Amanda Kay Levens (born January 24, 1979) is an American women's

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. She is currently the head coach at the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

. Previously, she was hired as head coach at

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

(SIUE) in 2008, when the school began a five-year transition to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

's Division I. From 2012 to 2017, she was associate head coach at

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

before being hired at Nevada as head coach.

Early life and education

Born in

Belvidere, Illinois Belvidere is a city in Boone County, settled on the Kishwaukee River in far northern Illinois, United States. Known as the 'City of Murals', Belvidere is home to several public art installations throughout the North and South State Street histo ...

, Levens graduated from Belvidere High School in 1997. At Belvidere High, she was a three-time All State and

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

All-American honoree in basketball. In the fall of 1997, Levens enrolled at

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia with ...

and began playing at

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

for the

Old Dominion Monarchs The Old Dominion Monarchs are composed of 18 intercollegiate athletic teams representing Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, Virginia. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, sailing, soccer, swimming, and tennis. Wo ...

. In her first season in 1997–98, Levens played in 29 games and averaged 3.1 points as Old Dominion made a run to the Sweet 16 round of the 1998 NCAA tournament. Then in 1998–99, Levens started 23 of 32 games, averaging 21.0 minutes and 6.7 points. Old Dominion made a second straight Sweet 16 appearance in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. After two seasons at Old Dominion, Levens transferred to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, where she was a star member of the Sun Devils. At Arizona State, she broke the school's season records for most three-point shots made, with 60 in 2001 and

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

s, with 167 in 2002. In her Arizona State career, Levens scored 1,020 points, an average of 15.9 points per game; dished out 240 assists, a 3.8 per game average; and recovered 218 rebounds for 3.4 per game. In both seasons at ASU, she was a member of the All

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

First Team, and she received an honorable mention on the 2002

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All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

Team. After graduating from Arizona State with a bachelor's degree in history, Levens signed a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

contract with the

Charlotte Sting The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007. The Sting was originally the sister organization of ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

, but she was released before the regular season began. In 2007 she earned her master's degree in educational leadership from Nevada.

College playing statistics

Source

Coaching career

Nevada assistant (2003–2008)

From 2003 to 2008, Levens was an assistant coach for the women's basketball program headed by Kim Gervasoni at the

SIU Edwardsville (2008–2012)

In April 2008, she was selected as the fourth head coach of the

SIU Edwardsville Cougars The SIU Edwardsville Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), located in Edwardsville, Illinois, United States. The Cougars' athletic program is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference ( ...

. SIUE joined the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

(OVC) in 2008 and played its first full conference schedule in the 2011–12 season. Prior to that first season, Leven's Cougars were picked by the league's coaches to finish eighth of the eleven teams. After SIUE finished the season in third place, with a conference record of 12 wins and 4 losses, Levens was named the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Basketball Coach of the Year. Although the Cougars would not be eligible for OVC or NCAA post-season competition until the 2012–13 season, they were invited to play in the 2012 Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) tournament.

Arizona State assistant (2012–2017)

On April 20, 2012, Levens returned to Arizona State as associate head coach under

Charli Turner Thorne Charli Turner Thorne (born March 10, 1966) is a former head coach for the Arizona State Sun Devils women's basketball team. She has coached for 28 seasons from 1993 to 2022. She is the winningest Sun Devil coach since the team was established and ...

. During her five-year tenure as the top assistant, Arizona State appeared in the Sweet 16 of the 2015 NCAA tournament and won the 2015–16

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

regular season title.

Nevada (2017–present)

On March 31, 2017, Levens returned to Nevada to be head coach, following the retirement of

Jane Albright Jane Gibson Albright (born May 26, 1955) is an American women's college basketball coach who was most recently head coach at Nevada from 2008 to 2017. Albright was previously head coach at Northern Illinois from 1984 to 1994, Wisconsin from 1994 ...

. Inheriting a team that finished 11–19 the previous season, Levens led Nevada to a 19–17 record and appearance in the

2018 Women's Basketball Invitational The 2018 Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) was a single-elimination tournament consisting of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that did not participate in the 2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournam ...

semifinals. The 19 wins were the most for any Nevada first-year head coach in program history. However, with an inexperienced roster with six freshmen and only four experienced returning players, Nevada went 12–19 in 2018–19. In 2019–20, Nevada improved to 15–16. Then in 2020–21, with the season shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nevada finished 13–9, including a 9–7 record and fifth place finish in the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

standings, the best under Levens.

Personal life

In 2015, Levens adopted two boys, aged four and three at the time. Levens married Ashley Elliott, an assistant coach on her staff, in 2019.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levens, Amanda 1979 births Living people American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Arizona State Sun Devils women's basketball coaches Arizona State Sun Devils women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois Nevada Wolf Pack women's basketball coaches Old Dominion Monarchs women's basketball players People from Belvidere, Illinois SIU Edwardsville Cougars women's basketball coaches Guards (basketball) Lesbian sportswomen American LGBT sportspeople LGBT basketball players 21st-century LGBT people