|
Utah State's Raegan Pebley (Pee-blee) enters her sixth season as head coach of the Aggie women's basketball program. Pebley was named the head coach at Utah State University on May 1, 2002, becoming the first women's basketball coach at USU in 16 years. She immediately went to work, spending the 2003 season recruiting and rebuilding Utah State's women's basketball program for its inaugural season in 2003-04. The Aggies reinstated women's basketball on March 5, 2002, after the program had been dropped following the 1987 season. Despite being the third-youngest team in the nation in their inaugural season, Pebley's team soon saw the fruits of their labors as they went 5-13 in the Big West Conference and earned a spot in the Big West's postseason tournament. Pebley helped the momentum carry over from USU's freshman campaign into its sophomore season as her team doubled its win total from the previous season with nine games remaining on the schedule. Most coaches would have been satisfied doubling their win total, but Pebley didn't rest on her laurels, coaching the Aggies within one win of tripling their 2004 total (5-22) and guiding them to their second straight Big West Tournament appearance. Pebley's 14 wins in 2004-05 tied her with Fern Gardner (1975) and Cindy Perkins (1979) for the second-highest single-season win total in school history. With 42 career wins, Pebley is third on the career coaching wins list. While the Aggies struggled to a 3-24 overall and 2-14 conference mark in 2006, their first season in the Western Athletic Conference, year two in the WAC saw much improvement as Pebley once again came within one win of tripling their 2006 total, as the team went 11-18 in 2007 and 7-9 in the WAC to finish in seventh-place. In 2008, the Aggies ended the season with a 9-20 overall record with a 5-11 WAC record to once again finish seventh in the league. Under Pebley's direction six players have earned all-conference honors, including two honorable mention selections in 2004 and three honorable mention honorees in 2005, and consecutive all-freshman team picks in 2005 and 2006. Student-athletes have also flourished off the court with Pebley at the helm. In 2008, eight players earned academic all-WAC honors, the most under Pebley's tenure. Six players earned academic all-conference honors in 2007, while seven earned the honor in 2006. Five players were awarded academic all-conference accolades in 2005, with two earning the award in 2004. Additionally, individual career and single-season records have fallen in Pebley's system. Taylor Richards broke the career assists record in 2007 and finished her career with 371. Brittany Hagen became the USU record holder for career three-pointers made in 2005-06 and finished her career with 109 treys. Brittany Phillips ended her career at USU with a 37.9 three-point percentage from 2003-2007 and holds the current career record. Jessica Freeman became the USU career shot block leader in 2004-05 and finished her career with 127, and Ali (Aird) Marchant shot 59.7 percent from the floor in 2003-04 to break the single-season field-goal percentage mark and left USU as the career field-goal percentage record holder, hitting 53.5 percent of her shots. Pebley is the Women's Basketball Coaches Association conference captain, serving on the WBCA's Foresight Committee. As conference captain, she represents the WAC coaches on topics falling under the umbrella of Division I Women's Basketball such as NCAA legistlation, game rules, initiative proposals, and improving the general communication between coaches and the WBCA. As a member of the WBCA's Foresight Committee, she supports their goals to have 100% of the women's basketball specific proposals come through the WBCA legislative process so that they can be voted on by the entire WBCA Division I membership prior to reaching the NCAA legislative cycle. This process encourages inclusion and gives "one voice" to legislative issues that directly affect the great sport of Women's Basketball. A former player for the Utah Starzz of the WNBA, Pebley was an assistant coach for four years at George Mason (1997-99) and Colorado State (1999-2001) before coming to Utah State, as she helped guide CSU to a 48-17 record during her two-year stint with the Rams. She was a four-year letterwinner at Colorado before being a third-round draft pick by the Utah Starzz in 1997. She also spent one season with the Eastern Division Champion Cleveland Rockers in 1998. Pebley, whose maiden name is Scott, grew up in Orem, Utah and graduated from Mountain View High School, where she was part of two 4A Utah State Championship teams from 1992-93. She earned All-American honors and was a two-time state Player of the Year at Mountain View. Coaching has been in her family for sometime now as her father, Ray Scott, has coached women's basketball for more than 30 years. He got his start in the late 70's and early 80's with the Dallas Diamonds and New Orleans Pride of the old ABL. He has since coached at almost every level of women's basketball and is currently the head coach at Princeton High School in Princeton, Texas. Pebley is married to Keith, who is a high school history teacher at Fast Forward Charter School and a defensive coordinator for the Logan High School football team. They have one son, Joseph, who was born July 9, 2003, and a daughter, Harper, who was born Jan. 30, 2007. |
|||||||||||||||||||
