Spirk to Return to the Sidelines for 2025-26 Season
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University Athletics Department has announced the long-time Head Women’s Basketball Coach Mary Beth Spirk will return to the sidelines to lead the Greyhounds in 2025-26 after sitting out last winter while battling a cancer diagnosis.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University Athletics Department has announced the long-time Head Women's Basketball Coach Mary Beth Spirk will return to the sidelines to lead the Greyhounds in 2025-26 after sitting out last winter while battling a cancer diagnosis.
Spirk will begin her 38th season on the Moravian sideline as the ninth winningest active coach in NCAA Division III, and she is 21st in total victories in NCAA Division III history. She has guided the Greyhounds to a 648-345 record in her career, and Spirk has coached the Blue & Grey to seven Middle Atlantic Southeast titles, three Middle Atlantic South Championships, two Middle Atlantic Conference crowns, nine NCAA bids, three "Sweet 16" appearances, an ECAC Championship in 2007, and most recently the 2010 Landmark Conference Championship. In 2019, Spirk surpassed the 600-win milestone with a 13-point rally over rival Muhlenberg College. She has coached 24 1,000-point scorers, 15 All-Americans, countless All-Conference performers, and a National Player of the Year in Kathy Beck.
The 1991-92 season saw the Greyhounds enjoy the most successful season the college has ever experienced. Their 31-2 campaign culminated in hosting the Final Four, an article in Sports Illustrated and a National Runner-Up finish. 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. A ten-time Conference Coach of the Year, Spirk is an ambassador for women's athletics speaking at local schools as well as attending national conferences on gender equity and Title IX.
Spirk has been instrumental in helping Moravian lead NCAA Division III in fundraising for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund over the last 17 years with the Greyhounds raising more than $253,420, including a high mark of $21,662 in 2017. The Hounds have led DIII in Play4Kay each year since 2009, and the Kay Yow Cancer Fund donated $50,000 in Spirk's name to the St. Luke's Hospital Cancer Center to the fight against Cancer this past February. This year's Play4Kay game is set for Saturday, February 14, 2026 in Johnston Hall as the Greyhounds host Lycoming College.
Moravian will begin its 2025-26 season on Saturday, November 8 when the squad travels to Immaculata University in a non-conference game tipping off at 1:00 p.m. The Hounds' home opener will be on Wednesday, November 19 as the Blue & Grey begin the Landmark Conference season versus Elizabethtown College at 7:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall.
