June 8, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. – On June 3rd the Monogram Club welcomed two new members, as the Club presented honorary monograms to longtime basketball supporter Phil Singleton ‘ 60 and Notre Dame women’s lacrosse head coach Tracy Coyne.
This marks the first time the Club has awarded an honorary monogram since April of 2009.
“Phil and Tracy have each had played a vital role in the success of Notre Dame athletics,” said Monogram Club executive director Beth Hunter. “While their contributions are different, they are both equally important and we are very proud to welcome them into the Monogram Club family.”
Following lunch on Thursday afternoon, members of the athletics department staff and the Monogram Club, including women’s basketball head coach Muffet McGraw, Monogram Club president Joe Restic ’79 and Monogram Club executive director Beth Hunter, gathered at the Warren Golf Course to surprise Singleton with the presentation of his honorary monogram.
“I’m stunned,” Singleton said. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this honor but I am very grateful to the Monogram Club and everyone involved who helped make this happen.”
Singleton, who returned campus to celebrate his 50th reunion, is a true Notre Dame man who has a strong affinity for Irish athletics and in particular the men’s and women’s basketball programs. He has supported the Irish as a fan for years, and in recent years provided funding to renovate the basketball offices in the Joyce Center. Annually, Phil has also hosts a golf tournament at Salem Country Club (MA) in support of Irish athletics.
Since graduating from Notre Dame in 1960, Singleton has gone on to have a successful career in business and real estate. Over the years he has developed and promoted the concept of low income/affordable housing. Many of his building plans contain extra units of affordable housing at no extra cost to insure people in need can enjoy a higher standard of living.
“Phil possesses that quality of the Notre Dame athlete and team player, who will sacrifice and do whatever is necessary to fulfill our team’s goal,” said longtime friend and football monogram winner Robert Pietrzak ’60. “He has done so time after time and I can not think of a better way than an honorary monogram to pay tribute to him for all he has done.”
That evening, hundreds of Monogram winners along with Notre Dame coaches and administrators gathered for the Monogram Club’s Summer Mass and Cookout. Following Mass in the Rosenthal Atrium of Purcell Pavilion, attendees headed upstairs to the new Club Naimoli for great food and fellowship. During the speaking portion of the cookout, Hunter along with honorary monogram winner and athletics department chaplain Rev. Paul Doyle C.S.C. ’65 presented Coyne with an honorary monogram.
Coyne, who believed she was in attendance to present an honorary monogram to another member of the staff, was stunned to learn the honor was in fact for her.
“This means the world to me,” Coyne said. “I am doing my best to not get to emotional right now but this really means a lot. I felt lucky to even have an interview for a job at Notre Dame but to receive an honorary monogram is beyond the wildest expectations I had when I started here 14 years ago.”
As the only head coach in the Notre Dame program’s history, Coyne is 137-89 (.606) and has guided the Irish to six NCAA tournaments (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010) where her teams have advanced to the Final Four once (2006) and the quarterfinals twice (2002, 2009).
A three-time (2004, 2006, 2008) BIG EAST coach of the year, Coyne recorded her 250th career win on April 22, 2010 in a 12-11 victory at Ohio State, making her just the ninth coach in NCAA history to have 250 or more wins in her career. She was the national coach of the year in 2006 after guiding the Irish to the NCAA final four that year. She ranks 29th all-time in winning percentage and among active coaches is third in wins and seventh in winning percentage.
Coyne also has coached on the international level as the head coach for the Canadian women’s lacrosse national team from 1999-2005. In June of 2005, she led Team Canada to a fourth-place finish at the 2005 World Cup, her second, fourth-place finish (2001) as Canada’s field boss.