Danielle Rinaldo excited to return to LCCC as head women's basketball coach

May 24—CHEYENNE — Danielle Rinaldo came to view not being hired as Laramie County Community College women's basketball coach as a blessing in disguise.

She served as the Golden Eagles' interim coach for the 2020-21 campaign, but the school opted to hire another coach for the full-time job. Rinaldo is confident that what she did in the three years since getting passed over has better prepared her to be a head coach at the college level.

LCCC announced it hired Rinaldo as head coach Monday.

"I enjoyed my time at LCCC, and it was hard for me to leave," Rinaldo said. "When the opportunity presented itself again, it was an easy decision. The college has grown a lot, athletics is moving in the right direction, with new facilities and scholarship money.

"It's a really good position to be in, and anybody would want it. I'm really glad it worked out in the end. I'm excited to get there, hit the ground running and start building a successful program long term."

Rinaldo succeeds Ayana McWilliams, whose Eagles teams posted a 52-38 record and two Region IX semifinal appearances during her three seasons at the helm. Last month, LCCC informed McWilliams it would not renew her contract once it expires June 30.

"We are genuinely excited to have coach Rinaldo join our family as the next head women's basketball coach," LCCC athletics director Mark Puev said in a news release. "We know that she is anxious to get started, and look forward to her continuing to build the program."

Rinaldo spent two seasons as an assistant for Brian Ortmeier before he left to coach NAIA Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa. She coached the Eagles to a 12-10 record — including a Region IX tournament win — during her season as the interim coach.

Rinaldo enrolled in graduate school at the University of Northern Colorado not long after being told LCCC had chosen McWilliams from the pool of applicants. While she worked toward her master's degree in social psychology of sport at UNC, Rinaldo was hired as a graduate assistant for the athletics department's sports performance staff. She primarily did strength and conditioning work with the Bears women's basketball team. Rinaldo occasionally sat in on practices in an effort to add new tools that would make her a more desirable head coaching candidate.

"It was a really great year to broaden my horizons and gain some new knowledge from some really incredible people," Rinaldo said. "I can tell recruits that I have experience as a certified strength and conditioning coach and can train them like (Division I) athletes in the weight room.

"Not a lot of junior-college coaches can say that. With my masters in social psychology of sport, I can help them with mental performance, and I can be a well-rounded coach. I think that's going to be attractive for the athletes I recruit."

Rinaldo studied kinesiology during her time playing basketball for Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado, and NCAA Div. II Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. Her experience as a coach during the COVID-19 pandemic made her interested in student-athlete mental health and drove her to pursue the graduate studies she did.

"Being a student-athlete is hard to begin with, because you're almost doing two full-time jobs with school and your sport, plus you're on the road all the time," Rinaldo said. "That COVID year added in so many unknowns, with girls getting sick, being isolated in their dorm rooms, having the fear of the sport they love being taken away at any point and time.

"It really messed with the players mentally. Coaches don't get taught how to help kids cope with those sorts of things. Seeing some of the girls struggle with their mental health that year pushed me to get the tools I needed to understand, instruct and direct with a lot more knowledge."

Rinaldo spent this past season as an assistant at Dodge City (Kansas) Community College, helping the Conquistadors go 27-7 and get a first-round win at the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament.

"I took the last three years and tried to be ready for the next time I got the opportunity to be a head coach," Rinaldo said. "The last three years were about learning, absorbing, watching other coaches, making connections and learning the game.

"Being a head coach again was always my end goal."

Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on X at @jjohnke.