“It would definitely have to be the right place at the right time.”
As an assistant coach at Pittsburgh, Lauren Cognigni entered the summer of 2017 preparing for another season to come with the Panthers. Then a former coaching colleague clued her in about the head coaching vacancy at Oakland University in Michigan.
“After looking up the university and the area that it is in, and seeing what their athletic programs have done and the direction they are moving in, it was definitely something that I thought would be a good starting point for me as far as getting my head coaching career started,” Cognigni said. “The timing was a little crazy, because I got married the week before I started on the job.”
A veteran assistant coach, Cognigni had spent three seasons as an assistant at Pittsburgh and was a part of the 2015 Panthers squad that reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
“My sister played for Holly [Aprile, Pittsburgh head coach] and Gina [Fuchs, former Pittsburgh assistant coach],” Cognigni said. “Being at Pitt was something that I enjoyed even more than I thought I would. Leaving was very hard… I wasn’t just applying everywhere. It truly had to be the right place and time.”
As she considered applying for the job at Oakland, Cognigni saw an opportunity in the Golden Grizzlies position. “My girls have all bought into what we want to do,” she said. “Myself and my staff give off a certain kind of vibe – we like to have fun, but we like to work hard. We want to teach the game… we might not be the most talented in the country, but we have a really great culture and we’re going to work hard, and hopefully that sticks throughout the season.”
A former star pitcher for Saint Joseph’s, Cognigni also works with the pitching staff and calls pitches during games, even as head coach. “We have a big pitching staff, with six pitchers. I anticipate using them all in different ways… we want to attack hitters and not play around with them too much.”
As a “rookie” head coach, Cognigni knows what she wants to see from her club this season. “I want them to focus on giving max effort at every opportunity,” she said. “Whatever comes from that, if we can say that we have done everything we can, that would be as big of a success for me as a winning season.”
