Yesterday, UW Athletic Director Pat Richter announced the hiring of Lisa Stone as the new head women’s basketball coach at Wisconsin.
Stone, who compiled an overall record of 64-27 at the helm of the Drake Bulldogs over the last three seasons, will become just the fifth women’s basketball coach in the program’s history.
“I’m extremely thrilled to be at Wisconsin,” Stone said. “It’s a dream come true for me to be able to come home and bring my family home. I have bled red and have had a desire to be at Wisconsin my entire life. I’m excited to be part of the Big Ten and to be able to lead this team of talented student-athletes. We’ll hit the ground running and take this program as far as it can go.”
Stone will succeed former UW women’s basketball head coach Jane Albright, who resigned Feb. 25 after the school would not extend her contract.
Among active Division I head coaches, Stone currently ranks ninth in career winning percentage (.761) and has reached the post season in all but five of her 18 seasons as a head coach.
“Our search committee was simply overwhelmed by Lisa’s vision for this program and her passionate desire to be our women’s basketball coach,” Senior Associate Athletic Director Jamie Pollard said. “Her record ? both as a coach and as a developer of outstanding student-athletes ? is first rate. Lisa is a proven winner, has impeccable integrity in the areas of academic commitment and compliance and is an enthusiastic promoter of her program. We are very pleased and proud to have Lisa Stone leading the fortunes of our women’s basketball program and have every confidence that she is the perfect fit for our institution.”
Stone inherits a team that went just 7-21 last season, but returns four of its five starters, which includes leading scorer Stephanie Rich (11.6 ppg) and center Lello Gebisa (10.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg).
Stone, a native of Oregon, Wis., coached for 12 seasons at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire before being named the head coach at Drake four years ago. She emerged as the front-runner for the Wisconsin job after Iowa State’s Bill Fennelly and Colorado’s Ceal Barry said they weren’t interested.
