John Greene has been Rensselaer's head women's basketball coach since the 2001-02 season. The program's all-time leader in wins, he has a 272-243 record, which includes nine consecutive post-season appearances from 2001-10.
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic in which the Engineers did not compete, RPI had five wins in 2021-22. The 2019-20 squad played in the Liberty League playoffs and ECAC Tournament. The Engineers
were the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament and advanced to the semifinals, losing in overtime. They then advanced to the semis of the ECACs before being eliminated.
RPI, which had All-Liberty League First Team honoree Sam Krumbhaar and the Defensive Player of the Year in Celia Tomlinson, finished with an 18-11 mark which included a 12-6 league record.
Greene has coached 11 All-Conference student-athletes in the past seven seasons, including three in 2014-15 when RPI finished with 14 victories and two each of the past two years.
The team also had 14 wins in 2012-13 behind Sarah Wetmore, who averaged 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game and graduated as the school's all-time leader in career points (1,556).
The Engineers won 16 games (16-10) with 10 league victories (10-6) in 2011-12 campaign when Hillary McKinley was the Liberty League Player of the Year. She was also selected All-Region and All-ECAC. The 6-4 McKinley became the first player in program history to be invited to the NCAA Women's Final Four Combine.
In 2010-11, Greene mentored Linda Larsen, who was the program's most recent conference Defensive Player of the Year prior to Tomlinson being chosen.
During the 2009-10 season, Greene led Rensselaer to its first-ever Liberty League Tournament crown as the squad went 17-11 and 10-4 in conference play. Led by Liberty League Player of the Year and Rensselaer Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Whitney Coleman, the Engineers earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in school history.
Greene guided the Engineers to an 18-7 record behind Coleman, a unanimous All-Liberty League First Team and National All-America Honorable Mention selection and Wetmore, the Rookie of the Year.
It was during the 2006-07 campaign that Greene became the all-time winningest coach by leading RPI to 16 wins and into the semifinals of the ECAC Upstate Tournament.
In 2004-05, RPI also earned a berth in the ECAC Tournament in 2004-05 behind two-time Liberty League Player of the Year Kaitlyn Saunders, who was also a two-time
WBCA/Kodak National All-America Honorable Mention. She finished her career as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,506 points. Saunders is currently third behind Wetmore and Coleman (1,530).
Greene led the team to its second highest win total in the program’s history in 2003-04 as the team played in the league and ECAC championship games before finishing 22-7. The tandem of Kristin Kaczynski, a National All-America Honorable Mention, and Saunders, a D3Hoops.com All-East Region First Team selection, combined to score 859 points that year.
RPI won 18 games for the second straight season in 2002-03 (18-10) and earned post-season invitations to the league and ECAC Tournaments, concluding with the first appearance in the ECAC Final in program history. In his inaugural season the Engineers were 18-8 overall and 11-3 in the conference, securing bids in both the league and ECAC tournaments.
Prior to his arrival at Rensselaer, Greene spent two years at Division II University of Bridgeport in Connecticut and three at Western New England University. He was the head coach at both schools, compiling 283 wins (283-287) while leading both programs to success on the court and in the classroom.
Greene has also been a high school varsity coach for boys and girls as well as a junior college coach. He represented the United States at the 2001 World Scholar-Athlete Games and was one of only two Division III coaches selected to serve at the YES Clinic at the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Final Four in 2006.
A native of Somerville, Mass., Greene earned his A.A. in Liberal Arts from Greenfield Community College, where as a student-athlete he received the Alumni Award for Academics, Athletics and Leadership and finished his career among the leaders in points, assists and rebounds. He earned a Bachelor’s of Arts degree with a dual major in History and English from the University of Massachusetts in 1990
He and his wife Patty reside in Troy with their sons Daniel and Nathan.
Updated August 2022
