With her latest award, Dianne Nolan is in fine company

September 9, 2024 Andy Furman

Legendary basketball coach Dianne Nolan. Photo courtesy of Andy Furman

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The athletic program may be history at St. Francis College, since all sports were dropped last spring.

But don’t tell Dianne Nolan. The former women’s basketball coach at the Brooklyn school refuses to let the athletic flame fizzle.

Nolan is one of four recipients of the Joe Lapchick Character Award given annually to individuals who demonstrated Lapchick-like characteristics. After ending his playing career in 1937, Lapchick coached basketball at St. John’s University, a position he held until 1947, when he took over the New York Knicks in the fledgling NBA. Lapchick coached the Knicks until 1957, leading them to three consecutive finals appearances (1951-1953). He then returned to St. John’s, coaching them until 1965.

Among his values were commitment to excellence, integrity, inspiration, leadership, courage, trustworthiness and confidence.

And these values fit Nolan to a “T.”

“Surprised?” she asked the Eagle the other afternoon while driving, “I was shocked. I attended the awards luncheon last year, two people who I knew received the award. It was really reuniting with New York City basketball.”

At St. Francis, Nolan was hired as only the second women’s coach for the Terriers in 1974, and only in her third season did she transform a losing operation into a team that participated in a post-season tournament.

“My success,” she says, “is a testament to my assistant coaches and the great players I’ve coached.”

Perhaps — but she did seem to have the magic touch. So much so that she guided those Lady Terriers to that first post-season berth in the Eastern Intercollegiate Association Women’s (EIAW) tournament. They finished second as they defeated Manhattanville College (51-50) and Oneonta State University (66-59) before losing to Fitchburg State University (63-59).

In 1976-77, she led the Terriers to a second-consecutive postseason invite to the EIAW Tournament. She finished her five-year coaching career at St. Francis with a record of 61-57 (.517); and finished her career third behind John Thurston (73) and Irma Garcia (68) in wins.

But there’s more. For 28 seasons, she led Fairfield University to 456 victories, which included three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championships and four NCAA appearances.

She was a five-time MAAC Coach of the Year and mentored 28 All-MAAC First Team selections as well as 12 future Fairfield Athletics Hall of Famers.

In her career, Nolan compiled 575 victories which ranks in the top 50 of all time in Division I. She was inducted into the St. Francis College Hall of Fame. She also made the Fairfield Hall of Fame with her 456 victories, which ranks her third in Fairfield history — in any sport.

She has also been inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Camden, N.J. County Sports Hall of Fame.

She concluded her college coaching career in 2015 after five seasons at Lafayette (Easton, Pa.), following three years as an associate head coach at Yale.

“I’m still at it,” she admits. “I’m an inner-city high school physical education instructor these days.” She’s been teaching at Bridgeport (Conn.) Central High School the past nine years.

As for basketball, she handles Quinnipiac University’s men’s and women’s games for ESPN-+ as a color analyst. “It’s a great way to stay connected — and I don’t have to worry who won or lost,” she says.

She also serves as a radio analyst for the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). “I’ve been doing radio for about three years and TV the past four,” she said.

But for 30-plus years, she has been winning basketball games. She will be honored along with Jim Larrinaga (Miami), Lon Kruger (Kansas, K-State, Illinois), and Fran Dunphy (Penn and Temple) at a special luncheon on Sept. 20 at the New York Athletic Club.

“I am deeply humbled by this award,” she said. “I offer my congrats to my fellow recipients, and I am eternally grateful to the administrators, coaches, student-athletes, and their families with whom I worked side-by-side. This is a shared award with them, and my family, who have always been there every step of the way.

“When I think about it,” she said, “and see who has won this award along with me, I say, ‘What am I doing with this group?’”

There’s no question — Dianne Nolan belongs.