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April 2, 2003
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Successful and respected University of Virginia head coaching veteran Debbie Ryan has been tapped by the USA Basketball Women’s Collegiate Committee to serve as head coach of the 2003 USA Basketball Women’s Pan American Games Team. Chaired by University of Texas Senior Associate Athletics Director for Athletics Chris Plonsky, the Committee’s selection of Ryan is subject to approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
The Pan American Games, held every four years in the year prior to the Olympics and organized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), is a multi-sport competition open to men and women representing countries from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean. This summer the Pan American Games will be held Aug. 1-17, with the women’s basketball competition slated for Aug. 2-9, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The field of participants for the women’s basketball competition, which will include teams from six nations, is not yet known.
The 2003 USA Basketball Women’s National Team Trials, which will be used to select the 12-member USA Women’s Pan American Games Team, will be held May 22-25 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
?It is a tremendous honor to be chosen to coach the Pan American basketball team for the USA,? said 2001 USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year Ryan. ? Having the opportunity to coach USA Basketball is always very special. This privilege to represent our country, especially during these challenging times, is a huge responsibility and it brings a great sense of pride about being an American.?
No stranger to USA Basketball after acting as both a coach and committee member in the past, the Pan Am Games marks Ryan’s fifth USA Basketball coaching assignment. She first piloted the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival West Team to a 3-1 record and the gold medal and then led the 1988 USA Junior World Championship Qualifying Team to a 7-0 record and a gold medal finish. Returning the following summer to coach the 1989 USA Women’s Junior World Championship Team, Ryan’s team finished 34 and in seventh place. Most recently, Ryan led the 2001 USA Women’s World University Games Team to a 7-1 record and the gold medal in Beijing, China. For her efforts, which included a hard-fought 87-69 gold medal victory against host China, Ryan earned USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year honors.
In addition to her USA Basketball coaching stints, Ryan served as a member of the USA Basketball Games Committee for Women and the USA Basketball Women’s Player Subcommittee during the 1988-1992 quadrennium, helping to select athletes for numerous competitions including the 1990 World Championship and 1992 Olympic teams.
Ryan brings 26 years (1977-78 through 2002-03) of collegiate coaching experience to USA Basketball. A fixture on the Virginia sidelines for over a quarter of a century, Ryan has compiled a stellar 578-224 (.721) record overall, 251-100 (.715) in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play and her 577 triumphs lists No. 12 among active NCAA Division I coaches. Notching 22 postseason berths, including 20 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (1984-03), Ryan’s teams have reached the Sweet Sixteen 12 times, made four Elite Eight appearances (1988, 1993, 1995, 1996), three final fours (1990, 1991, 1992), and advanced to the 1991 NCAA Tournament championship game. Additionally, with the exception of her first year at UVa, Ryan’s Wahoos have never posted a losing season.
Ryan’s sideline successes have not gone unnoticed. A seven-time recipient of the ACC Coach of the Year award (1984, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1995, 2000), Ryan was also tabbed the 1986 and 1987 Converse District III Coach of the Year and 2000 WBCA Coach of the Year. In 1991, when she led the Wahoos to a 31-3 overall finish, a perfect 14-0 ACC record, and a trip to the NCAA championship game, Ryan was selected the 1991 Naismith National Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club. Additionally, she has been tabbed the Virginia state Coach of the Year four times (1981, 1995, 2000, 2002).
Ryan played collegiate basketball at Ursinus College (Pa.), where she earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1975. Ryan then attended Virginia, where she received her master’s degree in physical education (1977) while working as an assistant basketball and field hockey coach before taking the reigns of the Cavaliers in 1977.
The USA Basketball Women’s Collegiate Committee, in addition to Plonsky, is comprised of NAIA designee Stephanie Findley (head coach, Oklahoma Christian University); NCAA appointees Elaine Elliott (head coach, University of Utah), Gail Goestenkors (head coach, Duke University, N.C.), Donna Noonan (Vice President, Women’s Basketball Championship, NCAA) and Willette White (head coach, Northeastern University, Mass.); representing the NJCAA is Mary Ellen Leicht (Assistant Executive Director, NJCAA); Muffet McGraw (head coach, Notre Dame University, Ind.) was appointed by the WBCA; and Teresa Edwards (2000, 1996, 1992, 1988 and 1984 Olympian, 1994, 1990 and 1986 World Championship teams / Smyrna, Ga.) and Vickie Orr-Wiley (1992 Olympic bronze medalist, 1990 World Championship gold medalist / Birmingham, Ala.) are the athlete representatives.
USA in the Pan Am Games1955 marked the first year of competition for women’s basketball in the Pan American Games, which were first held in 1951. The United States opened the competition by advancing through the field with a perfect 8-0 record to claim the first Pan American Games women’s basketball gold medal. In all, the USA women hold a record six golds, while also earning three silvers and two bronze medals in 11 Pan American Games and have compiled a 62-10 record (.861 winning percentage).
If medals were awarded on how far a team had come, then the1999 USA Pan American Games women’s basketball squad would have been a shoo-in for a gold. For a team that only began training together less than two weeks prior to tip-off, a 4-3 overall record and the capturing of the bronze medal was a remarkable feat, especially considering that the competition included both Brazil and Cuba who fielded teams that contained the nucleus of their 2000 Olympic teams.
The last time the United States captured a gold at the Pan Ams was in 1987. Hosted by the United States in Indianapolis, Edwards and Katrina McClain led the USA to a 4-0 record and the gold medal.
Many USA Basketball athletes who have been selected to a Pan American Games team have gone on to be named to an Olympic squad. In fact, of the 64 women who have been on the United States’ six Olympic squads, 40 have been members of a USA Basketball Pan Am squad, including Jennifer Azzi, Carol Blazejowski, Cynthia Cooper, Anne Donovan, Edwards, Kamie Ethridge, Jennifer Gillom, Pat Head (Summitt), Nancy Lieberman, McClain, Ann Meyers (Drysdale), Kim Mulkey, former Virginia standout Dawn Staley, Katy Steding, Sheryl Swoopes and Lynette Woodard. Additionally, 2000 Olympic gold medalist Natalie Williams competed for USA Volleyball at the 1991 Pan American Games.
The Debbie Ryan Record
USA Basketball Head Coaching Records
2001 USA World University Games Team / 7- 1 / Gold Medal2001 Dong Du Cup (exhibition) / 3- 0 / 1st Place1987 U.S. Olympic Festival West Team / 3 1 / Gold Medal1988 USA Junior World Champ. Qualifying Team / 7 0 / Gold Medal1989 USA Junior World Championship Team / 3 4 / 7th PlaceTotals: Four USA Basketball Teams / 23 6 / (.793)