Kelly Morrone will begin her sixth season at the helm of the Merrimack women's basketball team in 2025-2026. Morrone is fresh off of a MAAC semifinals appearance in the 2024-2025 season.

Since her hire as the head coach at Merrimack, Morrone has achieved numerous great feats. She has helped ease the program through the transition period from Division two to Division one and has seen success at the next level. Morrone has 40 division one wins as the head coach of Merrimack entering her fifth year. She was able to guide the Warriors to a combined 18-14 conference record throughout the past two seasons, earning a third and fourth place finish respectively in the NEC. She has oversaw back to back NEC semifinal appearances from her team to close out their time as a member of the Northeast Conference. Her team was able to win the first postseason game in the Division one era in 2022-23. Morrone mastered an 8 game winning streak that was the longest such streak in almost two decades. She has continuously improved this team, molding All-Conference players, manufacturing wins and instilling a culture into the program. In 2021-22 they were top 100 in pace per possession, 64th in 3PT field goal % at 33.3, and top 75 in offensive rebounds per game. 

Since becoming the coach, Kelly has always made sure to keep the competition in her schedules as a premium. The Warriors have faced off against highly regarded opponents and postseason perennials that include Kentucky, Notre Dame, USC, Utah, and USF. Morrone’s teams have played numerous teams that would fight their way to the WNIT or NCAA tournament. Those teams include Holy Cross, Albany, Vermont, Harvard, and Boston University. In 2022-2023 Merrimack was the lone team to sweep a Sacred Heart team that made it all the way to the NCAA tournament. 

Morrone has also been in charge of bringing in and maintaining student athletes at the school. She has recruited such impact players as Ava Owens, Amaya Staton, and Paige McCormick. Morrone has also done an outstanding job of keeping players within the program. She has been able to retain great players such as Jayme Decesare, Diamond Christian, and Kaylee Thomas among many others. Morrone welcomed eight new faces including seven freshmen recruits and one transfer to her roster in the 2023-24 season. Morrone’s ability to recruit high level talent has been a knack. She has not only gotten these recruits to come to Merrimack but developed them into even better players and student athletes.

Under Morrone’s tutelage she has seen enormous growth both in the program and the players. Mayson Kimball and Kate Mager, twice, were able to earn All Conference team honors in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 respectively. In 2022-2023 Morrone saw not one, not two, but a trio of her players earn All Conference team honors in Jayme Decesare, Marissa Hamilton, and Kaylee Thomas. It was the first time in the program's history that they had three all conference selections in the same year. 
Morrone, along with her many athletic accomplishments and improvements to her teams and players, has overseen growth academically as well. In 2022-2023 her team had nine NEC Winter Honor Roll athletes. Lydia Melaschenko, Marissa Hamilton, Molly Manion, Amaya Staton, Jayme Decesare, Diamond Christian, Sidni Wise-Wright, Kaylee Thomas, and Mackenzie Bray all were a part of this honor. Under Morrone the team also had a 3.44 GPA, best in the NEC. 

Kelly has most recently been selected as a WBCA top 25 coaches poll voter where she will serve as the conference's voting representative.

Morrone – who became the seventh head coach in school history – arrived at Merrimack after an impressive seven-year stint at John Carroll University. She guided the Blue Streaks to 117 wins over the last seven years, claiming a pair of Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) regular season titles, the 2018-19 OAC Tournament Championship and three NCAA Division III Tournament berths, the first three appearances in school history. 

The last two years of Morrone's tenure have been particularly impressive, posting back-to-back 20-win campaigns including a 23-win season in 2019-20. She totaled four seasons of at least 20 victories over her seven-year stint at John Carroll, while coaching 19 OAC All-Conference selections, 16 OAC All-Academic honorees, three NCAA Division III All-Americans and one National Semi-Finalist for DIII Player of the Year. She won a pair of OAC Coach of the Year honors (2013-14, 2018-19), while boasting a roster that featured four OAC Player of the Year award winners over seven years, a pair of OAC Freshman of the Year recipients and two OAC Defensive Players of the Year. 

Morrone's head coaching career started spectacularly, winning the first 11 games of the 2013-14 season with John Carroll. She went on to post a 22-win effort in her inaugural season, leading the Blue Streaks to their first-ever OAC Regular Season Championship, first NCAA Tournament bid and first NCAA Tournament victory. She matched that effort in 2014-15 with an identical 22-5 record that featured a 16-1 start to season and a follow-up bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

After reaching the OAC Tournament in four of her first five years on the sidelines, Morrone guided John Carroll to its first-ever OAC Tournament Championship in the 2018-19 season. The Blue Streaks won 22 games for the third time in six years under Morrone, taking down Ohio Northern University, 61-58, to claim the title. The 2019-20 campaign featured a career-best 23 wins, and a return trip to the OAC Championship game. 

Prior to her arrival at John Carroll, Morrone's background featured a myriad of Division I assistant coaching positions. In 2012-13, she served as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the College of William & Mary where she focused on the development of the Tribe's guards, acted as offensive coordinator and focused on skill instruction, game preparation, and scouting as well as all aspects of recruiting. She also has New England roots with a stop at the University of Rhode Island (2010-12) as the Rams' Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator. She held the same title at Davidson College (2008-10), while her coaching career began at the University of Buffalo as an assistant coach (2005-08). 

Morrone was a student-athlete at the University of South Carolina, where she contributed to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances for the Gamecocks. South Carolina reached the Elite Eight during her junior season (2001-02), and followed that up with an appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament during Morrone's senior year (2002-03). Morrone ranks third all-time in South Carolina history in career three-point percentage, three-pointers made and three-point attempts. 
She was also a three-year captain while a player at South Carolina and a four-year SEC Academic Honor Roll selection. Morrone graduated from South Carolina with a degree in sport & entertainment management. 

Morrone's Coaching Career
Merrimack College - Head Women's Basketball Coach (2020-Present) 
John Carroll University - Head Women's Basketball Coach (2013-20)
College of William & Mary - Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator (2012-13)
University of Rhode Island - Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator (2010-12)
Davidson College - Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator (2008-10)
University of Buffalo - Assistant Coach (2005-08)