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Joanne Boyle, the 2006-07 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, has directed the California women's basketball team to national prominence during her first two seasons at the helm.
Boyle enters the 2007-08 season with a two-year record of 41-21 in Berkeley, giving her the best winning percentage (.661) of any of the eight women's basketball coaches in school history and a five-year career record of 108-50 (.684). She became the third coach in school history to be honored as Pac-10 Coach of the Year and has posted more wins in her first two seasons at Cal than any of her predecessors.
Boyle's 2007-08 squad has earned the highest ranking in school history in any major poll, grabbing the No. 8 preseason spot in Athlon Sports magazine.
After registering the program's first winning record and postseason berth in 13 seasons in 2005-06, last year's team surpassed that standard. The Philadelphia native led the Golden Bears to a 23-9 overall record, marking Cal's first 20-win season in 15 years and falling only one win from matching the 1983-84 team for the most wins in school history. Eighth-seed Cal fell to ninth-seeded Notre Dame, 62-59, in the opening round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, signifying only the second time the Bears have earned consecutive NCAA berths.
In 2006-07, Cal matched the 1991-92 Cal team for the school's best Pac-10 record (12-6) and placed alone in third place for the best Pac-10 showing in school history. Last year's team also was nationally ranked 17-of-18 weeks, including a then-school-record No. 15 ranking by the Associated Press for two weeks. On the heels of the 2005-06 squad's success, Cal was ranked No. 21 in the preseason AP and USA Today-ESPN coaches' polls.
Boyle's team gained further notoriety when it upset No. 8 Stanford, 72-57, on the road Feb. 4. The victory snapped the Cardinal's 17-game winning streak and 50-game home Pac-10 winning streak and marked the highest ranked win in Boyle's five-year history as a head coach. Cal defeated Oregon, 65-56, Jan. 20, 2007, in Berkeley to give Boyle her 100th-career victory.
Cal established school records for field goal percentage defense (37.3%, 2nd Pac-10) and scoring defense (60.1 ppg, 3rd Pac-10) last season, breaking the previous records of 37.8 percent and 60.4 percent set during Boyle's inaugural year in Berkeley. In 2006-07, Cal ranked in the top five in 13 league statistical categories, compared to 10 in 2005-06.
Two years ago, Boyle led a freshman-dominated Cal team to an 18-12 overall record, a sixth-place showing in the Pac-10 (10-8) and the school's first NCAA Tournament appear-ance since 1993.
That year, Cal registered victories over No. 13 Arizona State (66-64) and Pac-10 Tournament champion UCLA (65-58) at home and No. 23 USC (72-67) on the road. The 10th-seed Bears fell to seventh-seeded St. John's, 78-68, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after holding a first-half lead.
Under Boyle's tutelage, Cal players have received 12 conference postseason honors, highlighted by center Devanei Hampton being chosen the 2006-07 Pac-10 Player of the Year and guard Alexis Gray-Lawson securing the 2005-06 Freshman of the Year award. Hampton became the 10th freshman in conference history to be named first-team All-Pac-10 and earned the honor a second time as a sophomore. Forward Ashley Walker joined Hampton on the 2006-07 All-Pac-10 squad.
After her first season at Cal, Boyle was named an assistant coach for the USA team that competed in the 2006 FIBA Americas U20 Championship for Women and was elected a member of the WBCA Board of Directors. With Boyle on staff and Hampton on the 12-player roster, the USA defeated Brazil, 96-54, to claim the FIBA Americas title with a 5-0 record.
Boyle was hired at Cal April 15, 2005, after serving three seasons as head coach at Richmond, where she directed the Spiders to three consecutive 20-plus win seasons, including a 23-8 record and the program's first NCAA berth in 14 years in 2004-05. The Spiders finished with a 12-4 record in the Atlantic 10 in Boyle's final year, their best mark in the four years since they joined the conference. In January 2005, the program received its first-ever national ranking - No. 25 in the ESPN-USA Today-WBCA Coaches' Poll.
In 2005, Richmond earned the program's first at-large bid and third overall invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The 11th-seeded Spiders lost to sixth-seeded Florida State, 87-54, in the first round. Also in 2004-05, Boyle coached Richmond to victories over Virginia, Liberty and Dartmouth - all NCAA Tournament qualifiers - and fielded a team that led the Atlantic 10 in three-point field goal percentage (35.1%) and ranked in the top five in the conference in 13 statistical categories. For Boyle's efforts, the Richmond Times-Dispatch named her the Virginia State Coach of the Year.
Boyle recorded a 67-29 mark (.698) in three seasons at Richmond. In addition to the 2005 NCAA Tournament, she led the Spiders to the WNIT quarterfinals in 2003 (21-11) and to the WNIT semifinals in 2004 (23-10). Her 2003-04 team paced the conference in six statistical categories, including scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage and as-sist/TO ratio. At 17.9 assists per game, Richmond ranked 10th in the nation. Under Boyle's guidance, six Richmond players were selected All-Atlantic 10, with Kate Flavin receiving first- team honors in 2004 and 2005.
