Temple University Athletics
STALEY NAMED RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA REGIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR
3.29.05 | Women's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA -
In just her fifth season with Temple, Staley boasts a career coaching record of 102-51, becoming the fastest coach in TU women's basketball history to reach the 100 win plateau. She has led the Owls to their first-ever A-10 Tournament titles (2002, 2004, 2005), three NCAA appearances since 2002 and a first-ever Top 25 National Ranking. Temple has earned the East Division Championship three times under her tutelage, including this season and finished this season with a perfect 16-0 Conference mark and a 28-4 overall record. The 28 wins are a program single-season record. The Owls won their NCAA First Round game against Louisiana Tech this season, marking just the second time in program history that Temple has advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. Before falling to Rutgers in the NCAA Second Round, Temple boasted the nation's longest winning streak of any men's or women's team, winning 25 straight games.
Staley, who was named the 2004 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year and the 2001 and 2002 Philadelphia Big 5 Coach of the Year, is one of seven National Coaches of the Year selected by the Association, which also names winners for each of the other four WBCA collegiate divisions (NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and JC/CC) plus high school. Each collegiate winner is selected through a two-level process. The first level is by region, in which the coaches from each WBCA geographical region vote for their respective top coach. The regional winner then advances to the national vote.
LSU's Pokey Chatman was named the National Coach of the Year, while Florida State's Sue Semarau, DePaul's Doug Bruno, Iowa State's Bill Fennelly, Ohio State's Jim Foster and Kelly Graves of Gonzaga were named Regional Coaches of the Year.
The winners will be presented to the WBCA membership at the RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Coach of the Year Luncheon on Tuesday, April 5 held in conjunction with the NCAA Division I Women's Final Four in Indianapolis, Indiana.
RUSSELL ATHLETIC and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) have selected Dawn Staley as the 2005 RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA Region 1 Division I Regional Coach of the Year. This is the fifth coaching award that Staley has received since taking over the program in 2000 and the second this season. Staley was named the 2005 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year earlier this month.
