RMU women’s basketball head coach Charlie Buscaglia resigned from his position on Monday, the university announced in a press release.
Buscaglia led RMU women’s basketball as head coach for eight seasons since 2016. He accumulated an overall record 0f 127-102 and 85-60 in conference play during his time in Moon Township, Pa. Prior to his resignation, RMU had lost their past 12 games, with their last win coming at the end of December.
RMU Vice President and Director of Athletics Chris King announced the change and said that associate head coach Scott Schneider will take over as interim head coach. RMU announced in the press release that they started a national search for a new head coach and won’t comment on the search until the end of the search process.
“We thank Charlie for his efforts on behalf of RMU women’s basketball,” King said. “We wish him well personally and professionally moving forward.”
Buscaglia first coached at Manhattan, starting in 1998 when he began his college studies. He served as an assistant under his father, Sal Buscaglia, for five seasons while his father was also head coach of Manhattan from 1998-2003.
Sal Buscaglia then took over Robert Morris ahead of the 2003-04 season and held the position until 2016. Charlie Buscaglia worked as an assistant for five seasons from 2003-08 and then as associate head coach for eight seasons from 2008-16.
The duo built Robert Morris into a serious program in the Northeast Conference, winning four regular season conference titles, as well as four conference tournament titles for four NCAA Tournament appearances in 2007, 2008, 2014 and 2016. They also made the WNIT in 2010 after winning the regular season NEC title that season.
Charlie Buscaglia took over from his father in 2016 and kept up the winning, as RMU women’s basketball won four straight NEC regular season titles and three postseason appearances. RMU had an overall record of 92-37 and 63-9 in the NEC, in those last four years in the conference, with the 2020 postseason cancelled due to COVID-19.
The Colonials would move to the Horizon League ahead of the 2020-21 season and saw little success, not finishing higher than eighth place in the past three years. They had an overall record of 35-65 and 22-51 in the conference under Buscaglia these past four seasons.
RMU is currently holds a 6-18 overall record and 2-13 in the Horizon League, last place in the conference, at the time of Buscaglia’s resignation.
RMU Women’s Basketball Season Record Under Charlie Buscaglia
2016-17: 22-11 overall, 14-4 NEC. NEC Regular Season/Tournament Champions. NCAA Tournament First Round
2017-18: 25-8 overall, 16-2 NEC. NEC Regular Season Champions. WNIT First Round
2018-19: 22-11 overall, 16-2 NEC. NEC Regular Season/Tournament Champions. NCAA Tournament First Round
2019-20: 23-7 overall, 17-1 NEC. NEC Regular Season Champions. NEC Tournament Cancelled due to COVID-19
Move to Horizon League
2020-21: 4-13 overall, 4-12 Horizon League. Ninth Place in the conference.
2021-22: 14-15 overall, 11-11 Horizon League. Eighth Place in the conference.
2022-23: 11-19 overall, 5-15 Horizon League. 10th Place in the conference.
2023-24: 6-18 overall, 2-13 Horizon League. Last Place in the conference.
Overall Record: 127-102 (.555)
Conference Record: 63-9 (.857) Northeast Conference. 22-51 (.301) Horizon League. Combined Conference Record: 85-60 (.586)
Say it ain’t so. 😂