Entering his 11th season as a member of the Bryant University women's basketball coaching staff, Mark Caruso is hardly a stranger to the Bulldog basketball program.

Coach Caruso has helped transition the Bulldogs into the Division I level, where they have earned 34 wins over the first three seasons.

Before coming to Bryant, Caruso enjoyed a successful run as the head girls' basketball coach at Manchester (Conn.) High School and a 10-year stretch as a head coach of the Connecticut Starters AAU team.

At Manchester High, Caruso won four conference championships, reached the quarterfinals of the state tournament on two occasions and amassed a composite 51-5 record in conference play.

Before taking on the coaching duties at Manchester, he had been the girls' head coach at both Avon High School (1993-94) and Enfield High School (1987-93) in Connecticut. Caruso also spent one season (1985-86) as an assistant coach at Springfield College in Springfield, Mass.