The 18th head coach in the history of the New Haven women’s basketball program, Debbie Buff enters her sixth season at the helm of the Blue and Gold in 2024-25. Buff comes to New Haven following a seven-year stint at Wheeling Jesuit University (Wheeling, W.V.), which included back-to-back Mountain East Conference Championships and NCAA Division II tournament appearances.
With a record of 71-66 (.518) in her five seasons at New Haven and a career record of 275-256 (.518) in 19 years as a head coach, Buff has led New Haven to an appearance in the Northeast-10 Conference tournament in each of her five seasons, which includes back-to-back 18-win campaigns in each of her first two seasons. Overall, her 71 wins at UNH are the fourth most by a single coach, while she is third among all coaches for total games coached (137). Entering the 2024-25 season, Buff needs just 25 wins to tie Jessica Smith (2006-13) for the most wins in program history.
In her five years at New Haven, Buff has coached four players who have earned a total of seven Northeast-10 All-Conference honors, highlighted by Cameryn DeBose ’22, ’25 MA, a two-time All-Conference honoree, who was named the NE10’s Woman of the Year in 2023 and was a Top-30 finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. DeBose is one of two Chargers, Alexandria Kerr ’19, to earn NE10 All-Conference First Team accolades under Buff’s tutelage.
The highlight of the year last season the Chargers came individually when graduate post player Aurora Deshaies became just the fourth player in program history to record 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, setting the mark in both categories during the 2023-24 campaign.
In 2023-23, Buff led the Chargers to a 17-10 overall record and a first-round home game against Franklin Pierce in the NE10 Championship. Leading the way for Buff was the co-captain duo over graduate guard Camryn DeBose and senior Aurora Deshaies, both of whom earned a spot on Northeast-10 All-Conference teams. DeBose, an NE10 First Team and All-Defensive Team selection was also tabbed the NE10’s Woman of the Year, the third Charger to earn the distinction since the Blue and Gold joined the league.
After returning from the CoVID-19 shutdown, Buff led the Chargers to a 10-16 overall record led by DeBose and DeShaies who combined to averaged over 25 points per game. DeBose also capped off the season as one of three Chargers who were named to the NE10 Academic All-Conference Teams following the winter seasons.
During her second season in 2019-20, Buff led the Chargers to an 18-9 record. New Haven finished the season ninth in the nation in Division II in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 53.7 points per game. NE10 All-Rookie selection Aurora Deshaies led the conference in field goal pct. (.565), senior Micah Wormack earned Second Team All-NE10 honors, and DeBose was named to the Northeast-10 All-Academic Team.
In her first campaign with the Chargers in 2018-19, Buff led New Haven to an 18-12 record, an improvement of six wins over the season prior to her arrival. The season culminated with a trip to the NE10 semifinals for the first time since 2016 following a road victory over Stonehill in the NE10 quarterfinals. Buff also helped mentor Alexandria Kerr, a First Team All-NE10 honoree and three-time CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District selection.
Prior to New Haven, Buff took over the Wheeling Jesuit program in 2011 and in five years led her first full recruiting class to the first of back-to-back Mountain East Conference Championships in 2015-16. The Cardinals finished that season with a 27-6 overall record, which tied the school record for most victories in a single season.
The Cardinals followed that up with a second-straight 25-win season, Mountain East Championship and subsequent trip to the NCAA Division II regional championship. Over her seven years in West Virginia, Buff collected a 111-93 overall record for a .544 winning percentage. Over her seven years, the Cardinals finished with a plus-.500 record on four occasions.
Prior to Wheeling Jesuit, Buff spent two seasons at Endicott College where she led the Gulls to the most wins in school history with a 23-6 record in 2008-09 and an appearance in the championship game of the Commonwealth Coast Conference. In her two seasons at Endicott, she compiled an overall record of 42-14.
Her first stint as a head coach came at the Rochester Institute of Technology where her five-plus year career was highlighted by Empire 8 Coach of the Year accolades in 2006-07 when she led the Tigers to the most victories in the history of the RIT women's basketball program and the program's first ever appearance in the Empire 8 and ECAC Championships.
Prior to her collegiate head coaching career, Buff served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at fellow Northeast-10 opponent College of Saint Rose where she helped lead the Golden Knights to the 2000 NCAA Division II Northeast Region Championship, a 34-1 record and a national ranking as high as No. 1 in the country.
Previous to joining a college program, Buff spent 14 years as the head coach at Bishop Maginn High School in Albany. In her time there, she recorded 203 wins and 57 losses while capturing five Big 10 Conference Championships, a Section II title, a regional title and a New York State Class A title. A Hall of Famer at Bishop Maginn, Buff was named the New York State Coach of the Year following the team's 1996 state title run.
A graduate from the State University of New York College at Cortland with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, she also holds a Master's Degree in health education from Russell Sage College. During her time at Cortland, she competed three years for the women's basketball team before turning her attention to training for the Skylon International Marathon in New York. In addition to Skylon, Buff has competed in seven triathlons, most notably the Lake Placid Olympic Tour triathlon.
Outside of her coaching and triathlon experiences, Buff has donated countless hours of volunteer time with the Alzheimer’s Association and the Make A Wish foundation, both causes near and dear to her heart.
