For the past decade, fans have watched Head Coach Joe Pellicane patrolling the Molloy sideline at the helm of the women's basketball program. The 2024-25 season, however, will see a change of leadership for the Lions with long-time assistant Christine Verrelle taking the reins.
 
"I am excited to elevate Assistant Coach Christine Verrelle to Head Coach of our women's basketball team," stated Director of Athletics Susan Cassidy-Lyke. "It is awesome to have a qualified coach who is already familiar with our expectations and Molloy's culture following long-time educator and coach in Joe Pelicane. Christine will serve as an excellent role model for our female-student athletes having coached and played in the East Coast Conference herself."
 
The history between Pellicane and Verrelle pre-dates Molloy. Verrelle was a student-athlete for Pellicane during a legendary Dowling College women's basketball run that featured two East Coast Conference Championships and competed for the 2013 NCAA National Championship. Verrelle was a two-time All-Conference player for the Golden Lions under Pellicane and ranked in the top-10 in the league in points, rebounds, assists, steals, free throw percentage, minutes per game, and made three-point field goals.
 
"I am beyond excited and appreciative to be the next head coach of the Molloy women's basketball team" stated Verrelle. "Although we will deeply miss Coach Pellicane, he has created a strong foundation that myself and the coaching staff are ready to continue building upon."
 
"These young women have been a pleasure to coach and their work ethic and competitiveness each day makes it easy to show up and be committed. I look forward to getting started in my new role and working diligently with the entire athletic staff."
 
Pellicane has celebrated a legendary career that has spanned over 40 years coaching both men's and women's basketball. In all, he has been selected as the ECC Coach of the Year eight times, made four NCAA Tournaments, 12 ECC Tournaments, and coached three All-Americans. In his tenure at Molloy, the Lions won the 2016-17 ECC Championship and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the program's most successful season, qualified for six conference tournaments, earned selection to two NCAA Tournaments, saw 10 players recognized with All-Conference awards, and most important to a man who dedicated his life to educating, the graduation of dozens of young women who went on to successful careers in fields such as criminal justice, nursing, medicine, education, business, coaching, and more.
 
It is due to the utmost confidence in Verrelle that Pellicane feels that this is the right time to step away from his head coaching duties with the Lions.
 
"Christine has served as an extension of the coaching staff on the court since her freshman season with me at Dowling," Pellicane explained. "She was a high magnitude player as a student-athlete, and she has been a high magnitude coach on our sidelines. It is a need for us to have more women coaches in our industry and I am confident that Christine is a young star in this business."
 
"In the past few seasons with us, she has gone above and beyond to prove that she is more than ready to be a head coach at the collegiate level and I am confident that this program is in the best hands from top to bottom."
 
For the last six years, Verrelle has worked as an assistant coach, five of which were spent under Coach Pellicane at Molloy.  In a season away from the Lions in 2022-23, Verrelle was a member of the coaching staff for Holy Family University in Philadelphia, Pa. The Tigers went 20-10 and advanced to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Semifinal, then the program's best season in six years. Verrelle is also a Molloy graduate, earning her MBA in marketing in 2021.
 
Associate Head Coach Mike Krasnoff and Assistant Coach Rich Hernandez will remain on Verrelle's staff for 2024-25.
 
Joining the trio is yet another familiar face for Molloy women's basketball in Isabel Sanchez. The guard from Manresa, Spain joined the cardinal and white on the court for the 2023-24 season after a standout undergraduate career at the College of Saint Rose and made an immediate impact both on and off the court. It is Sanchez's deep knowledge of the game of basketball, strong familiarity with a re-developing Division II East Region, and personal understanding of Molloy and Coach Verrelle that makes her an excellent choice to guide the next generation of Molloy women's basketball.  
 
"I am ecstatic to bring my experience as a former Division II student-athlete in the East Region to the Molloy coaching staff and remain a part of the Lions' program," said Sanchez. "I look forward to working alongside Coach Verrelle, Coach Hernandez, and Coach Krasnoff."