Katelyn Grisillo enters her fifth season on the Wingate staff in the 2020-21 season, which will be her third season as Wingate's number one assistant coach. Grisillo was previously the Graduate Assistant Coach for the 2016-17 season and 2017-18 season, helping the Bulldogs tally three consecutive bids to the NCAA Tournament during her time while winning the 2017 SAC Tournament championship.
During her stint as a graduate assistant at Wingate, Grisillo handled travel arrangements for road games, coordinated service projects, managed all team gear inventory, conducted study hall, handled film highlights, ran all social media platforms, facilitated with summer camp production and organized special game day events in addition to on the court coaching.
Currently, Grisillo assists with all aspects of coaching with an emphasis on post players, scouting reports, budgeting, social media, summer camps and recruiting.
Grisillo was recognized by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association as one of its Thirty Under 30 honorees in March of 2019. The WBCA Thirty Under 30 program was created to recognize 30 up-and-coming women’s basketball coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game. Each honoree has exemplified their involvement in community service, mentorship and impact on others, professional manner, and attitude and professional association involvement.
One of Grisillo’s most notable responsibilities includes organizing and executing the annual Future Bulldog Day. This event brings around 1,000 local Union County students and teachers from the community to gather on Wingate University’s campus. The day consists of a virtual college campus tour, motivational student-athlete speakers and a collegiate women’s basketball game experience.
During the 2016-17 season, Grisillo helped Wingate (26-6 overall) win the South Atlantic Conference tournament title and advance to the NCAA Division II tournament. Two post players (Marta Miscenko and Danasia Witherspoon) were named to the All-SAC teams.
During the 2017-18 season (26-6 overall), Grisillo assisted with the development of SAC Co-Player of the Year and 1,000-point scorer (Miscenko) and Second Team All-SAC recipients and also 1,000-point club members (Witherspoon and Caroline Averette).
In 2018-19 season, Grisillo worked closely with First Team All-Conference guard (Averette) and Honorable Mention all-conference forward (Witherespoon), in addition to SAC Freshman of the Year (Jo Snow) while Wingate (23-9 overall) made a SAC-best 17th appearance in the NCAA DII Tournament. The Bulldogs have appeared in the SAC Tournament championship game every season of Grisillo’s tenure at Wingate.
Grisillo joined Wingate after a successful collegiate career at USC Aiken. Grisillo played in all 28 games as a USC Aiken senior, earning 16 starts. The point guard from Charleston, South Carolina finished second on the team with 46 assists, tallying nearly a 2-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Grisillo dished out a season-high five assists against Columbus State and registered a pair of steals against Francis Marion.
As a junior, Grisillo saw time in 17 games, netting six starts. She posted a season-best seven points against Carson-Newman. Grisillo dished out a career-high six assists against Livingstone and grabbed five boards against Carson-Newman.
Prior to her arrival at USC Aiken, Grisillo spent her first two seasons playing at Presbyterian College. She played in 26 games for the PC Blue Hose. Grisillo buried 42.9 percent of her shots form the floor. She posted her first career points, rebound and steal against Georgia and also tallied a bucket at Virginia Tech.
Grisillo was a LIFE scholarship recipient at USC Aiken. In addition, she was also awarded a Carolina One Michael O’Shaughnessy scholarship. Grisillo was a Presidential Scholar, made the Dean’s List and was part of the Lambda Pi Eta Communications Honor Society.
Grisillo was also a camp coach and counselor at Bishop England High School and Presbyterian College. She was also an assistant coach for Aiken Elite AAU.
Throughout her two seasons at USC Aiken, she interned with the sports information office and hosted over 100 video interviews with student-athletes and coaches. Grisillo graduated with a B.A. in communications with a minor in business administration. She is working on her master’s degree in sport management at Wingate.
