New Pitt head coach Tory Verdi announced his first additions to his staff by hiring his Candice Finley and Ty Margenthaler as assistant coaches on Friday.
Pitt announced that Verdi would take over as head coach on April 7. Verdi replaced head coach Lance White, who accrued a 42-99 record, the worst five-year stretch of any head coach in program history.
Finley has experience coaching under Verdi in the past. She served as assistant coach during his time at Eastern Michigan, 2012-16, and for two seasons at UMass, 2017-19, helping to build those programs into consistent winners.
She spent the past four seasons with Xavier, one season serving as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator in 2019-20 and then the next three seasons as associate head coach/recruiting coordinator (2020-23).
Finley has also served as an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky from 2008-11 and at Division II Southern Connecticut State during the 2007-08 season. She served as head coach of Romulus High School in Michigan from 2005-07 and as assistant coach from 2003-05.
She played collegiate basketball at Eastern Kentucky from 1997-01, starting for three seasons and scoring more than 1,000 points, grabbing close to 500 rebounds and making more than 100 steals.
Margenthaler has over 20 years of coaching experience and spent last season at South Dakota. He served as associate head coach at Saint Louis the four seasons prior to last, which saw the program make three WNIT appearances.
He served as head coach at Southeast Missouri State from 2011-15, where he compiled an overall record of 38-78 and 18-46 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Margenthaler also spent time as assistant coach at Wisconsin for five seasons and also at Bradley, Samford and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. During those stops, he worked heavily in recruiting.
