Today it was announced that four time WNBA champion, and soon to be Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, Tina Thompson, would become the next head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers’ women’s basketball team.
I am thrilled to have Tina Thompson as our new womens basketball coach, said UVA Athletic Director Williams. She is one of the best to ever play the game, and she has experienced tremendous success at all levels of the game. I am looking forward to working with her and supporting her vision for Virginia basketball.
She has a strong commitment to and passion for developing confident, successful women. As a coach, she has proven to be a tremendous teacher and recruiter. Im excited for the future of our program.
Charles was a force at USC, becoming a three-time All-Pac 10 selection a second-team All-American as a senior in 1997. After finishing fifth on the school’s career lists in both scoring and rebounds, she became the fist player drafted to the WNBA in 1997 and played in the League for 17 years, including her first twelve years with the Houston Comets where she won four WNBA titles. Thompson ranks second behind Diana Taurasi in scoring and was also a two-time Olympic Gold medalist.
After retiring from the League in 2013, she moved into coaching and joined the Texas Longhorns as an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team. She spent three seasons with the university until she got the job at UVA, where she becomes the fifth head coach in the school’s forty-four year history.
I am extremely excited about the opportunity to become the next womens basketball coach at the University of Virginia, said Thompson. I am grateful for the opportunity to lead a program with such a rich history. This program is in an exciting place with a hardworking group of young ladies. It is my intention to continue the winning ways Coach Joanne Boyle has built with this impressionable group.”
Congrats Coach Thompson!
