By Kenny Barto
For 12 straight seasons, the Blue Devils’ women’s volleyball team has had a familiar face at the helm of the 26-year program. Linda Sagnelli, who has racked up 181 wins in her CCSU career, is the only coach in the program to last over five years.
“The sport here at Central is phenomenal,” Sagnelli said. “I think it’s when your athletes buy in and work hard for you, you learn things from them everyday, and I respect my athletes a lot.”
In the five years prior to Sagnelli arriving, the Blue Devils got over ten wins just once, and held a dismal 41-125 record under coach Leo Uzcategui. With Uzcategui out the door, CCSU decided to hire Sagnelli, who only had a .406 winning percentage at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY.
“They were struggling when I got here, they were at the bottom of the conference in the five previous years,” Sagnelli said. “But, my first season here, we were able to turn it around and get third place in the conference, which was extremely great for the kids at the time.”
Although Sagnelli posted a sub-.500 winning percentage as volleyball coach at Iona, she has been the only coach to be named coach of the year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in two different sports. She earned the MAAC softball coach of the year in 1992, followed by volleyball coach of the year in 1994.
“I had the double duty of coaching volleyball and softball, which had it’s own difficulties,” Sagnelli said. “I was there for 14 years, and had a great experience, and learned a lot.”
Sagnelli also has an impressive professional career which supplements her many years of coaching experience. She is an alum of C.W. Post University, as well as a member of their athletics’ hall of fame. She was a member of their storied 1982 team that went 47-5, which still holds up as the best season in school history. They were nationally ranked, and made a trip to the NCAA tournament in Division II.
“Wow, my senior year,” Sagnelli said with a smile. “That was an awesome year! Some years there are special teams, and I was fortunate to play on one. We set all kinds of records, went to the NCAA tournament. It was just a special, balanced team that doesn’t come around very often.”
Sagnelli was the captain and team MVP for three straight seasons (1980-1982). She was also named the MVP for the regional championship in 1982 by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). She was a member of a specially selected collegiate team that competed for the Viking Cup in Sweden. She also played against tough competition in 1983 in a national tournament as a member of “The Windchimes.”
So far at CCSU, Sagnelli has posted the most wins and is second in win percentage (.559) to coach Jing Pu (.716) who coached the 1993 and 1994 teams. From 2003 to 2007, she only broke double digit losses once when she went 19-10 in 2006. The Blue Devils have made it to the NEC championship game twice under Sagnelli, but they have never been able to win it.
“We’ve been a top four team every year,” Sagnelli said. “It’s been elusive, but I know that we will eventually get it, we just need to be able to put all the pieces in place.”