After three seasons as the top assistant coach at Stony Brook, Michele Cherry takes over the reigns as head coach. Cherry takes over for mentor Maura McHugh in her first collegiate head job. "I appreciate this incredible opportunity. I am truly excited about working with our returning players as well as our incoming class. I believe the transition will be a smooth one and that we will continue to build on the success that we experienced over the past three years at Stony Brook," said Cherry.

During the previous two years, Cherry helped guide Stony Brook to unprecedented success at the Division I level. In the 2006-2007 season, Cherry helped lead Stony Brook to an 18-11 record including a program best 14-2 conference record. Cherry coached two of the best players in Stony Brook history, Mykeema Ford and Jessica Smith. Ford and Smith finished second and third in career scoring with 1,831 and 1,710 points, respectively.

In 2005-2006, the Seawolves went 20-10 en route to a berth in the postseason WNIT, a first for the women's basketball team.

Cherry arrived at Stony Brook after spending three seasons with the Sacramento Monarchs of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as an assistant coach under Maura McHugh from 2001-03. During her tenure with the Monarchs, she helped guide the team to an appearance in the Western Conference Finals and coached several Olympians and all-conference players like Yolanda Griffith, Ticha Penicheiro and Ruthie Bolton-Holifield.

Before her time in Sacramento, Cherry spent two seasons as an assistant coach at California State University-Northridge and one year with Northeast Louisiana.

Cherry also spent one season as an assistant under McHugh with the first-year franchise Long Beach StingRays of the American Basketball League (ABL) in 1997. That season, she helped lead the team to a 32-22 record and to within one game of the ABL title. Cherry coached Clarissa Davis, a recent inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame and one of the greatest players in the University of Texas history while with the StingRays.

Cherry began her playing career at Oregon State University in 1987-88 before transferring to Arizona State University, where she played for two seasons under McHugh from 1990-92, graduating in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in finance. She began her coaching career at her alma mater the following year, serving as an assistant coach for the 1992-93 campaign.