 Chris Sullivan
Alma Mater: Wittenberg '11
Overall Record: 48-41 (4 Years)
Record at Denison: 48-41 (4 Years)
Chris Sullivan begins his fifth season as Head Coach of the Denison University men's basketball program in 2024-25, and is in his 14th season with the Big Red overall.
The Big Red finished 15-12 overall and 10-6 in the North Coast Athletic Conference in 2023-24. The season was highlighted by a win over Wabash on Jan. 3. The team advanced to the NCAC Tournament semifinals for a fourth year in a row and seventh time in the past eight seasons. The Big Red earned a 78-62 win over Oberlin in the quarterfinal round. Denison won six-straight games from late November through late December. Ricky Radtke secured second team all-conference for a second-straight year.
Denison men's basketball finished its 2022-23 season 15-11 overall and 10-6 in the NCAC. The Big Red also finished in fourth place in the conference during the regular season and advanced to the NCAC Tournament semifinals for the third season in a row and for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. In the NCAC quarterfinals, fourth-seeded Denison earned a 65-63 win at home over fifth-seeded Wittenberg University thanks to the game-winning fastbreak layup by sophomore Scotty Dean in the final second of the game. Denison reached the 10-win mark in the NCAC for the second season in a row under the direction of Coach Sullivan. It was the first time Denison has earned at least 10 conference wins in back-to-back seasons since 2017-18. Lastly, junior Darren Rubin and sophomore Ricky Radtke were both named Second-Team All-NCAC.
Denison finished its first full season (2021-22) under the direction of Coach Sullivan with a 13-13 overall record and an 11-7 record in the NCAC. The Big Red earned the No. 5 seed for the NCAC tournament before defeating Coach Sullivan's alma mater, No. 4-seeded Wittenberg University, 62-58 in the quarterfinals to advance to the NCAC semifinals, where they fell to No. 16 nationally-ranked and eventual NCAC Champion and NCAA Final Four participate Wabash College.
In his first season as head coach in 2020-21, Sullivan had to navigate the COVID-19 Pandemic, and his team went 5-5 in a shortened winter season.
On March 10, 2020, Chris Sullivan became Denison's 21st Head Men's Basketball Coach in the 121-year history of the program. Sullivan takes over for Bob Ghiloni who announced his retirement after 18 seasons leading the Big Red. Sullivan recently completed his ninth season as an assistant coach and his fourth year as associate head coach. In 2017, he was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Under Armour 30 under 30 list highlighting the top men's basketball coaches in the nation under the age of 30.
During his time as an assistant coach at Denison (2011-12 to 2019-20), the Big Red won an NCAC title (2016), which earned the program it's first automatic bid to play in the NCAA Tournament; won a program-record 22 games in a season, earned top-25 and top-10 national rankings, made the NCAC Tournament semifinals five times and won 120 games. He also helped coach two all-region players in Dimonde Hale and Jett Speelman.
Sullivan accepted the lead assistant coaching position at Denison after a stellar career at Wittenberg University. He was named to the D3hoops.com All-American team in 2011 where he set the program and conference record for 3-pointers made in a season (120). He is one of 20 All-Americans produced by Wittenberg. He scored 1,090 points in his collegiate career and is Wittenberg's career leader in 3-pointers made (241). Sullivan graduated from Wittenberg in 2011 with a degree in Sport Management.
Sullivan comes from a family of coaches as his brother Kevin, played at DePauw and coached at Kenyon & Emory; Brian, played & coached at Davidson College, and after a professional basketball career is currently working on his PhD in Performance Psychology, and his father, Greg, is the Director of the Positive Coaching and Leadership Masters program at the University of Missouri.
Chris and his wife Kellen reside in New Albany with their sons Mac & Grant.
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 Maureen Hirt
Alma Mater: Kenyon '14
Overall Record: 30-23 (2 Years)
Record at Denison: 30-23 (2 Years)
Maureen Hirt begins her third season as Head Coach of the Denison University women's basketball program in 2024-25.
