Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Coach
When Kathy McConnell-Miller took over the University of Colorado program four years ago, there's no question the Buffaloes were rebuilding and the team was a work in progress.
In four seasons at Colorado, there is no question that McConnell-Miller's Buffaloes have made progress and the program his heading in the right direction.
McConnell-Miller, 41, sports a 52-71 record in her four seasons at Colorado and is 143-159 overall in 10 seasons as an NCAA Division I head coach.
Injuries, graduation and playing in the nation's premier women's basketball conference, the Big 12, hampered the progress her teams had built her first three seasons in 2008-09 as the Buffaloes struggled to an 11-18 mark and a 12th place finish in league play. But returning nine contributing players and adding the 32nd best recruiting class in the nation has the Buffaloes pointing in the right direction once again.
The 2009-10 season will mark the first year in which the Buffaloes are comprised completely of players coach McConnell-Miller brought to campus. She fared well with the players inherited from legendary CU head coach Ceal Barry, but she has also excelled in bringing in her own players. McConnell-Miller, and her staff, who from day one have established a family type atmosphere in the lockerroom and a fighting spirit in their players, have been committed to keeping Colorado's best players home, and have certainly succeeded on that front.
For three straight seasons, Colorado has landed at least one of the state's premier prep stars, beginning in 2007 with Aija Putnina, who contributed two solid seasons for the Buffaloes, including the 2008 WNIT run, before returning to her native Latvia to pursue a professional career. In 2008, the Buffaloes landed the consensus Colorado Player of the Year Alyssa Fressle out of Highlands Ranch, who made an immediate contribution and was rewarded with a spot on the Big 12 All-Rookie Team.
CU hit the state jackpot in 2009 with three All-Colorado caliber players; twins Meagan and Brenna Malcolm-Peck, Boulder natives who played at Horizon High School, and Chucky Jeffery, one of the top Class 4A players in 2009 for Sierra High School in Colorado Springs. The regional additions of Kailah Bailey and Melissa MacFarlane, both of Omaha, Neb., have given the Buffaloes their third Top 40 class in the last four years.
In 2006, Colorado had the No. 29 ranked class according to the All-Star Girls Report. What was remarkable about the class of 2006 is McConnell-Miller and her staff didn't even have the chance to start on the recruiting trail until April when they arrived in Boulder. Despite that late start, McConnell-Miller and her staff managed to sign five top 150 players, including Whitney Houston and Putnina who made significant contributions in their first two seasons.
Her first three seasons at Colorado were marked by significant improvement each year. From a nine-win season her first year in Boulder, to a 13-17 mark in 2006-07, in 2007-08 she guided the Buffaloes to a 19-15 record and the team's first winning season and postseason berth since the 2003-04 campaign.
McConnell-Miller experienced quite a few firsts during CU's memorable 2007-08 season. She led Colorado to its first Associated Press national ranking in four seasons, peaking at No. 23, and in the process became the 22nd person in NCAA Division I women's history to coach and play for an AP ranked team.
McConnell-Miller's Buffaloes beat three ranked teams in 2007-08 - another first in four years - and finished ninth in the tough Big 12 Conference at 5-11. With a league-record eight Big 12 teams advancing to the NCAA Tournament, CU gained the conference's automatic bid into the WNIT where the Buffaloes proceeded to advance to the semifinals before falling to eventual tournament champion Marquette. It was CU's first ever appearance in the semifinals of a postseason event and for McConnell-Miller, she claimed the first three postseason wins of her head coaching career (3-3).
The signs of progress were also evident in her second season, 2006-07, when the Buffaloes finished tied for seventh in the Big 12 at 6-10. CU's six league wins in 2006-07 were more than the previous two years combined (3-13 in 2005-06 and 2-14 in 2004-05) and the Buffs won their first Big 12 Tournament game since 2003.