Boyle was hired by the Spiders in April 2002, inheriting a team that posted a 14-16 overall record the previous year and hadn't enjoyed a postseason appearance since 1990-91. As she did at Richmond, Boyle brought a winner to Berkeley in her inaugural year at the helm, snapping a streak of 12 straight losing seasons. Boyle also has a proven track record as a recruiter, inking Blue Star Index's 12th-ranked recruiting class in the country for Richmond in 2004-05. She signed Crystal Goring, who was rated the No. 6 best player nationally by Blue Star and earned McDonald's and WBCA All-America honors.
Before accepting her first collegiate head coaching job at Richmond, Boyle was an integral part of Duke's rise to national prominence as an assistant coach for nine seasons. The season before Boyle's arrival in 1993-94, Duke compiled a 12-15 record and finished last in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Two seasons into her stint in Durham, N.C., the team notched 20-plus wins (22-9) for the first time in 10 years and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
With Boyle on staff, Duke garnered eight straight NCAA Tournament berths, highlighted by appearances in the 1999 national championship game and the 2002 semifinals. The Blue Devils reached the 20-win plateau seven times, twice amassed at least 30 victories, were ranked in the top 10 nationally four straight years, grabbed four regular-season ACC championships and advanced to the 1998 NCAA Elite Eight and to the 2000 and 2001 NCAA Sweet 16.
Kodak All-Americans Michele VanGorp (1999), Georgia Schweitzer (2001), Alana Beard (2002 and 2003) and Iciss Tillis (2003) were among the players who benefited from Boyle's presence at Duke. Beard was selected the 2003 Kodak Player of the Year.
Fueling Duke's rise on the national scene were four straight top five recruiting classes from 1999-02. Duke's success in 2001-02 was particularly rewarding for Boyle, who faced a unique personal challenge off the court. In late November, Boyle suffered an ateriovenous malforma-tion (AVM) in her brain, which resulted in brain surgery and a lengthy hospital stay. The genetic condition is a capillary deficiency that causes an eruption of blood vessels which pro-duces stroke-like symptoms and bleeding within the cerebellum. An AVM differs from a blot clot in that an AVM cannot reappear.
Surrounded by her team, friends and family, Boyle fought valiantly to overcome her illness. Her recovery process was more rapid than her doctors had predicted. Her steely resolve, coupled with intense physical and speech therapy, enabled Boyle to return to her role on the Blue Devils' bench within a month. Not long after that, she was on her way to San Anto-nio, Texas, with the team for Duke's second Final Four appearance in four years.
Prior to coaching at Duke, Boyle played professional basketball overseas for division one teams in Luxembourg and Germany before returning to the United States after three years. During her European stay, she also won two league championships. Boyle, a four-year letterwinner at Duke, 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 on the Duke scoring charts and second in assists. Her 75 steals during the 1984-85 campaign remained the highest single-season total until Beard broke the mark in 2000-01.
JOANNE BOYLE FILE Birthday: November 1 Hometown: Philadelphia, PA High School: Gateway (Pittsburgh), 1981 College: Duke, 1985 (bachelor's), and North Carolina, 1989 (master's)Professional Playing Experience German Elite Division (1992-93) Luxembourg League (1990-92)
Coaching Experience California - head coach (2005-present) Richmond - head coach (2002-05) Duke - assistant coach (1993-02)
California (Head Coach) Years Overall Conference Record/Finish Postseason 2005-06 18-12 10-8/6th Pacific-10 NCAA First Round 2006-07 23-9 12-6/3rd Pacific-10 NCAA First Round Totals 41-21 (.661)
Richmond (Head Coach) Years Overall Conference Record/Finish Postseason 2002-03 21-11 9-7/T4th Atlantic 10 WNIT Quarterfinals 2003-04 23-10 11-5/4th Atlantic 10 WNIT Semifinals 2004-05 23-8 12-4/4th Atlantic 10 NCAA First Round Totals 67-29 (.698)
Duke (Assistant Coach) 1993-94 16-11 7-9/5th ACC - 1994-95 22-9 10-6/4th ACC NCAA Second Round 1995-96 26-7 12-4/2nd ACC NCAA Second Round 1996-97 19-11 9-7/5th ACC NCAA Second Round 1997-98 24-8 13-3/1st ACC NCAA Elite Eight 1998-99 29-7 15-1/1st ACC NCAA National Championship Game 1999-00 28-6 12-4/2nd ACC NCAA Sweet 16 2000-01 30-4 13-3/1st ACC NCAA Sweet 16 2001-02 31-4 16-0/1st ACC NCAA Final Four Totals 225-121 (.650)