Following a 20-win season, Hirt was a finalist for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association NCAA Division III Coach of the Year award in 2023-24. Hirt was recognized as the D3hoops.com Region 7 Coach of the Year and the Big Red staff was honored as North Coast Athletic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year after helping Denison double its win total from the season prior. The 20 wins marked the most for the Big Red since the 2015-16 season.
In 14 conference games, the Big Red were the most efficient behind the arc in NCAC play, shooting .340 (87-of-256) and ranked in the top-four in scoring (66.1 ppg), field-goal percentage (.420; 349-of-831), and assists (14.43 apg). The Denison defense also ranked in the top-four against conference foes in five defensive categories, producing a league-high 68 blocked shots (4.86 bpg), ranking second in opponent field-goal percentage (.346), defensive rebounds (27.2 rpg) and steals (9.29 spg) and fourth in opponent scoring (55.5 ppg). First-year guard Abby Cooch was named the 2023-24 NCAC Newcomer of the Year. In addition, Cooch was named First-Team All-NCAC while fellow-freshman guard Ada Taute was named to the All-NCAC Third Team.
In its first year under the guidance of Coach Hirt in 2022-23, Denison women's basketball finished the season 10-16 overall and 5-9 in the North Coast Athletic Conference while earning the No. 5 seed for the conference tournament. Senior post player Mikaila Carpenter was named Second-Team All-NCAC after leading the Big Red with 12.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, all while shooting 52.3 percent (137-262) from the field.
Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics Nan Carney-DeBord announced the hiring of Maureen Hirt as the next Head Women's Basketball Coach at Denison University on June 15, 2022. Hirt replaced Sara Lee, who stepped down in April after a 33-year tenure leading the Big Red.
Hirt is the eighth coach in Denison's history of the women's basketball program. She came to Denison after spending the previous season as the Associate Head Coach at Oberlin College, her third year on staff as an assistant for the Yeowomen.
At Oberlin, Hirt helped lead the Yeowomen to one of the most successful seasons in program history in 2021-22 as the squad finished 21-4 overall and 13-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, tying the program record for overall wins and conference wins in a season. The Yeowomen got off to the best start in program history at 8-0, went undefeated in non-conference play at 7-0, and qualified as the No. 2 seed for the NCAC Tournament, the highest seed in program history. The team shot a conference-best 43.4 percent from the field and ranked 18th in the nation in assists per game at 17.4. Hirt helped coach three all-conference players in 2021-22, including the NCAC Newcomer of the Year in Camille Zinaich.
During her second year at Oberlin, Hirt was one of 10 Tara VanDerveer fellows across the country to be a part of the 2020 cohort for the Women's Sports Foundation's advancement of women in coaching.
Hirt was also a Co-Advisor for the Oberlin Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), working with Oberlin's SAAC officers to help guide and coordinate events both on and off campus such as Play Like A Girl, Black History Month SAAC Celebration, DIII Week, and more.
Hirt is the Co-Founder and Owner of Ohio Champion Basketball (OCB), a basketball skills and performance training company in Cincinnati, Ohio. Since November of 2015, OCB has trained athletes from the middle school to professional level. Hirt began her coaching career as the Guardian Angels eighth grade boys' head basketball coach, a position she held for four seasons from October 2014-February 2018.
Hirt graduated cum laude from Kenyon College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and economics in May 2014. She was a four-year member and two-time team captain of the women's basketball team where she helped Kenyon advance to four North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) tournaments. The 2014 North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Hirt was a four-time All-NCAC player and three-time first-team all-conference selection, and is still the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,819 career points. After her senior season, she was recognized as a D3 Women's News Third-Team All-American and first-team all-region performer, along with being a third-team all-region selection in 2012. As a junior in 2013, Hirt led all of Division III in free-throw percentage at 92.3%. Hirt was named the 2014 Kenyon Female Athlete of the Year and was Kenyon's 2014 Pam Smith Award nominee, which also serves as a nomination for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Hirt received the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and earned her master's degree in marketing from the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Linder School of Business in June 2018.
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