Nancy Fahey hired as Women's Basketball Coach

#1      

Second and Chalmers

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Second and Chalmers
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Nancy Fahey named Women's Basketball Coach

http://www.fightingillini.com/news/...head-womens-basketball-coach.aspx?path=wbball



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According to the News-Gazette, Nancy Fahey of Division III Washington University is the next women's basketball coach.

She's a legend at the D3 level, over 700 wins, 5 national titles, and obviously Whitman knows her well from his time at Wash U, where he gave her an added title as assistant AD.

Kinda seems like a gamble, but what I don't know about women's basketball could fill a barn.

She is in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, the only D3 coach there. That's quite a resume point.
 
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#2      
Ransom Stoddard
Second and Chalmers said:
According to the News-Gazette, Nancy Fahey of Division III Washington University is the next women's basketball coach.

She's a legend at the D3 level, over 700 wins, 5 national titles, and obviously Whitman knows her well from his time at Wash U, where he gave her an added title as assistant AD.

Kinda seems like a gamble, but what I don't know about women's basketball could fill a barn.

She is in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, the only D3 coach there. That's quite a resume point.
Click to expand...

That's a big jump from D3, but this is a heck of a resume.

http://washubears.com/sports/wbkb/coaches/Fahey?view=bio
 
#3      
UofI08
Intriguing hire, but I know nothing about the world of women's college basketball.

I find it very interesting how every hire Whitman has made has been very different. With Mike Thomas, you knew it was going to be a mid major head coach in the midwest. Whitman is all over the place. It makes me think he really truly looks for the best candidate and fit for each individual program.
 
#4      
TownieMatt
Definitely an outside-the-box hire, but given how the last two more conventional hires have gone, it's probably smart to try something new. Who knows, maybe this will be a Bo Ryan type hire.
 
#5      
Epsilon
I think the trend here for JW hires is a set of dedicated, intelligent people with an actual track record of success. Just hypothesizing here, but I am guessing he feels like this kind of candidate has less of a leap to make than a middling record of success on a larger stage (i.e. you've already shown me your ceiling type of candidate). Don't got an issue with that tactic.
 
#6      
TMC999
He has absolutely earned our blanket support at this point with his track record. If he says she's the fit, then that's all I need to know.
 
#7      
BananaShampoo
In 31 years she's never coached a team to double digit losses. That's impressive at any level.
 
#8      
illiniguy24
UofI08 said:
Intriguing hire, but I know nothing about the world of women's college basketball.

I find it very interesting how every hire Whitman has made has been very different. With Mike Thomas, you knew it was going to be a mid major head coach in the midwest. Whitman is all over the place. It makes me think he really truly looks for the best candidate and fit for each individual program.
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What a concept for an AD! :thumb:
 
#9      
afpharmdawg
There goes my prediction of Monty Williams and Archie Miller as "highly paid assistant" for women's b-ball. A winner is always a winner. Very interesting hire.
 
#10      
Illiini
Another day, another killer hire by Josh Whitman.

I can's see how this could be anything but a success. We know that she can coach. No doubt she can recruit. I don't know how much better resume she could have. Look out, Connecticut, there are records to be broken. :thumb:
 
#11      
UofI08
BananaShampoo said:
In 31 years she's never coached a team to double digit losses. That's impressive at any level.
Click to expand...

Definitely an impressive resume.

I will add, Matt Bollant never had a team with double digit losses before coming to Illinois either, and he was already at the Division 1 level.
 
#12      
BananaShampoo
And even though it's a big jump up in level, it still says a lot about Whitman that she'd leave a place where she's had great success for 31 years. Thirty-one years!
 
#14      
Illinimobile
I don't know much about women's' college sports, but it would seem to me that the division levels don't mean quite the same thing as they do for men's football and basketball where there is a significant revenue component. My brother's step daughter plays for a division III school despite having higher level offers. I think the degree and "fit " of the school itself was much more important to the decision than level of competition. Wash U is an outstanding school. I suspect that where there is little chance of a lucrative pro career no matter what level you play in college, there probably isn't that significant of a difference in the level of competition.
 
#15      
GBPillini
Official
Welcome to one of the best to ever wear a whistle, our new @IlliniWBB coach Nancy Fahey! #WeWillWin #ILLINI
C7ifNvXWsAAryC-.jpg
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https://twitter.com/IlliniAD/status/844600128115818497
 
#18      
Deleted member 628259
I wonder why she hasn't jumped to a job like this before. Could be a coup for Whitman.
 
#20      
Orangetool
I know very little about women's basketball. However looking at the resume of this coach, this looks to be an amazing hire.


JFW.
 
#21      
StateFarmCenter
I think it the only coach we could afford with the Bollant firing. Doesn't make it a bad one. I do believe the choice was either Fahey or Bollant for another year.
 
#23      
Ldog2013
Only Geno had a higher winning percentage of coaches with 600 wins.
 
#24      
champaignchris
I would think that the move from DIII to DI would be far less significant in non-revenue sports. I also suspect that Fahey's additional position as Asst. AD made her compensation closer to the level of a DI job such that she wasn't going to take the first one that came along. It may even be that she would have said no to anyone other than Whitman.

She's a Hall of Famer. She goes where she wants. And she wants to go to Illinois.
 
#25      
gibb52
Kind of the Pat Summit/Geno Auriemma of D3 Womens BB. Very good hire.
 
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