Gail Goestenkors
Encyclopedia
Gail Ann Goestenkors is the women's basketball head coach for The University of Texas
, having accepted the position on April 3, 2007, replacing the legendary Jody Conradt
. Goestenkors was the Duke University
women's basketball head coach from 1992–2007. During her tenure at Duke
, she led the Blue Devils to 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament
appearances, 10 consecutive appearances in at least the Sweet Sixteen
(1997–2007), and an NCAA-record seven consecutive 30-win seasons from 2000-2007.
Goestenkors attended Saginaw Valley State University
in Michigan, where she played under future Purdue
head coach Marsha Reall. After graduating in 1985, Goestenkors became a graduate assistant coach at Iowa State
. After one season, she left to become an assistant coach at Purdue under Lin Dunn
, where she remained until becoming head coach at Duke in 1992.
Goestenkors accumulated an impressive record at Duke and is one of the most accomplished women's basketball coaches in the nation. She received recognition as the ACC
Coach of the Year a record 7 times (1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2007). In the 2001-02 season, Goestenkors led the Blue Devils to the first undefeated regular season in ACC women's basketball history — a feat she would repeat two other times during her tenure at Duke (2003, 2007). During her final ten seasons at Duke, Goestenkors led the Blue Devils to NCAA Tournament
Sweet Sixteen appearances every year, seven Elite Eight appearances, four Final Four
appearances, and two appearances in the NCAA Championship
game. During her tenure, her teams won five ACC tournament championships and eight ACC regular season titles. Goestenkors holds the ACC record for fewest games required to achieve 300 wins (387 games).
-coached Purdue Lady Boilermakers
in the championship game. Along the way, Duke defeated the Tennessee Lady Vols
in the Elite Eight, spoiling Chamique Holdsclaw
's bid for a clean sweep of the National Championship (Holdsclaw had starred on Tennessee's National Championship teams as a freshman, sophomore and junior).
Goestenkors' 2004-05 squad made the NCAA Elite Eight and posted a 31-5 record despite the loss of National Player of the Year Alana Beard
to graduation.
In 2003-04 with Beard leading the way, the Blue Devils advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, boasted a 30-4 record, won a fifth-straight ACC Tournament championship and fourth-straight ACC regular season title. and broke the University of Connecticut
's 69-game home winning steak with a 68-67 comeback victory in Hartford, Connecticut
.
Goestenkors led the Blue Devils to an ACC-record 35-2 ledger in 2002-03 and their second straight NCAA Final Four appearance. For the second consecutive year, Duke posted a 19-0 record against ACC opponents. The 2001-02 season produced similar success. She led the Blue Devils to a 31-4 record and an NCAA Final Four appearance. Duke became the first ACC school to produce an undefeated 19-0 record in the ACC by winning the regular season and Tournament titles. The Blue Devils in 2000-01 posted a 30-4 record, won ACC Tournament and ACC regular season championships and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 2006-2007 season ended with a 32-2 record and notched her school's first ever undefeated regular season. She is often known as the "winningest coach not to have won a championship", being runner-up two times in fifteen years.
women's basketball team.
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, having accepted the position on April 3, 2007, replacing the legendary Jody Conradt
Jody Conradt
Jody Conradt is a retired women's basketball coach. She was the head coach for the women's team at University of Texas at Austin . Her coaching career spanned 38 years, with the last 31 years at UT from 1976 to 2007. She also served concurrently as the UT women's athletic director from 1992 to 2001...
. Goestenkors was the Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
women's basketball head coach from 1992–2007. During her tenure at Duke
Duke Blue Devils
Duke University's 26 varsity sports teams, known as the Blue Devils, compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The name comes from the French "les Diables Bleus" or "the Blue Devils," which was the nickname given during World War I to the Chasseurs Alpins, the French Alpine light infantry...
, she led the Blue Devils to 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
appearances, 10 consecutive appearances in at least the Sweet Sixteen
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
(1997–2007), and an NCAA-record seven consecutive 30-win seasons from 2000-2007.
Goestenkors attended Saginaw Valley State University
Saginaw Valley State University
Saginaw Valley State University, commonly known as SVSU, is a state university in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in the middle of Michigan's lower peninsula in the Saginaw Valley region. The university is located in Kochville Township, Saginaw County...
in Michigan, where she played under future Purdue
Purdue Boilermakers
Boilermakers is the official nickname for the intercollegiate athletic teams of Purdue University. As is common with athletic nicknames, it is also used as colloquial designation of Purdue's students and alumni at large....
head coach Marsha Reall. After graduating in 1985, Goestenkors became a graduate assistant coach at Iowa State
Iowa State Cyclones
The Iowa State Cyclones are the athletic teams of Iowa State University. The university is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams in 12 sports.*Men's sports...
