Mike Decillis enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Canisius College Golden Griffins. Decillis has made some major improvements to the women's basketball program here since being named the seventh head coach in the program's history on July 20, 1998. The Irvington, N.J., native guided the Golden Griffins to a 16-14 record in 2002-03, the program's first winning season since the 1994-95 campaign.
Prior to taking over at Canisius, Decillis was the head coach at Nazareth College in Pittsford, N.Y. In his 14 seasons as the head coach for the Golden Flyers, Decillis complied a 253-129 (.662) record, while taking his program to the NCAA Division III Tournament six times. He is the all-time winningest coach in the history of Nazareth College athletics, and was recognized for his efforts on the bench by being named the 1996 Coach of the Year by the Rochester Area College Athletics Association. Decillis also spent six seasons as the head coach for the Nazareth softball team, adding up a 50-20 record.
This season will mark the 33rd year Decillis has been involved in coaching, and his 24th year as a college basketball coach. He began his coaching career in 1970 as a senior at Ithaca College, where he served as an assistant coach for the varsity boy's basketball team at Trumansburg (N.Y.) High School. He coached basketball, football and softball while teaching physical education at Gates-Chili High School in Rochester, N.Y.
Decillis has coached in over 1,000 sporting events, which includes high school and college time on the bench. As a basketball coach, Decillis has coached eleven 1,000-point scorers, including Maggie Guidry, Shauna Geronzin and Jenel Stevens here at Canisius. Decillis is a 1971 cum laude graduate of Ithaca College where he was a member of the Blue Bombers basketball team. He was a four-sport athlete at Ocean County College prior to transfering to Ithaca. In June 2003, Decillis was in the first class inducted into the Ocean County (N.J.) Sports Hall of Fame.
Decillis and his wife Maureen live in Rochester with their daughter Abigal, who was born Nov. 18, 2001. Decillis also has two sons, Mike, Jr., and Peter, who both reside in the Philadelphia area.
