Staten Island, NY – Wagner College head women's basketball coach Lisa Cermignano has announced the hiring of Bob Dunn and Tiffany Morton as assistant coaches, who arrive on Grymes Hill after serving on the women's basketball staffs at Kentucky and LSU, respectively, a pair of programs that each reached the "Sweet" 16 of the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
 
Dunn and Morton complete a coaching staff that also includes former long-time Vanderbilt assistant and Rutgers Hall of Fame Player, Vicky Picott, who joined the program in June. With Cermignano having served as an assistant at Vanderbilt herself, the 2014-2015 Seahawk coaching staff has a distinctly Southeastern Conference (SEC) flavor.
 
"All three of our new assistants come from the SEC and are accustomed to the highest level of collegiate women's basketball," said Cermignano. "Tiffany will head our recruiting efforts and work closely with Vicky on coaching our post players. Bob will also have a significant role in recruiting, while his focus on the floor will be in developing our backcourt players."
 
Morton spent the 2013-2014 season as a graduate assistant LSU, where the Tigers reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Prior to joining the staff at LSU, Morton served the 2012-2013 season as an assistant coach at the University of Montevallo (AL) where she helped the Falcons set an NCAA Division II- era school record with 17 victories, including a record 12 wins in the Peach Belt Conference.
 
While at Montevallo, Morton helped develop Taylor Beverly into becoming the program's first-ever All-Peach Belt Conference First-Team selection. Before joining the Montevallo program, Morton spent the previous two years, from 2010-2012, on the staff of her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UWW). With Morton on staff, the Warhawks compiled a 43-14 record and made two appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
Prior to embarking on her coaching career, Morton was a standout three-year performer of the UWW women's basketball team. The highlight of Morton's collegiate playing career came as a senior in 2009 when she led the Warhawks to an appearance in the NCAA Division III Final Four while earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
 
As a junior and senior, Morton was a second team NCAA Division III All-Central Region selection, was named a Fourth-Team All-American as a junior and an honorable mention All-American as a senior.
 
A native of Beloit, WI, Morton is a 2009 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Whitewater with a Bachelor of Science in psychology with a minor in coaching. She earned her Master's of Science in professional development from UWW in August 2012.
 
"Tiffany has a lot of experience, both from a playing and coaching perspective. She did a tremendous job recently at LSU, under the phenomenal tutelage of (Head Coach) Nikki Caldwell and her great staff there," said Cermignano. "She brings a ton of excitement and is extremely organized."
 
Dunn spent the last two seasons serving as video coordinator at Kentucky, which compiled a 26-9 record en route its Sweet 16 appearance last season, which came on the heels of a 2012-2013 campaign where Dunn contributed to a Wildcat team that went 30-6 and reached the NCAA Tournament's "Elite 8."
 
Prior to his two years in Lexington, Dunn served a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at Dayton, his alma mater, where he spent one season under Brian Gregory (now head coach at Georgia Tech) and one working for Archie Miller, who led the Flyers to the NCAA Elite Eight last season. With Dunn on staff, Dayton won 22 and 20 games in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, respectively, reaching the NIT in both seasons.
 
From 2006-2010, Dunn served as a student assistant at Dayton where he received a B.S. in accounting in 2010. While working as a graduate assistant with the Flyers, Dunn earned an MBA, which he was awarded in 2011. Dunn is a 2006 graduate of St. Ignatius High School in his native Cleveland, OH.
 
"Bob comes to us with a great basketball pedigree and is someone who has been exposed to high-caliber college basketball," said Cermignano. "He was the right hand man for Matthew Mitchell, the head coach at Kentucky, the last two years and also had great success with a tremendous men's basketball program at Dayton. I'm thrilled to add such a passionate, determined and tireless worker."
 
"The three of them, Coach Vicky, Coach Tiffany and Coach Bob, just have an incredible chemistry together, and I'm just so fortunate to have assembled such a loyal and hard-working coaching staff," Cermignano said.
 
Morgan and Dunn join a Seahawk program that made major improvement in 2013-2014. In Cermignano's second season at the helm, and led by NEC Freshman of the Year Jasmine Nwaigwe (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum),and NEC Defensive Player of the Year Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream),  the Green & White qualified for a berth in the NEC Tournament for the first time since the 2009-2010. In addition, the Seahawks improved their overall record to 9-21 after going 3-26 the prior season.
 
After competing against one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules, that included the likes of Kentucky, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Pittsburgh and VCU, Wagner went on to post an 8-10 NEC mark and were, by every metric and measure, the NEC's most improved team.
 
Heading into Cermignano's third season at Wagner in 2014-2015, the Seahawks return the NEC's top two scorers (Jasmine Nwajei - 21.9, Jordyn Peck(Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights- 20.3), top rebounder (Ugo Nwaigwe -10.2), top assist leader (Jasmine Nwajei - 5.5), top field percentage leader (Ugo Nwaigwe - 63%), and two of the top three blocks leader (1. Ugo Nwaigwe - 4.5 and 3. Taylor Butigian (Rockaway Park, NY/Christ the King- 1.6).

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