Raegan Pebley led USU to its first 20-win season.
March 22, 2012
LOGAN, Utah -
Utah State's women's basketball head coach Raegan Pebley has been named the 2012 RUSSELL ATHLETIC/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Region 7 Coach of the Year. Pebley was one of eight head coaches to earn regional coach of the year honors.
Pebley joins Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame (Region 1), Brenda Frese of Maryland (Region 2), Tom Collen of Arkansas (Region 3), Curt Miller of Bowling Green (Region 4), Kim Mulkey of Baylor (Region 5), Coquese Washington of Penn State (Region 6) and Tara VanDerveer of Stanford (Region 8) as finalists or the 2012 RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA Division I National Coach of the Year award. The award will be given during the second annual WBCA Awards Show on Monday, April 2, in Denver. This event is part of the WBCA National Convention and is held in conjunction with the NCAA® Women's Final Four®.
"The WBCA congratulates these eight coaches on being named finalists for this year's Division I Coach of the Year award," said WBCA CEO Beth Bass. "Each coach was selected by their peers and is deserving of this honor for their terrific seasons. On behalf of the WBCA and its members, I wish all eight of these finalists the best of luck at the WBCA Awards Show in Denver."
Pebley has a connection with two other regional winners. The Aggie coach and Bowling Green head coach Curt Miller were both assistant coaches under current Arkansas head coach Tom Collen at Colorado State.
Pebley, in her ninth season at Utah State, guided the Aggies to a school-record 21-10 record, marking the first time the program has surpassed the 20-win benchmark. Pebley, who earned Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors last season, took her team to the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) for the second consecutive year, following a semifinals appearance in the WAC Tournament. For the first time in school history, Pebley coached two first-team all-WAC honorees in senior forward Ashlee Brown and junior guard Devyn Christensen.
RUSSELL ATHLETIC and the WBCA present the national coach of the year award annually in each of the five WBCA membership divisions (NCAA Divisions I, II and III; NAIA; junior/community college and high school). This is the 30th year of this honor, which has been selected by the WBCA since 1983.
Fans can follow USU women's basketball at http://twitter.com/Aggiehoops and Utah State athletics at http://twitter.com/USUAthletics.
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