One of the most successful head coaches in college basketball, Stephanie V. Gaitley has continued to elevate the St. Joseph's University women's basketball program into the national spotlight. Last season, was a memorable year for Gaitley, as she won the 300th game of her illustrious coaching career. Additionally, she helped guide her team to its thirteenth Big Five title and eleventh NCAA Tournament appearance. The 1999-00 squad posted the program’s 20th consecutive winning season with a 25-6 overall record.

Gaitley took over the Hawks' helm on June 20, 1991 and has guided SJU in the right direction from day one. In the nine years since her return to the Philadelphia area, she has posted a 186-81 overall record, 105-37 in the Atlantic 10, and 31-5 in the Philadelphia Big Five. She has also won two Atlantic 10 Championships, seven Big Five titles, and led the Hawks to five 20-win seasons and five appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Gaitley has been rewarded for her successes on the court. She was named the Big Five Coach of the Year following the 1998-99, 1996-97, 1993-94 and 1992-93 seasons. In November of 1995, Gaitley was honored as the March of Dimes Coach of the Year for the 1994-95 season, beating out all Philadelphia area coaches in both the collegiate and professional ranks. This summer, she was selected by USA Basketball to serve as an assistant coach for the R. William Jones Cup Team. In the summer of 1995, Gaitley coached the West team to the Silver Medal at the U.S. Olympic Festival held in Denver, Colorado.

Recognized as one of the best defensive minds in the game today, Gaitley's teams have been ranked among the top ten in the nation in scoring defense nine times in the past eleven years. Last season, the Hawks’ ranked second in the nation, allowing 53.1 points a game. In 1993-94, her Hawk team led the nation in that category, allowing just 53.9 points a game.

Off the court, Gaitley has been attracting attention as well. During the 1999-00 season, she was responsible for generating enough excitement to create the first-ever advance sellout of a regular season women’s college basketball game in the Philadelphia area when the SJU women met Tennessee at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse. She was also instrumental in coordinating the first annual “Fieldtrip to the Fieldhouse Day” promotion, which brought a capacity crowd to Hawk Hill for SJU’s game with Rhode Island. The sellouts were the second and third in school history, all coming under her tenure as head coach. In April, she served as a guest columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer during the 2000 Women’s Final Four. One of the area’s most proactive voices in promoting women’s basketball locally, she makes countless speaking appearances throughout the region. On the hardwood, she has set a standard for excellence at St. Joseph's and annually challenges her teams with among the most demanding schedules in the nation.

The former SJU assistant coach (1982-83 through 1984-85) returned to St. Joseph's after spending six seasons as the head coach at the University of Richmond. While at Richmond, the Ocean City, N.J. native built the Spider program into one of the finest in the East. She compiled an overall record of 116-63, with her teams steadily improving each year.

The first full-time women's basketball coach at Richmond, Gaitley posted a 7-21 record in 1985-86, her first year at the school. Following another rebuilding season (13-15), she proceeded to lead the Spiders to four straight 20-win seasons.

In 1987-88, Richmond topped 20 wins for the first time in the school's history, finishing the year at 21-8. A first-ever National Women's Invitation Tournament appearance was next for UR as Gaitley led the Spiders to a 24-9 record in 1988-89.

She saved her best years for last at Richmond, directing her team to Colonial Athletic Association Championships in 1989-90 and 1990-91 with marks of 25-5 and 26-5, respectively. Gaitley was named CAA Coach of the Year for her efforts in 1990.

In her initial stint at SJU, Gaitley, the Hawks' first full-time women's basketball assistant, helped SJU to a three-year record of 57-28, including the program's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.

A 1982 graduate of Villanova University, Gaitley ranks among the top scorers and rebounders in the school's history. For her collegiate career, which includes one year at Delaware, she scored 1,089 points and pulled down 944 rebounds in 103 games. A Philadelphia Big Five and Villanova Hall of Famer, Gaitley was named to the District II Academic All-America team as a senior at Villanova.

A staunch advocate of the role of academics in collegiate athletics, Gaitley established a strong academic tradition at Richmond with four players named to the CAA's all-academic honor roll and a 100% graduation rate. She has carried that tradition over to SJU with a perfect graduation rate and a District II All-Academic honoree in 1993. Additionally, she has had six players named to the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference team, including the Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2000.

Active in teaching the sport to today's youth, Gaitley was a clinician at "Yes" women's basketball clinics conducted by the NCAA in 1989, 1992 and 1994. Gaitley is currently the chairperson of the Kodak All-America committee. She previously served as a member of the Converse Regional Coach of the Year Committee (1990-92). In the summer of 1996, Gaitley and her staff traveled to Turkey to put on the first-ever women's basketball coaching clinic in that country.

Gaitley and her husband Frank are the parents of thirteen-year-old Patrick Dutch, seven-year-old Daniel Cole and two-year-old Jordan Cooper. The family resides in Haverford, Pa.