Mount St. Mary’s announced Tuesday afternoon that Antoine White has been promoted to head coach of the women’s basketball program from associate head coach after Maria Marchesano left to become the head coach at Purdue Fort Wayne.
White, who becomes the seventh head coach in the program’s history, had been on the Mountaineers coaching staff since 2016 when Bryan Whitten was the head coach. White was retained when Marchesano took over and was promoted to associate head coach in 2019, directing the team’s defense and scouting opponents.
“I am honored to be named head coach of the Mount St. Mary’s women’s basketball program and I am very grateful to president [Timothy] Trainor and [athletic director] Lynne Robinson for entrusting me with this position,” White said in a statement distributed by the university. “I wouldn’t be here without the love and support of my family, friends and mentors throughout this process. It is a tremendous opportunity, and I am excited to step into this role with such a talented group of players and passionate fanbase behind me.”
The move was applauded by redshirt senior shooting guard Kendall Bresee and director of basketball operations Katrice Dickson.
Robinson said White’s familiarity with the players and program made him a natural fit as head coach.
“Antoine has been a great teacher and mentor to our team,” she said. “He has a tremendous work ethic, contagious enthusiasm, and a commitment to student-athlete development, both on and off the court. Antoine has been an integral part of our success over the past few years, and I am confident that our women’s basketball team will continue to thrive under Antoine’s leadership.”
White, who grew up in Bethesda and graduated from Walt Whitman High School in Montgomery County, played for Mountaineers men’s head coach Dan Engelstad at Southern Vermont College, where White became the school’s career leader in assists with 242 in 59 games. He helped that team capture an Eastern College Athletic Conference title in 2015 and a New England Collegiate Conference title the following year.
“I could not be more proud and excited for Antoine,” Engelstad said. “I’ve been fortunate to know Antoine since his days as a high school student. The word that best describes him is ‘winner.’ He has the ability to elevate everyone around him. His work ethic is elite and his ability to teach and lead will help assure the program continues forward and builds upon the great foundation that Mount St. Mary’s women’s basketball has built.”
White, who will be introduced next week, will have some considerable shoes to fill as the Mountaineers went 61-54 in four years under Marchesano. In her second season, that team qualified for the Northeast Conference tournament. The following winter, the program won 20 games for the first time in 20 years.
This past season, Marchesano led Mount St. Mary’s to a 17-7 overall record and a 14-4 mark in the NEC, earning the league’s Coach of the Year award. That run included the program’s first regular-season title since 2001 and first tournament crown since 1995. The team was a No. 15 seed in the NCAA tournament before losing to Maryland, 98-45, in the first round on March 22.
“Needless to say, we are sad to see Maria leave the Mount,” Robinson said. “She has had a tremendous impact on Mount St. Mary’s and our women’s basketball program over the past four years. We are grateful for the leadership she has provided and for the positive impact she has made in the lives of the many young women she has coached. We wish Maria much continued success in her coaching career as she returns to her home state of Indiana.”
Marchesano, a Fort Wayne native, played basketball at Butler in Indianapolis before graduating in 2005. She was an assistant coach for the basketball and softball programs at Division III Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana, and an associate head coach at IUPUI in Indianapolis for one season before joining the Mountaineers.
“While moves like these are always bittersweet, I couldn’t be more excited to come home to Fort Wayne and be a part of the Mastodon tradition,” Marchesano said in a statement included in Purdue Fort Wayne’s announcement. “I am super grateful that [athletic director] Kelley [Hartley Hutton] and the rest of the administration are entrusting me with the future of the program and I can’t wait to get to work.”