Danielle O’Banion was named the 12th head women’s basketball coach at Loyola University Maryland in April, 2021.
Passionate, resilient, and prepared--all words used to describe Danielle “Danny” O’Banion. Named the Women’s Basketball Head Coach at Loyola Maryland in April 2021, Danny’s Loyola teams continue to raise expectations. In the first three years of her tenure, the Greyhounds at least doubled the previous season’s win total. The 2023-24 team finished with the program’s first winning record in 13 years, most wins in eight years, and best ever Patriot League finish. Picked ninth in the 2023-24 Patriot League Preseason Poll, O’Banion led the Hounds to tie for second place, earning her the 2024 Patriot League Coach of the Year honor. The 2024-25 squad continued to raise the bar, finishing the non-conference schedule with a winning record for the first time in 19 years. The same unit was ranked number one in the Patriot League Preseason Polls for the first time in program history.
A 23-year NCAA Division I coaching veteran, Danny’s previous coaching stops include Harvard, University of Minnesota, Kent State, and University of Memphis. O’Banion’s first head coaching stint was at Kent State from 2012-2016. She coached the 2014-15 season while in treatment for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma cancer, during which she coached every game. In recognition of this effort, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USWBA) presented her the Pat Summit Most Courageous Award in 2016. The Jesuit values of Loyola Maryland are very familiar to Danny. She graduated with a degree in Psychology from Boston College in 2001. As a member of the first two women’s basketball teams in school history to appear in the NCAA Tournament and Dean’s List scholar, she maximized her student-athlete experience. Now as a coach, she is committed to empowering her players to become the best versions of themselves in the classroom, court, and community.
“I am so excited to welcome Danielle O’Banion to the Loyola Athletics family as our next head women’s basketball coach,” said Donna M. Woodruff, Loyola's Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics. “It was very clear through our process that Coach O’Banion was the right person to lead our program moving forward. She brings an impressive combination of coaching expertise, successful playing experience and a demonstrated commitment to developing the women in our program as exceptional leaders, student-athletes and citizens while on-campus and well after graduation. The future is very bright with Danielle as the leader of Loyola women’s basketball.”
A career-long member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association, O’Banion served on the WBCA Board of Directors from 2013-15. She is currently serving on the WBCA Board for a second stint as an NCAA Division I rep through 2026. O'Banion was also the second woman to be named president of Black Coaches and Administrators, serving in that role in 2011-12 following four years on the BCA Board of Directors.
“I believe in Loyola University Maryland, and I am honored that Loyola believes in me,” O’Banion said. “I am especially grateful to Vice President Dr. Robert Kelly and Director of Athletics Donna Woodruff for entrusting me with the future of our Loyola women’s basketball program. Loyola, its ideals and the city of Baltimore are a championship combination, and I am eager to begin the work of building a Greyhounds women’s basketball championship tradition.”
As an undergraduate, O’Banion was a four-year letterwinner at Boston College from 1997-2001. She helped guide the Eagles to their first two NCAA tournament appearances in program history, and she was a co-captain and Big East Academic All-Star during her senior season. She graduated from Boston College in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Hispanic Studies minor.
O’Banion grew up in Northern Virginia, and she prepped at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia where she was a Washington Post All-Met guard for the Maroon.
