AMHERST, N.Y. -- Daemen University men's basketball and women's basketball head coaches Ryan Grandits and Nate Beutel have announced the hiring of their programs' assistant coaches. Chance Wright is named the top assistant for men's basketball, while Dani Haskell joins the women's basketball staff. 

Wright came to Main Street after serving as an assistant coach at Mercyhurst University for three seasons where he recruited, created and ran individual skill development workouts, game scouted, cut and ran film sessions for the team, organized team travel and served as an academic advisor and coordinator for the Lakers who had the top team GPA in the PSAC/NEC conference all three years that he was there. 

Prior to his time at Mercyhurst, Wright spent a semester as a graduate assistant for women's basketball as well as an assistant coach for men's basketball at Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. He also previously worked with various basketball camps around Pennsylvania, helping out with the Basketball Stars of America in Coraopolis, PA and Dubois Dream in Dubois, PA. 

Wright graduated with a bachelor of science, business administration from Mount Aloysius College in 2021 where he played NCAA Division III men's basketball and earned Academic All-Conference honors. He earned a Masters of Science in Secondary Education from Mercyhurst in 2024.

After a storied high school and collegiate basketball career, Haskell takes her knowledge to the sideline under women's basketball coach Nate Beutel for her first coaching job.

A five-year Division I women's basketball player at Canisius College (2020-23) and St. Bonaventure University (2023-25), Haskell totaled over 1,500 points, 400 rebounds and 240 assists. Beginning her college career at Canisius, Haskell earned Third Team All-MAAC honors twice, made 60 starts and averaged 12.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists over three seasons while shooting 39.8% from the floor. In her two-year Bonnies career, Haskell finished ranking 11^th all-time with 114 made three's and 711 points (12.7 points per game) while shooting 35% from the field.

One of the most prolific high school basketball players in Western New York history, Haskell finished her Franklinville High School career with the second-most points by a female in New York State high school history with 3,227 points and recorded the most points by a Western New York player, male or female. She made 467 three-pointers in her high school career and was named the New York State Class D MVP in 2018 and 2019, as well as earning Western New York Player of the Year honors in 2019. As a senior, she averaged 31 points and 6 rebounds per game.
After graduating from St. Bonaventure, Haskell remained in Olean over the 2025-26 school year and worked as the Assistant to the General Manager of St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball team, supporting recruiting operations and prospect communication and working with external partners on NIL opportunities for student-athletes. She has also worked as a basketball trainer and instructor at XGen Elite since 2020.

Haskell graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies from St. Bonaventure in 2025.