The Record-Courier is reporting that Maria Marchesano, head coach at Division II Walsh University, is interviewing today for the Kent State opening.
Marchesano just finished her third season at Walsh, where her teams were 20-9, 20-10 and 12-16. Her team was second in the South Division of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last season and was one of two teams to beat No. 5 Ashland University. Walsh beat Division I Butler (10-21), Marchesano’s alma mater, in a preseason exhibition game last season and beat Kent State 89-80 in a 2013-14 exhibition game.
Previously Marchesano was head coach at Urbana University in southwest Ohio, where she was Division II All-Independent Coach of the Year in 2011-12. She took over a 2-8 team in midseason and won 12 games.
Marchesano is a 2005 graduate of Butler, where she was the school’s second all-time leading three-point shooter.
She is interviewing to succeed Danny O’Banion, whose contract wasn’t renewed after going 21-98 over four years.
John Barnes, head coach at Youngstown State, turned down an offer to coach KSU over the weekend. Another report says that another coach had been offered the Kent State job but took another head coaching job instead.