Seton Hill promotes assistant Gallagher to head women's basketball coach after Katarski accepts new role

A promotion, a new role and a change in command.

The wheels are in motion with the Seton Hill women’s basketball program.

The university announced assistant Maeve Gallagher has been promoted to head coach, while Mark Katarski, who has guided the Griffins for nine seasons and has the program record for wins, is moving into the newly created role of associate athletic director for internal relations.

“I’ve dreamed of this since being a kid on the sidelines with my dad,” Gallagher said in a news release. “I’m ecstatic to take on a new role in this community and continue to grow the women’s basketball program as a force in the PSAC.”

Gallagher said Katarski taught her “the Griffin way,” essentially grooming her — without knowing he was doing so — after the pair worked closely together for the last two seasons.

“I have been blessed with infinite guidance from mentors with national championships, 500 wins, Hall of Fame inductions, and more,” Gallagher said. “It was through them I learned that the journey is what matters, and I cannot wait to pursue every step of this journey with our young women and the Seton Hill community. “

Katarski, who will take on a new position in a most familiar setting, had a record of 147-120 and led the Griffins to nine straight PSAC tournaments.

The 2016-17 PSAC West Coach of the Year won 108 games against Atlantic Region opponents since 2016.

Seton Hill, which celebrated its 100th year of women’s basketball last season, has five wins over nationally ranked teams over the last two years and had only five women’s basketball players transfer — out of 57 — since Katarski took over the program.

Katarski was a coach at the Division I, II and III levels. He guided Division III Chatham for six years and Division I Niagara as an assistant for one before the Mt. Pleasant graduate connected with Seton Hill.

His college coaching venture began when he became an assistant at Pitt-Greensburg in 2000.

“It’s exciting for me to have a chance to impact our students and student-athletes in a new way,” Katarski said. “I am fortunate to be able to do that at a place I care deeply about.”

Katarski, who was a head coach for 15 seasons overall, met with his players Wednesday to tell them about the changes.

“My daughter, Jaela, said to me, ‘Daddy, you’ve done one job for 10 years, now you can do another one,’” Katarski said. “It made sense to me clearly. I woke up (Friday) and wasn’t sure the sun was going to come up. I have been coaching basketball since August of 1997 with the middle school team at Derry. But it did come up.

“Change is the only constant in life. It’s not inherently good or bad. Coaching here has been about the people who I have learned with and from.”

Part of his role will be sharing his knowledge of Division II athletics and the culture around it with the school’s programs. Of the 20 sports at Seton Hill, 15 have head coaches in their first or second year.

“I am excited about it,” he said.

Gallagher was an assistant for two years at Washington & Jefferson, her second stint with the Presidents, before coming to Seton Hill. Before that, she was an assistant for one year at Longwood, a Division I program.

Her predecessor said she earned her spot as head coach.

“It’s not just because she has been here,” Katarski said. “It’s independent of that.”

Gallagher was a three-sport athlete at Point Park (basketball, soccer and softball) and won two conference titles on basketball.

She attended Seton LaSalle High School.

“Maeve has proven herself in her role as assistant coach and associate head coach and I know she is ready to lead our women’s basketball team,” Seton Hill athletic director Chris Snyder said. “I am looking forward to many great things in the future from our women’s basketball program.”

Her father, Bill, was a successful football coach at Perry before coaching at Washington & Jefferson at the same time his daughter was coaching on the court.