On Saturday, Feb. 7, Villanova University honored former women’s basketball head coach Harry Perretta with a permanent plaque at the Finneran Pavilion during halftime of the women’s basketball 67-55 win against Georgetown.
Perretta retired in 2020 after serving for 42 years as head coach. During his time at Villanova, Perretta collected a career record of 783-489, making him the winningest coach in the history of men’s and women’s basketball at Villanova. From 1978-2020, he led the Wildcats to 11 NCAA tournament appearances, 11 WNIT berths, multiple national rankings in the AP Poll, Big East regular season and tournament championships in 1985-86 and 1986-87, the 2003 Big East Tournament title, 12 outright and five shared Big 5 titles, 20 seasons with at least 20 wins and a trip to the 1982 AIAW Final Four.
Though Perretta has received many accolades, he shared that these are not his greatest accomplishments on the Main Line.
“I would hope it’s graduating my players,” Perretta said. “That was always my goal. Winning was important, but it was never more important than doing the right thing or graduating my players.”
Perretta possessed a genuine interest and care for his players, both on and off the court. It came as no surprise that more than 70 women’s basketball alumni gathered at the Finneran Pavilion to celebrate Perretta.
Cathy Razler (‘85), Michelle Eberz (‘95), Laura Kurz (‘09) and Maria Shallow (‘10) were some of those in attendance on Saturday.
Though the four women come from a vast range of women’s basketball eras, they all shared a sense of community that was created under Perretta’s leadership.
“I graduated 40 years ago, but I continue to come back,” Razler said. “I have friends [former collegiate athletes] who went to Big 5 schools, and they don’t have what we have. Everyone here recognizes that. What we have here is something special. Those teams don’t get 70 people to come back for an alumni game, and they don’t keep in touch as much as we do. Nothing against those guys, but it’s just a connection we [Villanova women’s basketball] all have.”
Kurz shared the same sentiment as Razler.
“If you go to any other alumni game at any other university, you’re not going to get this turnout,” Kurz said. “So much of that has to do with Harry and his legacy and the sisterhood that he created here.”
Perretta fostered this bond by recruiting a unique type of athlete: the textbook Villanova basketball player, who played smart and played hard. Shallow shared her opinion on the identity of women’s basketball players.
“They’re just smart, and that’s playing smart,” Shallow said. “Villanova players are always very smart, and I think that’s still very much present on this team.”
Perretta is glad to know that his recruiting mentality lives on under the leadership of one of his former players and current head coach Denise Dillion.
“You always want the people that you mentored to accomplish more than you did,” Perretta said. “Denise has been able to recruit high school seniors in a world that doesn’t do that as much anymore. She’s getting a few portal kids, but she’s still winning traditionally by recruiting high school kids, which is very difficult to do in this day and age. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to do that. I don’t know if I would’ve had the patience.”
The team, including current and former players, is a family to Perretta. This even brings biological families closer together. Eberz shared what makes this team so special.
“The unity and friendships that have come from all these years,” Eberz said. “My daughter is coming here next year, and she’s going to be part of the Villanova basketball squad. It’s a family network at Villanova, which is so awesome.”
Just as Perretta’s influence continues, so does his involvement with the team. Perretta currently works as a broadcaster and analyst for FOX Sports, and he covered the game during which he received his honor. Now, even when Perretta isn’t on the sidelines, his legacy will remain enshrined in the Finneran Pavilion.
