Missy Traversi enters her fifth season as the head women’s basketball coach at Adelphi University.
The 2019-20 All-Met Division II Coach of the Year has led the program to tremendous success since her arrival in 2016, including an 83-37 (.692) overall record, two NE10 Southwest Division regular-season championships, an NE10 Tournament Championship in 2017, and two NCAA Division II Tournament berths.
In 2019-20, Traversi guided the Panthers to a historic season that consisted of a 27-3 overall record and capturing an NE10 Southwest Division regular-season championship, finishing the season ranked as high as No. 8 in the WBCA Division II Top 25 Poll.
Adelphi was selected as the East Region's top seed in the 2020 NCAA Division II Tournament -- the second time that this has happened in Traversi's tenure -- until the COVID-19 crisis canceled the tournament before it began.
In just her first season at the helm in 2016-17, Traversi coached the Panthers to a 27-5 overall record and only the second NE10 Tournament title in the program's history, resulting in Adelphi being tabbed as the top overall seed in the NCAA Division II East Region Tournament.
As Adelphi's head coach, Traversi has also recruited and coached ten NE10 All-Conference and two WBCA All-America selections.
The Attleboro, Mass. native arrived in Garden City, after spending two seasons as the head coach at Wheelock College in Boston. In only two years, she completely rebuilt the program, leading Wheelock to the most wins in a single season in the program's history in consecutive years, including the first winning season (18-7) in the school's history in 2015-16.
Prior to her time at Wheelock, she spent three years as the head girls' basketball coach at Attleboro High School (2011-14), one year as an assistant coach in the Ivy League at Harvard University (2010-11), and two years as the head girls' basketball coach at Dover-Sherborn High School (2008-10). Traversi was the Tri-Valley League Coach of the Year in 2008-09 at Dover-Sherborn and was a two-time Sun Chronicle Coach of the Year at Attleboro.
As a standout Division I player at the University of Maine under Sharon Versyp, Traversi helped lead the Black Bears to an 86-35 (.711) and 58-10 (.853) America East record, three America East regular-season championships, one America East Tournament Championship, and three postseason berths, including one NCAA Tournament appearance. A 2004-05 First-Team All-Conference selection, Traversi scored over 1,000 points in her career at Maine.
She then continued her playing career overseas, where she averaged 23.5 points per game for Brahe Basket in Sweden during the 2005-06 season, before returning to the country as a player and assistant coach for Jamtland Basket in 2007-08. Traversi was also an invitee to the WNBA's Chicago Sky training camp in 2006.
Prior to arriving at Adelphi, Traversi owned and operated MT Elite Basketball Training. Founding the organization in 2006, she managed and recruited players for the MT Elite AAU basketball program, which consisted of 12 teams and over 300 athletes. She also led a team of 12 coaches and ran summer basketball camps throughout Massachusetts.
A graduate of Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Mass., Traversi was a 2014 inductee into the school's Hall of Fame. She earned her bachelor's degree in communications with a minor in public relations from Maine in 2005 and a master’s degree in athletic administration from Ohio University in 2013.
Traversi's Year-by-Year Coaching Record
2016-17 - 27-5 (18-2 NE10); NE10 Champions; NCAA Second Round
2017-18 - 14-16 (9-11 NE10); NE10 Quarterfinals
2018-19 - 15-13 (12-8 NE10); NE10 Quarterfinals
2019-20 - 27-3 (17-2 NE10); NE10 Semifinals; NCAA Appearance
TOTAL - 4 Seasons, 83-37, 1 NE10 Title, 2 NCAA Appearances
