Plymouth State University

Curtis Arsenault was named head coach of the women's basketball team in April 2023 after serving as an assistant for both the men's and women's programs. The rookie head coach had an immediate impact, lifting the program to its most successful season in several years.
 
Arsenault instilled a style of play that led the team to its most wins in 14 years and the best conference record since 2002-03, despite losing the reigning LEC Rookie of the Year to a season-ending injury in just the fourth game of the season.
 
Arsenault’s squad shot 50% from distance and drained ten three-pointers to beat WestConn, 79-70, on the road in the conference opener on Dec. 2 to snap a lengthy conference losing streak and establish the Panthers as a legitimate threat to the league. The Panthers picked up big wins over VTSU Castleton, Keene State and Eastern Connecticut, while sweeping the season series against UMass Boston and WestConn to return to the LEC Tournament.
 
After splitting its first two games of the 2024-25 season, the Panthers edged out Thomas College, 53-52, in the consolation game of the Gene DeLorenzo Tip Off Tournament at Colby College. PSU scored a season-high 72 points while shooting a season-best .412 to knock off VTSU Castleton, 72-65, in mid-February.
 
Arsenault, a 1,000-point scorer himself, witnessed Lea Crompton ‘24G score her 1,000th career point on Jan. 17, 2024, while Bri Wilcox ’26 became the team’s first All-LEC selection in five years. Wilcox, who led the league with 3.3 steals per game, while averaging 15.2 points and 6.5 rebounds a contest, was also selected to the All-Defensive Team.
 
Arsenault, a key contributor to the men's program from 2013-17, spent the previous two seasons on the sideline as the assistant men's basketball coach and served the same role for the women's program from 2017-19.
 
Arsenault helped lead the men to a 15-12 record and a semifinal appearance in the LEC Tournament during the 2021-22 season. He was instrumental in navigating the team to a six-game winning streak late in the season that included a 75-74 win over #25 UMass Dartmouth to help secure a first round home game. Arsenault filled in as head coach during a week-long stretch highlighted by an important 93-82 win over Rhode Island College.
 
Prior to that, Arsenault aided the women's team to its most successful campaign in nearly a decade during the 2018-19 season as PSU won 10 games for the first time since 2009-10. Plymouth State went 4-12 in the Little East, narrowly missing out on a postseason spot. The Panthers opened the year with five straight wins to match the best start since 2009-10, posting an average margin of victory of nearly 12 points. The highlight of the season was an 89-87, double overtime win against regular season champion UMass Dartmouth in the final week of the season.
 
After leaving the women's program, Arsenault spent two seasons as an assistant with the Laconia High School boys' program from 2019-21.
 
Known for his late-game heroics as a player, Arsenault finished his career with 1,236 points to rank tenth on the Panthers' all-time scoring list. He averaged nearly 16 points and five rebounds a game as a junior, shooting .457 from the field. Arsenault played a key role in the Panthers' upset win over #22 Eastern Connecticut in Jan. 2015, snapping the Warriors 27-game LEC regular season winning streak that spanned more than two full years, nailed game-winning three-pointers at the buzzer against UMaine-Presque Isle in Dec. 2015 and Rhode Island College in Dec. 2016, and swished a baseline jumper in the final seconds to beat Thomas College two games later.