. After one season, she left to become an assistant coach at Purdue under Lin Dunn
Lin Dunn
Lin Dunn is an American longtime women's basketball coach. She is most known for being the first coach and general manager for the Seattle Storm. She has more than 500 wins to her name....
, where she remained until becoming head coach at Duke in 1992.
Goestenkors accumulated an impressive record at Duke and is one of the most accomplished women's basketball coaches in the nation. She received recognition as the ACC
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
Coach of the Year a record 7 times (1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2007). In the 2001-02 season, Goestenkors led the Blue Devils to the first undefeated regular season in ACC women's basketball history — a feat she would repeat two other times during her tenure at Duke (2003, 2007). During her final ten seasons at Duke, Goestenkors led the Blue Devils to NCAA Tournament
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
Sweet Sixteen appearances every year, seven Elite Eight appearances, four Final Four
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
appearances, and two appearances in the NCAA Championship
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
game. During her tenure, her teams won five ACC tournament championships and eight ACC regular season titles. Goestenkors holds the ACC record for fewest games required to achieve 300 wins (387 games).
NCAA Tournaments
Goestenkors' 1998-99 Duke team finished in second place, losing to the Carolyn PeckCarolyn Peck
Carolyn Arlene Peck is an American television sportscaster and former college basketball coach. She was was the head coach for the women's basketball teams of Purdue University and the University of Florida, and also the first head coach-general manager in the history of the WNBA's Orlando Miracle...
-coached Purdue Lady Boilermakers
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
in the championship game. Along the way, Duke defeated the Tennessee Lady Vols
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
in the Elite Eight, spoiling Chamique Holdsclaw
Chamique Holdsclaw
Chamique Shaunta Holdsclaw is a professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association most recently under a contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars...
's bid for a clean sweep of the National Championship (Holdsclaw had starred on Tennessee's National Championship teams as a freshman, sophomore and junior).
Goestenkors' 2004-05 squad made the NCAA Elite Eight and posted a 31-5 record despite the loss of National Player of the Year Alana Beard
Alana Beard
-External links:****...
to graduation.
In 2003-04 with Beard leading the way, the Blue Devils advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, boasted a 30-4 record, won a fifth-straight ACC Tournament championship and fourth-straight ACC regular season title. and broke the University of Connecticut
Connecticut Huskies
The Connecticut Huskies, also known as the UConn Huskies, are the athletic teams of the University of Connecticut in the United States. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference for all sports except Men's Ice Hockey and Women's Ice...
's 69-game home winning steak with a 68-67 comeback victory in Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford Civic Center
The XL Center, formerly known as the Hartford Civic Center, is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, USA. It is owned by the City of Hartford and operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group under contract with the Connecticut Development Authority...
.
Goestenkors led the Blue Devils to an ACC-record 35-2 ledger in 2002-03 and their second straight NCAA Final Four appearance. For the second consecutive year, Duke posted a 19-0 record against ACC opponents. The 2001-02 season produced similar success. She led the Blue Devils to a 31-4 record and an NCAA Final Four appearance. Duke became the first ACC school to produce an undefeated 19-0 record in the ACC by winning the regular season and Tournament titles. The Blue Devils in 2000-01 posted a 30-4 record, won ACC Tournament and ACC regular season championships and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 2006-2007 season ended with a 32-2 record and notched her school's first ever undefeated regular season. She is often known as the "winningest coach not to have won a championship", being runner-up two times in fifteen years.
Awards
- Associated Press National Coach of the Year (2007)
- ACC Coach of the Year (1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007)
- WBCA District Coach of the Year (1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
- USA Basketball National Coach of the Year (2006)
- WBCA/Rawlings National Coach of the Year (2003)
- Victor Award Coach of the Year (1999, 2003)
- Naismith National Coach of the Year (2003)
- GBallMag.com Coach of the Year (2002)
- Basketball Times Coach of the Year (2000)
- US Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Coach of the Year award (2007)
Head coaching record
Source:Personal life
Goestenkors' ex-husband is Mark Simons, an assistant coach for the AuburnAuburn Tigers
Auburn Tigers is the name given to Auburn University athletic teams. The University is a member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 19 varsity teams in 13 sports:* Men's sports** Baseball** Basketball...
women's basketball team.