As in every sport, there are people who work very hard, attain success, and receive the deserved recognition, while there are some who also work and attain relative success but are much less heralded than their counterparts. Women’s college basketball is no different.
While there are well-acclaimed coaches like Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma, and others, Several women’s NCAA basketball coaches are considered underrated due to their consistent success, innovative coaching strategies, or overlooked achievements.
Most Underappreciated Women’s College Basketball Coaches
Now, this list doesn’t necessarily mean these coaches were unknown or unrecognized; their achievements were/are just overshadowed by some other coaches.
Barbara Stevens
Stevens is statistically one of the greatest coaches in women’s college basketball history. She recorded over 1000 wins with Bentley University. Stevens joined Bentley in 1986, and her first year was a good year as the team achieved a record of 24–5.
In her second year, Bentley won 28 games. In 1988, the Falcons started a five-year string of 30 or more victories each year. Between 1992 and 2014, Stevens was named the National Division II Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association five times: 1992, 1999, 2001, 2013, and 2014.
In 2014, the team went undefeated with a 35–0 record. Bentley reached the national championship game against West Texas A&M, where Stevens won her first national championship.
Debbie Ryan
Debbie Ryan became the head coach of University of Virginia in 1977 becoming just the third coach in the program’s history. She spent 34 years as the head coach and she won 739 games.
Ryan took UG to three NCAA Regional Final Fours (1990, 1991, 1992), 11× ACC regular season titles (1984, 1986–1988, 1991–1996, 2000), and three ACC tournament titles (1990, 1992, 1993).
She was also named ACC Coach of the Year seven times (1984, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1995, 2000).
Wendy Larry
Wendy Larry coached three programs, but her most prominent work was with Old Dominion. She took the Lady Monarchs to twenty NCAA Tournaments, set an NCAA record with 17 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) titles, and coached in 608 career victories.
She reached the NCAA Regional Final Four in 1997. She took her teams to the CAA tournament 17 times (1992–2008), won the CAA regular season 16 times (1993–2004, 2006–2008, 2010), and was named CAA Coach of the Year six times (1993, 1995–1997, 1999, 2001).
Joanna P. McCallie
McCallie became the first Division I head coach to win a conference title in four different conferences (the ACC, Big Ten, America East and North Atlantic), and also the first Division I coach to be named conference coach of the year in four different conferences.
She was only the second Division I head coach to lead two different programs to 30-win seasons and to lead two different programs to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. She’s been to three national championship games, including one as an assistant, and she won 646 games as head coach.
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Sue Gunter
Sue Gunter won 752 games in her career. She completed her career as the third-winningest women’s basketball coach in NCAA history at the time. Her record at LSU was 442-221, making her the winningest coach in school history. She won SEC Coach of the Year twice.
Gunter died at the age of 66 at her home in Baton Rouge on August 4, 2005, of respiratory problems and emphysema.
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