By Luke Whitehouse
Prior to the 1991-92 season, the Springfield College women’s basketball program was teetering. A once-proud program had endured three consecutive 20-loss seasons, and with a move from Division II to Division III looming, the future seemed bleak. Athletic Director Ed Bilik had to make a strong hire.
And he did, bringing in someone who would shape the future of women’s hoops at the Birthplace of Basketball for the next three decades. The woman tasked with rebuilding the Pride? Western Massachusetts native Naomi Graves, who left her post at Worcester Polytechnic Institution (WPI) to return to Alden Street.
“The program at that point was in shambles,” said Mike Theulen, who coached the Springfield women’s basketball team from 1984-1986. “She had to really roll her sleeves up.”
If there was a person who could do it, it was Graves. The former college and high school All-American was one of the best basketball players to come out of Massachusetts, tallying 2,137 points during her career at Hampshire Regional (second most all time), while serving as the captain of the University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team in 1982, where she remains the program’s second-leading scorer.
For Graves, coaching was in her blood. It's what she always yearned for once her playing days were over. After graduating from URI with a degree in Physical Education in 1982, she served one year as an assistant basketball coach from the Rams before returning to Springfield College to earn her Master’s degree in Education, as well as coach. The opportunity to influence young women in a positive way was an attractive prospect.
“As you become more experienced in coaching, [you realize] the impact you can have on people,” Graves said. “My basketball coaching [career] has taken a platform of being able to serve students at the college level, and to develop them as players, but also as people. The fact that you can make a difference in someone's life? Not many professions have that ability.”
To Graves, the decision to leave WPI and come back was an easy one.
“When I graduated from Springfield, I knew I wanted to come back here and coach, and only here,” she said. “I wanted to follow in the legacy of all those coaches in front of me. They were renowned in whatever sport they [were in]. It was [like] the Harvard of coaches.”
That's high praise for a small school in Springfield, Mass. – but for Graves it all starts with Springfield’s ideology.
“I think it's part of that service and leadership piece and our philosophy in the humanics,” Graves said. “[It's about] serving and leading in whatever area you have. I think in coaching it's natural to serve and lead our students-athletes.”
The Pride got off to a bumpy start under Graves, as she slowly began to implement her style. Her teams won just 13 games from 1991-1994.
“I think in any profession, you face challenges where you shake your head, and you're like, ‘Is it worth it? Is this the right path for me?’” Graves said. “[In] my first four years there were moments when I thought, “Oh my word, what am I doing?”
The long days and the 85 losses over four seasons weighed heavily on Graves. At the same time, she had to recruit – and the challenges remained: How can you sell a losing program that is transitioning down a division when all you can offer is hope?
One player whom Graves recruited in those early years was Michelle Lee Scecina, who joined the Pride in the fall of 1993 – and went on to become one of the best players in the program's history.
“[Graves] talked to me about how she was building the program and wanted to bring in talented players who could help kind of change the atmosphere and hopefully turn it into a winning program,” Scecina recalled.
Still, with two more years at Division II, the Pride struggled to gain momentum.
“I’d given myself a window of time,” Graves said. “And at one point I jokingly said, ‘Well, maybe they'll fire me and put me out of my misery.’”
But once Springfield made the transition to Division III, Graves and the Pride began to improve steadily – going from 14 wins in 1996 to 18 in 1997. That success wasn't just the result of the talent that Graves acquired; it was the way the team bought into her coaching style.
Scecina, who is now Springfield’s Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Student-Athlete Well-Being, recognizes that it took a strong coach to turn the program around like Graves did.
“She works hard,” Scecina said. “She has all the characteristics to create a winning program and develop young women.”
Over the next 15 years Graves enjoyed considerable success inside Blake Arena, leading the Pride to 15 consecutive winning seasons from 1995-2009, including six straight NEWMAC titles from 2000-2005, five NCAA tournament appearances and the NCAA Division III Elite Eight during the 2004-05 season while finishing with a school-record 25 wins. It wasn’t just the tough coaching that Graves doled out – or the talent she had – it was the connections that Graves made and continues to make with her players and the culture that she molded in her early years.
“People are different, students are different. But she has changed with the student athletes,” said Scecina, who works closely with many of Graves’ players. “She meets them where they're at.”
But Graves’ success would soon be put on the back burner as she once again faced adversity – this time much more serious. During the summer, Graves was happy and healthy and having fun when she got a call from her doctor, with news that followed that would change her life forever.
“I was at a James Taylor concert," Graves recalled. “And I flipped a coin on whether to get my mammogram done. ‘Do I leave early, or do I not?’”
After pondering, Graves left and good thing she did – after imaging, they diagnosed her with breast cancer, a shock to her and her family. But as she always had done, she faced this challenge head on and continued to coach while fighting her most daunting foe.
“We all have adversity, right?,” she said. “My adversity is not any different than anybody else's. Family issues come up and health issues come up.”
Graves would undergo rounds of radiation and chemotherapy from August through December – making the season a difficult one off the court as well as on it, as the Pride failed to reach .500 for the first time since 1994. But it wasn’t about the wins and losses, it was about being there on the sideline. Being with her players, coaching in Blake Arena, forgetting everything that was happening away from the court even for a short time.
“I needed the team,” she said. “And I think the team needed me.”
Despite the days of harsh treatment, Graves was determined to be there for her players. She continued to give it her all, yelling during practices and coaching hard in games. Although Springfield’s record hovered around .500 for the next four seasons, Graves bounced back once again – defeating cancer and returning to her old self. When she returned to Blake Arena after her treatment, the love was reciprocated. She was greeted with a pink jersey by her players that read “Springfield” across the front and “Graves” on the back on “Think Pink” day – which still hangs in her office today. An emotional Graves remembers that day and what was going through her mind that day.
“Tears were rolling down my face,” she recalled. “I think that just goes to show you that we’re family. We're there for each other.”
Springfield quickly returned to its winning ways, as Graves guided the Pride to 11 winning seasons from 2013-2023, three regular season conference titles and three NCAA tournament appearances – including a Sweet 16 run in 2021.
It's no surprise that the Pride continue to thrive under Graves' leadership. Developing a good team full of strong young women is an art, and Graves is the artist.
“She does not play games,” said former Springfield All-American Sam Hourihan. “She is pushing you to your absolute limits – even if you’re a freshman. She knows what she wants and she's not going to settle for things that she knows she can get out of [her players].”
Even after 33 years at the helm, Graves wants nothing to do with retirement talk.
“I still love to coach, I still love the game,” she said. “It's my student athletes. It's the kids I teach. It's the philosophy, I feel purposeful here [at Springfield College].”