Niele Deirdre Jamillah Viveca Ivey (born September 24, 1977) is an American

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 and the current head coach for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball The Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team is the intercollegiate women's basketball program representing University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The program currently competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Division ...

team. She is a former

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 ...

(WNBA) player for the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. ...

, and

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league ...

. Prior to her move to the NCAA in August 2019, she was an assistant coach for the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

women's basketball team, where she had played in college. She was an All-American point guard and became the 17th player in school history to record over 1,000 career points. She received the

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award was an annual college basketball award in the United States intended to honor shorter-than-average players who excelled on the court despite their size. The award, named in honor of James Naismith's daughter-in-la ...

presented for the nation's top player under 5'8" in 2001. She would go on to lead the Irish women to their first NCAA Championship in 2001, in her hometown of St. Louis as a fifth-year senior. In the WNBA, she finished her career with 408 points, including over 100 in 2 separate seasons. She also had ninety 3-point field goals, 228 assists, and 94 steals.

High school

Ivey grew up playing many sports, but especially basketball. She learned the game from her older brothers, and was shooting from three-point range by the time she was in fourth grade. She attracted attention for her long-range shooting from high school coaches, including Gary Glasscock of

Cor Jesu Academy Cor Jesu Academy is a Catholic college preparatory high school for young women located in Affton, Missouri, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis. It was founded in 1956 by the Apostles of the Sacred Heart. History Originally locate ...

in St. Louis. Ivey had attended Catholic grade school, so it was a natural fit to attend Cor Jesu. As a junior, Ivey scored 18 points per game to help her team to a 31–0 record and a Class 4A State Championship, the first in school history.

College career

Ivey was a big fan of

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

, who attended college at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

, so she was determined to go there for college. She used her own money to attend a basketball camp in Chapel Hill, but the UNC head coach,

Sylvia Hatchell Sylvia Rhyne Hatchell (born February 28, 1952) is a former American women's basketball coach, who last coached for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the fifth with the most career wins in NCAA women's basketball history, be ...

, appeared only at the opening and closing of the camp, and did not get a chance to see Ivey play.

Muffet McGraw Ann "Muffet" McGraw (born December 5, 1955) is an American former college basketball coach, who served as the head women's basketball coach at Notre Dame from 1987 to 2020, compiling a 848–252 (.771) record over 33 seasons. She led her team to ...

of Notre Dame became interested in Ivey, and traveled to St. Louis a number of times to watch Ivey play pick-up game at the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

in St. Louis. McGraw was prohibited by

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 ...

rules from talking to recruits at this time, but Ivey was aware of her presence, and it convinced her that McGraw was seriously interested in her. Ivey decided to commit to attend Notre Dame.

Notre Dame statistics

Source

Coaching career

Following the retirement of Notre Dame women's coach

in April 2020, Ivey was named the

Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

head coach.

Personal life

Ivey was born September 24, 1977, in

Saint Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

, to Thomas and Theresa Ivey. She was the youngest of five children, and the only daughter. She attended

in St. Louis and played at the

. She has one child,

Jaden Ivey Jaden Edward Dhananjay Ivey (born February 13, 2002) is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers. Early life and high ...

, born on Feb. 13 2002, with former Notre Dame and

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

player

Javin Hunter Javin Edward Hunter (born May 9, 1980) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame, and was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He also played a se ...

. Jaden played college basketball for

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

and in 2022 was drafted with the fifth pick of the First Round by the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

Head coaching record

References

;Sources *

External links

* http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/niele_ivey/index.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivey, Niele 1977 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Missouri Basketball players from St. Louis Detroit Shock players Indiana Fever draft picks Indiana Fever players Memphis Grizzlies assistant coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball players Phoenix Mercury players Xavier Musketeers women's basketball coaches