Bethune-Cookman Head Women's Basketball Coach Vanessa Inge announced this week the addition of Rodney Minggia as Lady Wildcats' Recruiting Coordinator, and newest Assistant Coach on her coaching staff for the 2009-10 season. Minggia assumes his duties immediately for the Lady Wildcats.
"Rodney will be a great asset to our women's program," said Coach Inge of the new hire. "He comes to us from several different places, ranging from high school coaching all the way up to the professional levels. He has been an assistant and a head coach. His wealth of knowledge and experience will help to continue to propel the lady Wildcats to the top."
Minggia is familiar with the Lady Wildcats program, having most recently served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Stetson University under Women's Head Coach Dee Romine, where he aided in the mentoring and development of Tierra Brown, Atlantic Sun Conference All-Freshman team guard.
"I'm excited to be here," noted Minggia. "I had a chance to see [B-CU] play three times last year, and the spirit of the team was different. I know that they had not won very many games that last four or five years, and to win twelve games last year has to instill some confidence in them."
Minggia's career is built on a solid foundation of experiences that will help him excel in Bethune-Cookman's program, with a long list of coaching and teaching positions in his nearly thirty-year career. Prior to Stetson, he worked with students in the Newton County Schools Crossroads Psychoeducational Program in Covington, Georgia, coming off stints as head coach of the Tennessee Fury and Atlanta Justice of the National Women's Basketball League. While teaching, he also spent time coaching the Georgia Metros AAU team, which finished with three top-four national performances during his time there, including AAU National Championships in 2006 and 2007. He previously coached the Metros from 1984-1989, winning the national title in 1985. His experience and success in AAU earned him induction into the Georgia AAU Hall of Fame in 2005.
His previous coaching stops at the collegiate level have endowed him with a variety of experiences, bringing a great deal to the table at Bethune-Cookman. Minggia served as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Northeastern Illinois ('96-'97). Before that, he served as Head Women's Basketball and Volleyball Coach at Paine College ('91-'96), where he was honored as the 1994 SIAC Coach of the Year. Before that, he was on the staff at UAB (University of Alabama Birmingham) as an assistant women's coach, ('90-'91), and was the Head Women's and Assistant Men's Coach at Georgia Perimeter College ('85-'90)
"I've done a pretty good job in the recruiting area," noted Minggia of his intercollegiate coaching experience. "That's really the pivotal area, because you've got to have some horses to win the races, and I think that's one of the areas that I can contribute greatly for Bethune-Cookman."
Coach Minggia got his start as a successful high school coach and educator. At Gordon High School in the DeKalb County school district from 1979-1985, he coached the boy's basketball team, which earned back-to-back runner-up finishes in the region (1981-82), while the track & field teams he coached won state championships in 1982 and 1985 with five regional titles and four other top-three finishes in the state. During his tenure as an assistant football coach, GHS went 24-4. Minggia taught at another DeKalb County school, Stephenson High School, from 1997-2003.
Rodney Minggia has found success at every level in which he has coached or taught and is a welcome addition to an already strong coaching staff.
"He is an exceptional coach with outstanding credentials. He is well connected in the coaching community. We are excited to have him a part of our program," concluded Coach Inge.