Women’s basketball icon Tina Thompson is taking her talents to the east coast. The University of Virginia Athletic Director Carla Williams revealed Thompson’s new position as the head coach of the Virginia women’s basketball team this afternoon. She is the university’s fifth head coach in program history.
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Thompson has had a stellar year, reflective of all of her legendary accomplishments. A few weeks ago, it was annouced that she’d be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame 2018 class, along with another women’s basketball great, Katie Smith. The ceremony will be held on September 7.
Other achievements in Thompson’s career include two Olympic gold medals, four WNBA championships and the top spot in the WNBA all-time leading scoring record books until Diana Taurasi passed her this season. She was also the first player drafted in the history of the WNBA.
Thompson joins the Cavaliers from Karen Aston’s staff with the Texas Longhorns. In her three seasons as an associate head coach at Texas, the Longhorns recorded an overall record of 84-21 and reached a NCAA Elite Eight in 2016
As associate head coach, Thompson focused on player development, which makes her ideal for transitioning into a new program, a new conference, a new coast. Thompson intends on building upon an already successful Cavaliers team in a post-Joanne Boyle era.
Boyle, upon announcing her retirement from coaching on March 20, 2018, leaves with 333 wins under her belt. Her 129-99 record summed up her seven year tenure in Charlottesville, VA. The 2017-18 team made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010.
Thompson said she is “extremely excited…grateful for the opportunity to lead a program with such rich history.”
Virginia finished seventh in ACC final standings for the 2017-18 season with a 22-9, 10-6 record.