play from the WNBA to Columbia, and we are going to be able to build from that," said Waites.
`Tory' had been most recently working as an assistant coach for the WNBA's Connecticut Sun, scouting and assisting in the daily functions of the team. From October 2003 to April of 2004, he was the head coach of the National Women's Professional League's (NWBL) Springfield Spirit. In the 2003-04 season, the team went 5-16 and as of September 1st, the franchise had ceased operations after three years in the NWBL.
Before coaching women's basketball, Verdi was an assistant coach at Western Connecticut State from 2000-2003. During his tenure, the team was Little East Champions twice (2002 and 2003) and made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. From 1997-2000, Verdi was the boy's varsity head coach at Pomperaug High School in Southbury, Conn. Over three season, the team compiled a 41-26 overall record. After college, Verdi spent one year as an assistant coach at both Hartford and Keene State.
Verdi graduated from Keene State with a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1996 and earned a master's from Hartford in computer technology in 2003.
