PITTSBURGH (AP) — College of Charleston coach Robin Harmony is heading north to take over Pittsburgh's struggling women's basketball program.
Pitt athletic director Allen Greene announced Monday that the Panthers have tabbed Harmony to replace Tory Verdi, who was fired this month after finishing 8-23, including a 1-17 mark in conference play. Verdi's dismissal came just weeks after several former Panthers filed a lawsuit against Verdi and the university alleging they were subject to abusive coaching methods and their pleas for the university to intervene went unheard. The school has denied the allegations.
Harmony spent seven years at College of Charleston, leading the Cougars to a program-record 27-6 mark, the Colonial Athletic Association title and their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. Charleston hung tough in the first round against third-seeded Duke before falling 81-64.
The 2026 CAA Coach of the Year, Harmony won a school-record 122 games during her tenure with the Cougars. Harmony previously coached at Lamar, winning 115 games across six seasons while leading the Cardinals to three Southland Conference regular-season titles.
“Coach Harmony has built a reputation on forming meaningful relationships with student-athletes and leading with an athlete-centered philosophy that prioritizes their growth both on and off the court,” Greene said in a statement.
Harmony, a native of Hershey, Pennsylvania, starred collegiately at Miami. She is the only player in Hurricanes history in either the men's or women's programs to finish her playing career with 1,000 points, 750 rebounds, 400 assists and 300 steals. Harmony later served as a longtime assistant at Miami before becoming head coach at NAIA-level St. Thomas (Florida) in 2005.
“My promise to Pitt fans is to build a team that reflects the spirit of the University and the City of Pittsburgh with grit, determination and teamwork,” Harmony said.
The Panthers have largely floundered since moving from the Big East to the ACC in 2013. Pitt has posted just one winning season since making the move. The 2013-14 team won 20 games and reached the NCAA Tournament under former coach Suzie McConnell-Serio.
Pitt has finished four games under .500 or worse in each of the last 11 seasons.
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FILE - Charleston head coach Robin Harmony watches her team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va., Feb. 18, 2022. (Daniel Lin/Daily News-Record Via AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — An Air Canada jet carrying more than 70 passengers collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday, killing the pilot and copilot and injuring several others, officials said.
The impact severed the cockpit, and hurled a flight attendant — still secured to her seat — far from the crash site, her daughter told a Canadian TV station. The flight attendant survived.
The fire truck was crossing the tarmac just before midnight after being given permission to check on another plane that had aborted its takeoff. Before the collision, an air traffic controller can be heard on airport communications frantically telling the fire truck to stop.
Roughly 20 minutes later, the controller appears to blame himself. “We were dealing with an emergency earlier,” the controller said. “I messed up.”
About 40 passengers and crew members on the regional jet from Montreal, and two people from the fire truck, were taken to hospitals, some with serious injuries. Most were released by Monday morning, authorities said.
A key for investigators will be examining coordination of the airport’s air traffic and ground traffic at the time of the crash, said Mary Schiavo, a former Department of Transportation Inspector General. “This has been happening for years and sadly some of the most horrific air crashes in history happen on the ground at the airport.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said LaGuardia is “well-staffed” but still faces a shortage of air traffic controllers. He said there are 33 certified controllers but the goal is to have 37. More than one controller was on duty at the time of the accident, he said.
“I can’t give specifics on what went wrong,” Duffy said, deferring to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation and planned a news conference for Monday evening. Canada also sent a team of investigators.
The crash shut down LaGuardia — the New York region’s third busiest hub — during what was already a messy time at U.S. airports because of a partial government shutdown.
Flights resumed Monday afternoon on one runway and with lengthy delays. The shutdown caused some disruptions at other airports, too, especially for Delta, which has a major presence at LaGuardia.
The collision left cables and debris dangling from the mangled cockpit. Images showed the fire truck flipped onto its side, with most of the damage to its back half.
Flight attendant Solange Tremblay suffered multiple fractures to one leg and will need surgery after being thrown from the plane, daughter Sarah Lépine told Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles.
Her survival is “a total miracle,” Lépine said. “I’m still trying to understand how all this happened, but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.”
Passenger Rebecca Liquori said the plane hit turbulence while descending, and she then felt it brake hard and heard a loud boom.
“Everybody just jolted out of their seats. People hit their heads. People were bleeding,” Liquori told News12 Long Island, a station where she once worked.
Liquori said passengers helped each other slide down a wing.
“I’m just happy to be alive,” said Liquori, who had gone to Montreal for a cousin’s baby shower. “I would have never pictured a one-hour flight that I’ve done countless times … ending like this.”
The pilot and copilot who died were both based out of Canada, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.
President Donald Trump called it a “terrible” situation. “They made a mistake,” he told reporters. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement the accident was “deeply saddening.”
The fire truck was traveling across the runway to respond to a United Airlines flight, whose pilot had reported “an issue with odor,” said Garcia.
Two Port Authority employees in the fire truck suffered injuries not believed to be life-threatening, Garcia said. One was expected to be released Monday while the other will stay in the hospital for observation, she said.
There were 72 passengers and four crew members aboard the Jazz Aviation flight operating on behalf of Air Canada, according to the airline. The flight originated at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.
Hours after the crash, the plane remained on the runway with its crumpled nose tilted upward.
The air traffic controller tried to warn the fire truck.
“Stop, stop, stop, Truck 1. Stop, stop, stop,” the transmission says. “Stop, Truck 1.” The controller can then be heard frantically diverting an incoming aircraft from landing.
Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints in recent days. They have been affected by past shutdowns.
The FAA has been chronically short on air traffic controllers for years. Former FAA air traffic control chief Mike McCormick said LaGuardia has not had perennial staffing problems, but the tower would have been lightly staffed during the overnight shift at the time of the crash.
LaGuardia is one of 35 major U.S. airports with an advanced surface surveillance system designed to help keep track of planes and vehicles crossing the airport.
An alarm heard in the background of the air traffic control audio was likely from the system and would have alerted the tower to the potential collision, McCormick said.
“It’s an aid in a situation like this,” he said, but the system doesn’t know if someone has given clearance for a vehicle to cross a runway.
FAA statistics show there were 1,636 runway incursions last year.
The story has been updated to correct that the Port Authority video on trucks was put out last year, not last month.
Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak, Anthony Izaguirre and Mae Anderson in New York; Rob Gillies in Toronto; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed.
Officials investigate the site, Monday, March 23, 2026, where an Air Canada jet came to rest after colliding with a Port Authority firetruck at LaGuardia Airport, shortly after landing Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A Port Authority firetruck lays on its side just off the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with an Air Canada jet shortly after it landed late Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Officials investigate the site, Monday, March 23, 2026, where an Air Canada jet came to rest after colliding with a Port Authority firetruck at LaGuardia Airport, shortly after landing Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Investigators walk the site, Monday, March 23, 2026, where an Air Canada jet came to rest after colliding with a Port Authority fire truck at LaGuardia Airport, after landing Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle after landing in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
A Port Authority aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle lays on its side off of runway 4 after colliding with an Air Canada jet after it landed at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle after landing in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Firetrucks lineup outside LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, in New York, after an Air Canada Jet collided with a Port Authority vehicle on a runway. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority vehicle in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority vehicle in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority vehicle in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Firetrucks lineup outside LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, in New York, after an Air Canada Jet collided with a Port Authority vehicle on a runway. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
FILE - A control tower is seen at Laguardia International Airport on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova, File)
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority vehicle in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
