Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk - Coaches Corner

Entering her 23rd season as Moravian head coach, Mary Beth Spirk is one of the most successful coaches in the nation. With a 409-195 record (.677 winning percentage), she ranks 24th among active coaches in victories, 36th among all Division III coaches in victories and 45th among all Division III coaches in career winning percentage. Spirk earned her 300th career win in 2004 with a victory versus Muhlenberg College, and she topped the 400-win mark last year with a win over Susquehanna University.

Her career has seen Moravian develop into one of the nation’s premier women’s basketball powers. Spirk has directed the Greyhounds to seven Middle Atlantic Conference Southeast crowns, six NCAA Division III Tournament bids including a berth in 2008-09, three NCAA “Sweet 16” appearances, three MAC South titles, a pair of MAC crowns, a spot in the 1992 NCAA championship game and an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference South Championship in 2006-07.

The 1992 season saw the Greyhounds enjoy the most successful season the College has ever experienced. Their 31-2 campaign culminated in hosting the Final Four, where Moravian lost the national championship game, 79-75 to Alma. Spirk’s efforts that year netted her the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association national Coach of the Year award, as well as MAC and Mid-Atlantic Region honors (both for the third straight year). The Spirk era has also seen Moravian establish dominance at Johnston Hall. Over the last 17 years, the Greyhounds have lost just 53 games, with 44 of those setbacks coming in the regular season.

Spirk, who is a seven time Conference Coach of the Year (most recently in 2008), also spent six years as Moravian’s softball coach, becoming the program’s winningest coach and directing the Greyhounds to a share of the 1993 MAC Southeast title. Spirk has been the Conference Coach of the Year six times. Since 1993, she worked as Athletics Recruiting Coordinator and was promoted to assistant athletics director since 2001.

A 1981 graduate of Dickinson, where she was an all-conference softball player, Mary Beth is an instructor of physical education, and she serves as advisor to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Before taking over the Greyhound program, she worked as supervisor at the Wiley Diagnostic Center and as an assistant basketball and softball coach at Moravian. Coach Spirk completed her Master’s in Sports Administration at the United States Sports Academy in Alabama.

Assistant Coach - Daniel Tannous

Daniel Tannous returns for an tenth year with the Greyhounds. Dan, who graduated from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, has coached in the Lehigh Valley as assistant boys coach at Allentown Central Catholic High School and Catasauqua High School and head boys coach at Dieruff High School. Dan resides in Bethlehem with his wife, Anita, and their three children, Jennifer, a Moravian graduate, Ben, a graduate of Elizabethtown College, and Matt.

Assistant Coach - Amy Endler

Amy Endler enters her eighth year on the coaching staff as she returned to her alma mater after spending ten years on the high school level. Amy was the Roselle Park High School head basketball and field hockey coach, and brings this experience to the collegiate level. A 1993 graduate of Moravian College, Amy received her Master’s Degree in Sports Administration from Montclair State University in 1997. She also graduated from the NCAA Women Coaches Academy in December 2007. A standout player of the Hounds, Amy scored over 1,500 points in her career and was inducted into the Moravian College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. Amy just completed her fifth season as Moravian's head field hockey coach.

Assistant Coach - Melissa Newhard Torba

Melissa Newhard Torba joins the staff for a third consecutive year as a former Greyhound. A 1994 graduate of Moravian College, Melissa was a four-year starter on the women's basketball team and a four-year member of the cross country team. She was inducted into the Moravian College Hall of Fame in October 2006. Melissa was an Assistant Coach at rival Muhlenberg College from 1995-2001. She helped lead the team to two Centennial Conference Championships and NCAA Tournament Bids in 1997 and 1998. Melissa is a software consultant for SunGuard Pentamation, Inc. and lives in Center Valley with her husband Walt.