Joanne Boyle to be Inducted into Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame

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Oct. 9, 2012

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – On Thursday, Oct. 11, Virginia head women’s basketball coach Joanne Boyle will be one of eight individuals inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, East Boros Chapter. The ceremony will take place at Edgewood Country Club in Churchill, Pa.

The East Boros Chapter encompasses the communities within the Plum, Riverview, Woodland Hills, Wilkinsburg, Penn Hills, Gateway, East Allegheny, Franklin Regional and Penn-Trafford school districts near Pittsburgh. Each fall, the chapter inducts deserving alumni from these high schools and schools that preceded them, who have brought lasting fame and recognition to Pennsylvania through their athletic achievements. This year is the 35th year that the East Boros Chapter has held an induction ceremony.

Boyle was a four-sport standout at Gateway High School in Monroeville, Pa., playing volleyball, basketball and softball as well as running track. She earned a basketball scholarship to Duke University, leading the team with a then-record 75 steals her senior season.

After college, Boyle played professional basketball in Luxembourg and Germany for three years. When her career ended, Boyle returned to her alma mater, serving as an assistant coach at Duke from 1993 to 2002.

Since then, she has been head coach of the Richmond Spiders, the California Golden Bears, and the Virginia Cavaliers. She led Cal to postseason play each year she directed the program. Under her guidance, the Bears advanced to the NCAA Sweet-16 in 2009 and won the WNIT Championship in 2010.

Boyle was named the 2006-07 Pac-10 Coach of the Year and the 2007-08 WBCA Region 8 Coach of the Year. In 2011, she received the WBCA’s prestigious Carol Eckman Award, honoring coaches for a combination of success on the court and distinguished character off the court.

In her first season with the Cavaliers in 2011-12, Boyle guided the team to a 25-11 record, the first time UVa posted 25 wins since the 1999-2000 season when that team finished with a 25-9 record.

Boyle’s 10-year head coaching record stands at 229-104 (.688). She has posted eight 20-win seasons as a head coach, including the 2011-12 campaign with the Cavaliers.

She will be escorted at the ceremony by her mother, Joan Boyle, and her high school basketball coach, Ron Davis.