Former Providence College standout Olivia Orlando has been named the new Bishop Guertin girls head basketball coach. (Courtesy photo)

NASHUA – She may not be a household name in local girls high school basketball circles, but new Bishop Guertin head coach Olivia Orlando is well known to the players she’ll now be mentoring.

Orlando, was the Cardinals coach during their fall league experience last year, and has been around the program behind the scenes the last couple of years. That certainly led to her being named on Wednesday as highly successful coach Brad Kreick’s successor after Kreick stepped down in March.

“For sure,” Guertin athletic director Ryan Brown said yesterday. “That along with Brad’s recommendation. Having her know some of the kids certainly worked in her favor.”

The Cardinals took a lot of time after Kreick stepped away following the school’s second straight title in mid-March in making its hire, as girls basketball has been a high profile sport thanks to Kreick guiding BG to seven titles (one shared thanks to the pandemic) in his eight years on the job.

Orlando, for those not familiar, grew up in northern Massachusetts and attended Tilton School, where she’s the school’s all-time career leader in points (1,524), rebounds (1,219), steals (446) and assists (520). That all earned her several honors, such as 2017 New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year, as well as the USA Today All-USA New Hampshire Player of the Year.

She went on to a career playing 95 games (76 starts) at Providence College from 2017-21, earned her bachelor’s and Masters degrees in education and teaches special education in northern Massachusetts.

How did she become acquainted with BG? Kreick would hold open gyms for a lot of the college players in the area during the summer, and Orlando would attend during her playing days. There she got to known not only the now-former head coach but many of the BG players.

“She and I developed a very good relationship,” Kreick said. “We’d ask her to help out from time to time. She has a great basketball background and pedigree, and the kids really took to her.”

Orlando also developed a relationship with BG assistant coach Michaela Zebrak, who teaches at the school and will remain with the program, Brown said. “Having her experience, wisdom, and educational experience doesn’t hurt the cause,” Brown said.

“I am incredibly excited and thankful for the opportunity to coach the varsity girls basketball team at BG,” Orlando said in a statement. “Basketball has always been more than a sport to me – it has the power to bring people together in order to achieve a common goal. It builds lifelong skills like teamwork, resilience, perseverance, determination, hard work, and many others.

This will be Orlando’s first official head coaching job, but that was not a concern with neither the school administration nor Kreick, because of the image she portrays.

“Honestly, while spending time with her, I was super impressed,” Brown said.

“She’s got that ‘It’ factor about her,” Kreick said. “She’s got a great presence about her. …

“BG has made a great choice.”