Finalists for the 2015-16 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year named

The finalists for the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year include include Geno Auriemma (University of Connecticut), Muffet McGraw (University of Notre Dame), Scott Rueck (Oregon State University) and Dawn Staley (University of South Carolina). They were chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy, comprised of journalists from around the country, current and former head coaches, former award winners and conference commissioners, which based their selections on outstanding coaching performances during the 2015-16 college basketball season.

The winner will be announced on Monday, April 4.

About the finalists

Geno Auriemma

• Named the American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year for the third straight year, and 13 times overall dating back to the Huskies’ involvement with the Big East.
• The Huskies are 32-0 this season and on a 69-game winning streak. They have won 116 of their past 117 games en route to three straight national championships.
• He has been named Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year on six previous occasions (2009, 2008, 2002, 2000, 1997, 1995).
• UConn is the top seed in the Bridgeport Region of the NCAA Tournament.

Muffet McGraw

• Was named Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year for the second time in her career.
• In her 29th season as head coach of the Irish, McGraw led Notre Dame to a 31-1 overall record and 16-0 in the conference.
• The Irish swept the ACC regular-season and tournament championships for the third year in a row.
• McGraw has won the Naismith three times, including twice in the past three seasons.
• Notre Dame is the top seed in the Lexington Region of the NCAA Tournament – the fifth consecutive year and sixth time in program history it has earned a top seed.

Scott Rueck

• Led the Beavers to back-to-back Pac-12 regular-season championships.
• The team claimed its first Pac-12 Tournament title in school history.
• Oregon State’s 28 wins is the best single-season total in program history.
• With a current national ranking of 6 in both polls, Oregon State has achieved its highest ranking in school history.
• The No. 2 seed (Dallas Regional) is the Beavers’ highest ever NCAA Tournament seed.

Dawn Staley

• She helped the Gamecocks achieve just the second 16-0 mark in league play in SEC history (31-1 overall).
• South Carolina tallied 13 victories over ranked opponents and totaled at least 30 wins for the secondstraight season.
• The Gamecocks have won the SEC regular-season title in each of the past three years under Staley, who won the Naismith Trophy as the most outstanding women’s college basketball player in 1991 and 1992 while at the University of Virginia.
• The team earned a No. 1 seed (Sioux Falls Region) in its 13th berth in the NCAA Tournament.