Molloy finally has its man. Almost.
After a three-month search, Scott Lagas is expected to take over for the fired Tom Catalanotto as the Archbishop Molloy varsity girls basketball coach. School athletic director Mike McCleary told The Post it was pending a meeting Monday with principal Br. Thomas Schady.
The 35-year-old Lagas spent four seasons as a women’s basketball assistant at Division II C.W. Post and had a short stint at Molloy College. He joined the Pioneers staff after coaching seven seasons at the high school level, two at St. Agnes and five at St. Mary’s of Manhasset.
Lagas has a grassroots background at the CYO and PAL levels and more than 40 of his AAU players with the Long Island Lightning travel team have gone to play college basketball, according to his C.W. Post bio. He earned a degree from the University of Phoenix in exercise science after starting his studies at Queens College and holds certifications in nutrition, strength and conditioning and speed and agility for athletes.
Sources told The Post two weeks ago that Jim Walsh, a Rockaway native, was going to be named the school’s head man. Walsh, a mailman who had work obligations to sort out, said he was a finalist for the job. Walsh said he was informed Thursday that the school had decided to go with Lagas.
“They made the choice that they felt is the best choice,” Walsh said. “Hopefully it will work out. They have a lot of talent.”
Lagas would take over a program with limitless potential, but one still feeling the effects of Catalanotto’s unceremonious firing. The sophomore-laden Stanners placed fifth in CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Division I, after tough losses to Bishop Ford, St Francis Prep and Mary Louis. The team jelled during the CHSAA Class A state tournament and went on to win the school’s third state Federation crown and second Class A title.
Catalanotto, who also coaches many of the program’s players with the NYC Lady Bulldogs travel team, did not have his contract renewed in late June. Neither he nor the school ever publicly gave an exact reason for his dismissal despite parental and player outcry. Molloy cited the need for a new direction.
With just one senior starter lost, the Stanners are expected to be one a contenders for a division title this season. They bring back guards Amani Tatum, Alexa (Weazel) Dietrich and Kamille Ejerta along with star forward Carolyn Gallagher.