Scott Merritt - Women's Basketball Coach - Marquette University Athletics

Scott Merritt

Title :
Women's Basketball Assistant Coach
E-Mail:
scott.merritt@marquette.edu
Phone:
288-5784
Experience :
Sixth Season
Alma Mater:
Marquette, 2004

Former Marquette University men's basketball standout Scott Merritt will enter his sixth season as an assistant coach for Marquette women’s basketball in the 2019-20 campaign, remaining on the sidelines under head coach Megan Duffy.

“Scott Merritt has such a strong passion and belief in Marquette University,” Duffy said. “He made an incredible impact as a player here winning championships and understands how special it is to be part of this community. Scott is terrific with helping our student-athletes develop both on and off the court. His experience playing at the highest level immediately impacts our players’ growth and reflects the BIG EAST Championships won. He’s passionate about whatever he tackles in recruiting, scouting, and player development.”

Through his first five seasons at Marquette, Merritt was tasked with turning the Golden Eagles into a national name and it showed as Marquette was ranked as high as No. 8 in the AP Poll in 2019, which was the highest ranking in program history. He helped guide the Golden Eagles to three consecutive BIG EAST Championships: 2017 BIG EAST Tournament and 2018 and 2019 BIG EAST regular season titles, which was a first for the program. From the 2016-17 through the 2018-19 seasons, Marquette tallied three consecutive 20-win seasons, culminating in a program-record 27 victories in 2018-19. The Golden Eagles also reached three straight NCAA Tournaments with two No. 5 seeds, the highest seed in MU program history.

Merritt coached two consecutive BIG EAST Players of the Year in Allazia Blockton (2018) and Natisha Hiedeman (2019) and as the primary coach for post players saw Erika Davenport become just the fourth player in Marquette history to reach 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.

Success came off the court as well as Blockton was tabbed as back-to-back BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete in 2018 and 2019.

In the 2018-19 season, Marquette was the only school in Division I with five-1,300 point scorers as Blockton, Hiedeman, Davenport, Danielle King and Amani Wilborn finished their Marquette careers in the top-15 for all-time scorers at MU.

Merritt graduated from Marquette in 2004 and played for the Golden Eagles' 2003 Final Four squad. He is a four-year letterwinner and sits at 41st all-time on MU's scoring list with 1,049 points. Merritt averaged 8.3 points and 5.5 rebounds throughout his career as a Golden Eagle and is 15th with 697 career rebounds.

Merritt served as Assistant AAU Coordinator at DTA in Milwaukee and was a boys' varsity assistant coach at Menomonee Falls High School prior to manning the sidelines at MU.

Following his playing time at Marquette, Merritt spent nine years playing professional basketball overseas, leading Bornova BLD in Izmir, Turkey to a Division Two championship and title for the 2008-09 season, which earned him title game MVP honors. He also led Tochigi Brex of Utsunomiya, Japan to a Japanese Basketball League Championship and Title in 2009-10 and was a two-time Japanese Basketball League All-Star. Merritt was also named to the Asia Basket All-Import squad 2010.

Merritt also played in the National Basketball Association Development league and led the Columbus Riverdragons to a NBDL regular season title in 2004-05 while earning second place Rookie of the Year honors and second team All-NBDL accolades.

Merrit and his wife Ashley have four children, Laila, Isaiah, Mariah and Sienna.