Tim Fusina enters his second year as Waynesburg University’s Director of Athletics and sixth season as the Jackets’ head men’s basketball coach in 2024-25.
Fusina is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and will serve as the AD chair for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Athletic Administrators Council and on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee in 2024-25. As the leader of Waynesburg’s athletic department, the athletic staff has expanded with the addition of a Student-Athlete Success Coordinator, five additional graduate assistant positions and the first full-time baseball coach in school history.
“Waynesburg Athletics is about developing the entire person academically, athletically and socially,” said Fusina. “Every decision we make as a department has the student-athlete's best interest in mind. We want to provide a competitive atmosphere with passionate knowledgeable coaches who work to get the best out of their athletes daily. Our goal is to provide a positive four-year experience that results in being competitive on the conference, regional and national levels.”
Fusina has coached the Jackets to a pair of top-five PAC finishes with the 2021-22 squad making a run to the PAC Tournament semifinals and the 2023-24 team posting the program’s best record, best conference record and highest league finish since 2014-15. Waynesburg earned a berth in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament in 2022.
“We have been able to turn our program around by recruiting and retaining the right people,” said Fusina. “People who are able to put the team ahead of themselves on a daily basis. That's a very hard thing to do sometimes, but we have been able to find those people.”
A national recruiting strategy has resulted in an impressive team GPA of 3.3 and the addition of a developmental team. The Jackets have had 22 players named to the PAC Academic Honor Roll and landed a representative on the All-PAC First Team in three out of the last four seasons, including Antone Baker, the program’s first PAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2024.
Fusina’s Jackets consistently rank among the top defensive squads in the PAC and nationally. In 2012-22, Waynesburg ranked in the top 10 nationally in field goal percentage defense and top 20 in scoring defense. In 2023-24, Waynesburg finished No. 32 in the nation in blocks per game and second in the PAC in field goal percentage defense and scoring defense.
“We are successful because we focus on a few things and work hard to excel in those areas,” said Fusina. “Our program is built on defense and making it extremely difficult for you to score on us. We stress pressure on the ball, positioning and physicality. Offensively, we want to make sure we are getting great shots on every possession by taking care of the ball, working to get open and allowing our players to play within their skill set. We have not scratched the surface of what we can accomplish as a program. I am hopeful we can take the next step and compete at the very top of the PAC.”
Prior to his arrival in Waynesburg, Fusina spent two seasons at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. During his time with the Kingsmen, he coached three second-team All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) players, boasted a 3.51 overall team GPA and had one athlete named College Sports Communicators Academic All-District.
Fusina’s first head coaching spot was at Centenary University in Hackettstown, New Jersey, from 2013 to 2017. He boasted a winning record over the final three years of his tenure (41-40) that included a 29-25 mark in the Colonial State Athletic Conference (CSAC). Over that same stretch, he put together the first two winning seasons in school history and the first two seasons with winning conference records.
His Cyclones qualified for three-straight conference tournaments for the first time in school history, and, during that same stretch, hosted Centenary’s first conference tournament game and advanced to the conference semifinal round for the first time. The Cyclones also punched their tickets for consecutive ECAC tournaments in 2015 and 2016.
Fusina was honored as the 2015 Centenary Athletic Department Coach of the Year. He also groomed six All-CSAC performers, the program’s second and third all-time leading scorers and the first and second all-time assist leaders.
Fusina has been an active member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches since 2006. He served on the NABC Division III All Star Game Committee, the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee (Region 7) and has been associated with USA Basketball’s NCAA Basketball Academy.
Fusina, a native of Charleroi, Pennsylvania, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sport Management Studies from California University of Pennsylvania in 2007. He added a Master of Science degree in Sport Management Students from California University of Pennsylvania in August of 2008.
Tim and his wife Stacey have a son, Brooks, and reside in the South Hills.
