Stephanie Gaitley has a vision for what is a strugglingMonmouth University women's basketball program.

"With some patience, time and massaging, it should be the jewel of the [Northeast Conference]," she said.

It is that confidence, along with a rather impressive résumé, that landed Gaitley the job as the newhead coach of theHawks program last week.

Vice President and Director of Athletics Dr.MarilynMcNeil announced the hiring at a press conferenceMay 13, officially launching a new era of women's hoops at theWest Long Branch university.

"This is a real watershed moment for Monmouth athletics," said McNeil. "When this opportunity arose, there was certainly one person that was on the top of my list. I have been watching Stephanie Gaitley for years at LIU [Long Island University] and I was impressed with how she conducted herself. I was impressed with how those young athletes played for her. Iwas impressedwith the things she did on the court, so I knew this was a special person and I wanted very much to talk with her.

Gaitley's hiring comes after a relatively short search, which only reinforcesMcNeil's claim that she got the coach she wanted.

"I was so impressed with the kind of interest we got in this position," McNeil said. "Certainly the last time we advertised this position, there wasn't the level of interest or the amount of interest.And Iwas verymuch taken aback by howpeople viewedMU- as a very special place."

Gaitley's hiring has been universally praised,with the veteran coach being viewed as exactly the type of presence needed to turn around a program that has not earned an NCAA Tournament berth since its first Division I season in 1982-83. While the men's team has enjoyed success under head coach Dave Calloway in recent years, the women's programhas been unable tomirror that success, leading to McNeil's decision to go in a different direction, and bring in someone with a winning pedigree and a track record for building winning teams.

"I am excited about this challenge," said Gaitley. "Inmeeting the teamin a shortwindow, I felt very much at home. This challenge is something that I embrace. I love the vision that I see here atMonmouth University."

Gaitley, who will be reunited with her son, Dutch, a sophomore on the men's basketball team, comes to Monmouth from Long IslandUniversity as the sixthDivision I head coach inMUwomen's basketball program history. She has served as the head coach of the Blackbirds for the previous six seasons, accumulating a 95-82 record at the helm of the program. Last season, she guided LIU to a school-record 24 wins and the top seed in the Northeast Conference tournament. In her time inBrooklyn, she led LIU to a pair of 20-win seasons, the first NEC regular season title in school history, the first Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) bid in programhistory. She also was named the 2006-07 NEC Coach of the Year.

"I think you all know I've wornmy heart onmy sleeve for a number of years,"McNeil said. "This is the one sportwhere Iwish that we could rise to some prominence. ...We just haven't quite been able to get there. And I really think that we are at a place where we can get there.

Gaitleywill certainly bemissed at LIU, a point thatwasmade even clearer by her former staff's presence at theMay 13 press conference in a show of support.

"What's in place here is much further ahead than what I walked into at LIU. I anticipate us not having to get up crawling, but being able to run more quickly than we did there.But itwill take time to get it to exactly where I want it to be."

Her coaching career started in 1982, when theOcean City,N.J., native graduated from Villanova University and became an assistant coach at St. Joseph's in Philadelphia. Ironically, after being part of the St. Joe's staff for three years,Gaitley almost became part of theMonmouth family.

"In 1985, the first job I ever interviewed for wasMonmouth, so it's funny how things have come full circle," she said. "But I understand why I didn't get the job. … I was too young."

Instead, Gaitley landed her first collegiate head-coaching job at the University of Richmond in 1985.During her six yearswith the Spiders, she compiled a 116-63 record, whilewinning 20 ormore games in a season four times. She led Richmond to two ColonialAthleticAssociationChampionships and earned a pair of NCAA Tournament bids. She was named the CAA Coach of the Year in 1989-90 and also led the Spiders to a WNIT bid.

From there, Gaitley went back to St. Joe's, where she was the head coach for 11 seasons, and led the Hawks to five 20-win seasons and twoAtlantic 10 Championships in her time there while earning five NCAA Tournament bids, including three at-large berths. Her teams advanced to the second round of theNCAATournament three times and she earned both a preseason and postseason WNIT bid while with St. Joe's. She led the Hawks to a 196-88 mark in her 11 years in Philadelphia.

Over the course of her 22-year headcoaching career, Gaitley has amassed a career record of 407-233. Her teams have always prided themselves on defense, as evidenced by her Blackbird squad that led the Northeast Conference in scoring defense the last two years, including holding the opposition to 54.8 points per game last season.

Gaitley promises to bring that same defensive mentality to the Hawks' program, though she hinted that she felt the groundwork had already been laid in that regard.

"I've always admired the toughness of the challenge that Monmouth has given us on the court," she said.

That being said,Gaitley faces a newchallenge atMonmouth, as she looks to establish a program that can develop into an attractive option for the scores of talented high school players in the tri-state area. With some of the best players in New Jersey frequently playing for other NEC teams in recent years, Gaitley hopes to lure some of those players toMonmouth.

"We have an excited group of women's basketball players who are excited and ready to play for her,"McNeil said. "We have a number of women who want to come back for their sixth year to play for her, but we can't do that at this level."

For her part, Gaitley is looking forward to the challenge that turning theMonmouth program around presents.

"This challenge is something that I've embraced," she said. "I'm taking this challenge because I feel Monmouth gives us every opportunity to be successful."