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Joanne Boyle Named Virginia Women's Basketball Coach
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Charlottesville, VA – Joanne Boyle, the women’s head basketball coach at the University of California at Berkeley for the last six years, is the new women’s head basketball coach at the University of Virginia, UVa Athletics Director Craig Littlepage announced today. Boyle becomes the fourth head coach in the 38-year history of the Virginia women’s basketball program.
Boyle comes to Virginia after compiling a 137-64 (.682) record with the Golden Bears. She led California to post season play each year she directed the program, including four NCAA tournament appearances and two trips to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The Golden Bears won the 2010 WNIT championship.
Boyle began her head coaching career at the University of Richmond in 2002. In three years she led the Spiders to a 67-29 (.698) record, winning at least 21 games each season. Her final year at Richmond the Spiders went 23-8 and advanced to the NCAA Championships. Boyle’s nine-year head coaching record is 204-93 (.687). She has taken her teams to post season play all nine years during her career.
When Boyle took over as the California head coach in 2005 she inherited a program that had gone 12 consecutive seasons without a winning record. Among the highlights during her career at California:
• Named the 2011 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Carol Eckman Award winner which is presented annually to an active WBCA coach who exemplifies Eckman’s spirit, integrity and character through sportsmanship, commitment to the student-athlete, honesty, ethical behavior, courage and dedication to purpose.
• Named 2006-07 Pac-10 Coach of the Year
• Named 2007-08 Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 8 Coach of the Year
• Surpassed the 1983-84 Bears (24-8) for the school record for wins in a season in 2007-08 and 2008-09 (27-7)
• Directed Cal to the best Pac-10 finish (2nd) and to the Bears’ best Pac-10 record (15-3) in program history in 2007-08 and 2008-09
• In 2007-08, led Cal to the Pac-10 Tournament final for the first time
• In 2008-09, spent four weeks at a program-best No. 3 ranking in both the AP and USA Today-ESPN Coaches’ polls
• Advanced the 2008-09 squad to the Sweet-16 after winning a second round game in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history
• Guided Cal to eight ranked wins in four seasons, including victories in 2008-09 over No. 2 Rutgers, No. 7 Stanford, and No. 24 Virginia
• Coached the 2006-07 Pac-10 Player of the Year (Devanei Hampton) and the 2005-06 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year (Alexis Gray-Lawson)
• Her players earned All-Pac-10 honors 17 times and Pac-10 All-Freshman accolades 11 times
• Coached three All-Americans (Devanei Hampton, Ashley Walker, and Alexis Gray-Lawson)
• Coached the 2010 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award winner (Alexis Gray-Lawson), an honor given to the top player in the nation 5-8 and under
Boyle is highly regarded in the women’s basketball community. She is a member of the State Farm/Wade Trophy selection committee and the USA Basketball Junior National Team Committee (2009-2012). In 2006 she was an assistant coach for the USA team that competed in the 2006 FIBA Americas U20 Championship for Women and a member of the WBCA Board of Directors.
Boyle served as an assistant coach at Duke from 1993 to 2002. During that nine-year span the Blue Devils recorded a 225-121 record, advancing to the NCAA Championships the last eight seasons and making Final Four appearances in 1999 and 2002.
A four-year letterwinner at Duke, Boyle graduated in 1985 with a degree in economics and obtained a master’s of science degree in health policy and administration from North Carolina in 1989. She ended her playing career ranked second at Duke in both scoring and in assists. Her 75 steals during the 1984-85 campaign remained the highest single-season total until Alana Beard broke the mark in 2000-01. Prior to starting her coaching career at her alma mater she played professionally in Luxembourg and Germany for three years.
A press conference to formally introduce Boyle will be held Monday at noon in the dining hall at John Paul Jones Arena. The press conference will be streamed live on VirginiaSports.com.