A Weirton, W.Va., native, Bernabei is in her second stint as an
assistant coach with the Mountaineers, having served in the same
capacity from 2001-03.
“I’m extremely excited to return to Morgantown and continue to help
mold and build the Mountaineers into a national contender,” Bernabei
says. “I have a lot of pride in the state’s flagship university and
am eager to get back to working with the coaching staff and the players.
I had a lot of great memories from my first time around with the program
and am very grateful to be back.”
She returns to WVU after serving as an assistant coach and recruiting
coordinator at Maryland from 2003-07. She helped the Terrapins win the
2005-06 national championship and make four consecutive NCAA tournament
appearances. Maryland’s recruiting classes during her last three
seasons were each ranked in the top 10 nationally.
“Joanna did a great job when she was with us in my first two years
here,” Carey says. “She got great experience at Maryland and won a
national championship. She’s a West Virginia girl coming back home and
we’re very excited to have her back as part of our program. She will
bring a lot of experience and knowledge to our staff.”
In addition to recruiting at Maryland, Bernabei was also responsible
for on-the-floor coaching, opponent scouting and offensive and defensive
game strategy.
"Joanna is a tremendous hire for West Virginia,” Terrapin coach
Brenda Frese says. ”She is an extremely hard worker, who is passionate
about everything she does and especially basketball. She will be a
valuable member to WVU’s program."
Prior to her first stint with WVU, Bernabei spent two seasons as an
assistant at Eastern Kentucky from 1999-2001. In 1998, she served as
head coach at West Virginia Wesleyan compiling an 18-9 record and a
third-place finish in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference (WVIAC). While at Wesleyan, she served as the school’s
senior women’s administrator.
Bernabei attended West Liberty State where she was an All-American and
a four-time, first-team All-WVIAC as a point guard. Named the 1997 WVIAC
Player of the Year, she currently holds the NCAA Division II career
assists record of 1,107 and the record for most assists in a single game
at 24 against West Virginia State (Feb. 8, 1997). She is one of just a
handful of players to record more than 1,000 points and 1,000 assists in
a career. She finished her career with 1,317 total points. She also holds the NCAA record for assists average per game (9.5) and
the school and conference records for assists in a game, season (293)
and career. She led her team to an 80-36 record during her four years
and is listed on West Liberty’s top 20 all-time best athlete list. She
is the first woman to be named first-team all-WVIAC for four years and
was West Virginia’s 1993 high school player of the year. She was
inducted into the West Liberty Hall of Fame in 2002.
Bernabei earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology from
West Liberty in 1997 and her master’s degree from Eastern Kentucky in
physical education in 1999.
She is married to former Mountaineer baseball standout (1996-98) and
Bridgeport, W.Va., native Joe McNamee. The couple has two children, Luke
(20 months) and Caden (nine months). They reside in Morgantown.
Also, West Virginia University baseball
coach Greg Van Zant today announced the team MVPs for the 2008 season. Senior shortstop Tyler Kuhn was named the position player MVP, while
right-handed pitcher Billy Gross earned pitching staff MVP honors and
freshman second baseman Jedd Gyorko was named the team’s Rookie of the
Year.
Kuhn, a third team Pro-Line Athletic/National Collegiate Baseball
Writers Association (NCBWA) 2008 All-American, finished the year leading
the team with a .424 batting average and became the first Mountaineer
ever to record at least 100 hits in a season. The Louisville, Ky.,
native was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 15th round of the
Major League Baseball Draft earlier this month.
Gross pitched 74.2 innings and posted a team-best 3.01 ERA in 13
appearances in 2008. The Frederick, Md., native finished with a 5-2
record in nine starts. Gyorko, a Morgantown, W.Va., native, hit .409, eight home runs and drove
in 63 RBIs in his rookie season. The 2008 BIG EAST Rookie of the Year,
he also was selected to the Pro-Line Athletic/NCBWA 2008 Freshman
All-America team.