NSHS alum Cimino named head coach of Dartmouth College women’s basketball

HANOVER, NH – A basketball coach who got her start on the courts during her time as a student at North Smithfield High School has been named head coach of the women’s program at Dartmouth College.

Linda Cimino will lead the women’s team at the New Hampshire university, officials announced last month. The appointment comes following decades of success with varied collegiate programs.

A Lincoln native, Cimino she was an All Stater in both softball and basketball during her time at NSHS. She went on to attend Adelphi University, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in health and physical education in 2001, before earning a master’s in health education in 2004.

Her career as a head coach began at Queensborough Community College, where she spent one year in 2001. She spent four years as a high school coach before returning her alma mater Adelphi as an assistant coach. She was head coach at Caldwell University for eight years where she is credited with rebuilding the Cougars’ program as the all-time leader in wins, with 128 victories.

“Caldwell had won just 39 games in the four years prior to Cimino’s arrival,” noted a release from Dartmouth on the hire. “She also filled the roles of associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator during each of her eight years with the Cougars.”

Cimino spent four seasons as head coach of the Bearcats of Binghamton University in the America East Conference. She was named the America East Coach of the Year in 2016, and brought that team to its first national postseason tournament during the 2017-18 season.

In four years under Cimino, Binghamton landed all four of the America East’s major awards at least once: Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.

She started at St. Francis Brooklyn in 2018, where she went on to produced three winning conference records, and two of her players were named the NEC Rookie of the Year. In 2019, Cimino was inducted into the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Hall of Fame in 2019.

Outside of coaching, Cimino chaired the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee from 2018-2020 while serving a two-year term on the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Competition Committee.

She accepted the new position at Dartmouth in May.