Joanna Bernabei-McNamee - Assistant Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Joanna Bernabei-McNamee

Title:
Assistant Coach

Joanna Bernabei-McNamee joined the Louisville staff as Assistant Coach in April of 2026. She comes to Louisville after spending the previous eight seasons as the head coach at Boston College.

During her time at Boston College, Bernabei-McNamee guided the Eagles to their best ACC finish in program history and worked with some of the best players to come through the program.

In 2019-20, Bernabei-McNamee was named ACC Coach of the Year after the Eagles went 20-12 overall and finished fourth in the ACC. The 20 victories were the most in program history since the 2010-11 season. The team also set a new program record for the most ACC victories with 11 and it was the highest finish in the standings since the Eagles joined the league.

Dontavia Waggoner became the only player in school history with at least 1,250 points, 600 rebounds and 250 steals, finishing 15th in scoring (1,285), 14th with 639 rebounds and second with 271 steals. In 2023-24, Waggoner set the single season steals record with 99.

In 2022-23, Taina Mair landed on the ACC All-Freshman team after leading the league and setting the freshman single season mark with 217 assists. Mair led the ACC in assists, second in minutes per game and sixth in steals and led all freshmen in the league in double-doubles, assists, steals, minutes per game and second in scoring.

In 2021-22, the Eagles went 21-12 overall and 10-8 in ACC play. The 21 wins were the most in a single season since 2008-09 and Boston College earned a postseason berth in the WNIT for the first time since 2011. Three Eagles earned All-ACC honors, where Cameron Swartz was named All-ACC first team, Taylor Soule made the All-ACC second team and Maria Gakdeng earned All-ACC freshman honors. Swartz was the second player (Taylor Soule) under Bernabei-McNamee to earn the ACC's Most Improved Player of the Year award.

Prior to Boston College, Bernabei-McNamee spent two seasons as the head coach at Albany. She led Albany to a 45-20 record over the two seasons. In 2016-17, she guided the Great Danes to the American East Tournament Championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

In addition to leading Albany to consecutive 20-plus win seasons, Bernabei-McNamee was named the 2017 Women’s Division I Coach of the Year by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York.

Bernabei-McNamee, a native of Weirton, West Virginia, was named head coach at Albany in April of 2016 after three seasons as the head coach of the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Ky. There, Bernabei-McNamee led the program to back-to-back national tournament berths, including a program-record 26 victories and an NAIA Final Four appearance in 2016.

She was named the 2016 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) NAIA Regional Coach of the Year, and also earned Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2015.

Prior to Pikeville, she served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Maryland for four years from 2003-07, and was an integral part of the Terrapins’ 2006 National Championship season. During her tenure, she brought in four straight nationally ranked recruiting classes, including three in the Top 10.

Bernabei-McNamee spent two years at West Virginia as an assistant coach where she was a scout, position coach and recruiting coordinator. Before her time in Morgantown, McNamee had a two-year stint at Eastern Kentucky where she was responsible for scouting and individual player development, as well as serving as the recruiting coordinator.

The West Virginia native began her head coaching career in 1998 at West Virginia Wesleyan where she compiled an 18-9 record and a third-place finish in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC), while also acting as the school's Senior Women's Administrator.

She attended West Liberty State and was named a Division II All-American and a four-time, first-team All-WVIAC selection as a point guard.

The 1997 WVIAC Player of the Year, Bernabei-McNamee still holds the NCAA Division II career assists record of 1,107 and the record for assists in a game with 24. She is one of only four players in NCAA history to record more than 1,000 points and 1,000 assists, finishing her stellar career with 1,317 total points.

Bernabei-McNamee holds the NCAA record for average assists per game (9.5), and the school and conference marks for assists in a game, season (294) and career. She was the first woman to be named first-team All-West Virginia Athletic Conference for four years and was inducted into the West Liberty State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2011.

Bernabei-McNamee earned her bachelor's degree in exercise physiology in 1997 from West Liberty and a master's degree in sports administration from Eastern Kentucky in 1999. Bernabei-McNamee and her husband Joe McNamee have two sons, Luke and Caden. McNamee took a nearly four-year hiatus from coaching (2009-13) to focus on raising her children.