McConnell-Miller, who officially became the sixth head coach in the history of CU women's basketball on April 27, 2005, presided over the development of Jackie McFarland, one of the top players in the Big 12 from 2004-08. McFarland was a two-time AP honorable mention All-American and three-time All-Big 12 selection including back-to-back first team honors in 2007 and 2008. All-league selections are nothing new to McConnell-Miller as she has had at least one first or second team all-conference performer in each of her 10 seasons as a collegiate head coach. The latest in her run of all-star caliber players is junior Brittany Spears who last season became just the second player in team history to reach 1,000 points by the end of her sophomore year.
The Buffaloes have also had academic success in the McConnell-Miller era. In her three seasons, McConnell-Miller has coached 12 Academic All-Big 12 Women's Basketball team members and helped guide McFarland to three ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors, including first team acclaim in 2007-08.
Before arriving at CU, McConnell-Miller spent six seasons as head coach at the University of Tulsa where she constructed an impressive turnaround of the Golden Hurricane program. Before her arrival in 1999-2000, Tulsa had just one winning season in its 14-year history, an overall record of 81-250 (.324), and was actually dropped as a varsity sport for nine years following the 1986-87 campaign. In her six seasons at Tulsa, McConnell-Miller recorded a program-best 91 wins (15.2 wins per year), winning seasons in three of the last four years and two postseason appearances.
She left as Tulsa's all-time leader for coaching victories with a record of 91-88 and owns the longest tenure in school history by a women's basketball coach. McConnell-Miller, who earned WAC Coach of the Year honors in her rookie season as a collegiate head coach in 1999-00, led Tulsa to 14 or more wins in five of her six campaigns.
Under the direction of McConnell-Miller, Tulsa placed at least one player on either the All-WAC first or second team, each of her six seasons. McConnell-Miller also had the Golden Hurricane excelling in the classroom sporting four ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District first and second team performers. Tulsa players also earned 23 All-WAC Academic Team honors. One of McConnell-Miller's prize players was Allison Curtin who was an AP honorable mention All-American for the Golden Hurricane and was drafted by the Houston Comets in the first round of the 2003 WNBA Draft.
Prior to her appointment at Tulsa, McConnell-Miller spent four seasons on Theresa Grentz's staff at the University of Illinois (1995-99). She was an assistant coach for her first three years before being promoted to associate head coach for her final season. The Fighting Illini posted an overall record of 76-45 and advanced to three NCAA Tournaments with McConnell-Miller on the bench. Illinois won the Big Ten Conference Championship in 1997 and twice advanced to the Sweet 16. While at Illinois, McConnell-Miller was vital in the signing of a pair of recruiting classes that ranked among the top five in the nation.
McConnell-Miller coached with Grentz for a total of six years as she went with Grentz to Illinois from Rutgers University in 1995. McConnell-Miller was a Rutgers assistant for two seasons (1993-95), helping the Lady Knights post a pair of winning campaigns, the 1994 Atlantic 10 Championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Her recruiting expertise was well documented at Rutgers as her last class was rated as the 14th-best nationally, giving McConnell-Miller back-to-back Top 15 classes.
Her first collegiate assistant coaching job came at her hometown school, the University of Pittsburgh. She joined the Panthers in 1991 and served as the recruiting coordinator. She was also an assistant coach for the 1993 Big East All-Star Team which played in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
She is a member of the Western Pennsylvania Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Seton LaSalle High School Hall of Fame in October of 2006.
McConnell-Miller enjoyed a four-year playing career at guard for the University of Virginia (1986-90). She played in four NCAA Tournaments with the Cavaliers including a pair of Sweet 16 appearances and the 1988 Elite Eight. McConnell-Miller earned her bachelor's degree in rhetoric and communications from Virginia in 1989.
One of eight children, she is one of six McConnell siblings who attended college on a basketball scholarship.
Four McConnell's are presently in the coaching ranks, three at the college level and one at the high school level. Her older sister, Suzie McConnell Serio is currently the head coach of Duquesne University and was the head coach of the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA for three seasons (2003-06).
Born on Sept. 24, 1967, McConnell-Miller and her husband, Brad Miller, have three children: Brice (9), Mackenzie (8) and Macie (4).
