Stephanie Menio Position: Coordinator of Basketball Operations Alma Mater: Pittsburgh '04

With an infectious personality and unwavering drive to succeed, Stephanie Menio (pronounced MANY-o) is in her fourth season as coordinator of basketball operations at Notre Dame.

Menio oversees all aspects of marketing and promotions for the Irish women's basketball program, as well as serve as director of the Irish women's basketball camps and assist in team travel, film exchange and administrative duties related to Notre Dame's nationally-ranked recruiting efforts.

In her first three years, Menio has helped the Irish finish among the top 11 in the nation in average attendance each season, overseeing a 20-percent increase in that average during her short tenure. The Irish also have logged seven of the top 18 crowds in school history under her watch, including three of the program's five sellouts.

In 2005-06, Notre Dame was 11th in the attendance rankings (6,601 fans per game, a 13-percent increase over the previous season) and was the spark behind attracting the third women's basketball sellout in school history (11,418 vs. Tennessee on Dec. 31, 2005). That sellout was made even more notable when all tickets were exhausted 19 days prior to tipoff, a school record for the fastest women's basketball sellout. In addition, with Menio at the helm during the 2005-06 season, Notre Dame saw a five-percent rise in season ticket sales, as well as a 14-percent jump in regular-season ticket revenue.

Not to be outdone, Notre Dame ranked 10th in the country in attendance in 2006-07, averaging 6,364 fans per game over a 16-game slate that was the largest regular-season schedule in program history. The Irish also attracted 101,818 women's basketball fans to the Joyce Center in `06-07, marking the second time ever that Notre Dame reached six figures in total women's basketball attendance. What's more, Notre Dame women's basketball earned a pair of "Readers' Choice Awards" in 2007 from the South Bend Tribune, whose readership selected Irish home games as the "Favorite Family Entertainment" and "Favorite Place To Take Your Kids (Regionally)" for the Michiana area.

The Notre Dame women's basketball marketing and promotions machine reached a new level in 2007-08, as the Irish ranked ninth in the country with an average of 7,016 fans per game. Notre Dame also drew a school-record 112,253 fans, topping the previous year's high-water mark, and recorded two sellouts, the second time in program history the Irish have had multiple capacity crowds at the Joyce Center in the same season. They nearly added a third sellout in `07-08, coming less than 600 fans away from selling out a December non-conference game against Michigan, but still marking the first time Notre Dame has ever had three crowds of 10,000+ fans in the same season. The Irish also were repeat winners in both South Bend Tribune "Readers' Choice Awards".

Menio's marketing and promotions savvy has been a vital force for a Notre Dame program that now has been ranked among the top 20 in the nation in attendance in each of the past eight years. Besides those five sellouts, the Irish also have attracted 19 of 20 largest women's basketball crowds in school history since 2000-01, including 19 audiences at least of 8,000 fans, and attendance figures of 5,000 or better at 110 of the past 112 home games.

"We would be lost without Stephanie because she's so completely indispensable," Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said. "She wears so many hats for us and she's great at everything she does. I can't believe there's anybody in the country that's better than she is in the marketing area. What she's done for our fans and our team to get that kind of support has been phenomenal. She's creative, has a passion for it and works extremely hard, probably to the point of working two full-time jobs and never misses a beat."

"I am very excited to have the opportunity to work with Coach McGraw, the staff, players and especially the outstanding and loyal fans of Notre Dame women's basketball," Menio said. "From the minute I stepped on campus, I felt the passion and excitement surrounding the Irish women's basketball program. We made good progress in my first three years here, but I won't rest until we're selling out the Joyce Center on a night-in, night-out basis."

Prior to her arrival at Notre Dame, Menio spent the 2004-05 year as a marketing associate in the athletics department at the University of Missouri, where she focused on marketing and promotions for the Tiger women's basketball, volleyball, softball and gymnastics programs, as well assisting with group ticket sales and game management for football and men's basketball. Thanks to her efforts in `04-05, the Missouri volleyball team was ranked 19th in the nation in attendance, the gymnastics team wound up 15th in the country in attendance (a 30-percent increase), the Tiger women's basketball program saw a 20-percent increase in season ticket sales and a 21-percent increase in attendance, and the Missouri softball team recorded the seven largest crowds in the program's history, increasing attendance by 30 percent.

Before coming to at Missouri, Menio spent two years as a marketing assistant with the women's basketball program at the University of Pittsburgh. In conjunction with the debut of the new Petersen Events Center, Menio aided in the Panthers' 114-percent rise in attendance from 2002-04, including the first women's basketball sellout in school history (12,632 vs. Connecticut on Jan. 25, 2003).

Menio graduated from Pittsburgh in 2004 with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. She was born May 29, 1982, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and now makes her home in South Bend.