Jane Gibson Albright (born May 26, 1955) is an American women's college basketball coach who was most recently head coach at

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

from 2008 to 2017. Albright was previously head coach at

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by th ...

from 1984 to 1994,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

from 1994 to 2003, and

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

from 2003 to 2008.

Early life and education

Born and raised in

Graham, North Carolina Graham is a city in Alamance County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census the population was 17,153. It is the county seat of Alamance County. History ...

, Albright graduated from Graham High School in 1973 and

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

in 1977 ''cum laude'' with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education. At Appalachian State, Albright played basketball and volleyball.

Coaching career

Albright began her career as the girls' varsity basketball coach at

Spartanburg High School Spartanburg High School is the public high school in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It is part of Spartanburg County School District No. 7. The current principal is Vance Jones, a former assistant principal at the school. The district includes m ...

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...

in 1977. The team went 3–18 in Albright's first year, then improved to 11–10 in 1978–79, 16–13 in 1979–80, and 20–7 in 1980–81 and made the playoffs in 1980 and 1981. From 1981 to 1983, Albright was a graduate assistant at

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

under

Pat Summitt Patricia Susan Summitt (; June 14, 1952 – June 28, 2016) was an American women's college basketball head coach who accrued 1,098 career wins, the most in college basketball history at the time of her retirement. She served as the head coac ...

. Albright then was an assistant coach at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

for the 1983–84 season. From 1984-1994, Albright was the head coach at Northern Illinois University and helped the Lady Huskies to become a nationally recognized program. She had a record of 188-110 in her 11 years at NIU as the Lady Huskies made the NCAA tournament four times in five years. From 1994 to 2003, she coached at the

where she compiled a 161–107 record with five NCAA tournament and two WNIT appearances. The two WNIT appearances were back to back, in 1999 as runners-up and 2000 as champions. For the first time in program history, Wisconsin reached the top 10 in both the AP and coaches' polls during the 2001–02 season. Following a 7–21 season in 2002–03, Albright resigned on February 25, 2003 with one year remaining on her contract and Wisconsin declining to sign her to a long-term contract extension. After nine seasons at Wisconsin, Albright was head coach at

from 2003 to 2008, where she went 48–95. Her best season was in 2005–06 with a 15–13 record, the only winning season during her five seasons there. Albright was head coach at

from 2008 to 2017, with a 115–165 overall record with two WNIT appearances in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Nevada had its first 20-win season in 2010–11 with a 22–11 record that included regular season wins over

Power Five The Power Five conferences are the five most prominent and highest-earning athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, the highest level of collegiate ...

opponents NC State and Arizona and the program's first WNIT victory, over Saint Mary's. However, Nevada went only 7–23 in 2011–12, its final season in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

. In 2012, Nevada moved to 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 ...

(MW). Nevada had only one winning season after that, the 2013–14 season with an 18–13 (12–6 MW) record. On March 1, 2017, Albright retired from Nevada, following an 11–19 season.

USA Basketball

Albright served as the assistant coach for the team representing the United States at the

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

held in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

in July 1993. The USA team defeated teams from Israel, Taiwan, the Ukraine, and Russia. They were defeated by Cuba 88–80 and by China 75–73. The USA team defeated Lithuania 83–73 to earn the bronze medal. In 1996, Albright was head coach of a U.S. squad of players chosen after the Olympic team that won the gold medal in the

William Jones Cup The R. William Jones Cup (), also known as the Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in Taiwan. It was named in honor of basketball promoter ...

Head coaching record

References