William Michael Fennelly (born May 14, 1957) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach who is currently the head women's basketball coach at Iowa State University.

Coaching career

Assistant coach (1977–1986)

While a student at William Penn College, Fennelly became a volunteer assistant coach with the William Penn women's basketball team in 1977. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in business administration and economics in 1979, Fennelly became a full-time assistant coach with William Penn. Fennelly moved up to the Division I level as an assistant coach at Fresno State from 1981 to 1986 and Notre Dame from 1986 to 1988.

Toledo (1988–1995)

At the University of Toledo, Fennelly was head coach from 1988 to 1995 and had a cumulative record of 166–53, with a .758 winning percentage that remains the best in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

. He had six seasons with 20 or more wins and six postseason tournament berths. Toledo made the National Women's Invitational Tournament in 1989, 1990, and 1994 and were NWIT runners-up in 1990, and the NCAA tournament in 1991, 1992, and 1995.

Iowa State (1995–present)

On July 10, 1995, Iowa State hired Fennelly as women's basketball head coach. Iowa State had only five winning seasons in the 22 previous seasons. As of the 2016–17 season, Fennelly has led Iowa State to 17 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including Elite Eight qualifications in 1999 and 2009 and the Sweet Sixteen in 2000, 2001, and 2010. Iowa State has spent considerable time in the

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national poll, including 34 weeks in the Top 10. On March 23, 2007, Iowa State extended Fennelly through 2019 in a contract worth $10.6 million. Attendance also grew during Fennelly's tenure from the hundreds prior to his hiring to nearly 10,000 in the 2010s. In 2004, Iowa State had its first-ever sellout in a WNIT and NIT doubleheader against Saint Joseph's. In the 2011–12 season, Iowa State averaged an attendance of 10,125, third in the nation behind Tennessee and Louisville. Fennelly was a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award in 2001, 2002, and 2005. The

Women's Basketball Coaches Association The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels. The organization was formed in 1981, with the goal of addressing the needs of women's basketball coaches. The mission of the WBC ...

named him the District 5 Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2005. In 1998, Fennelly finished as the 1998 runner-up behind

Pat Summitt Patricia Susan Summitt (; June 14, 1952 – June 28, 2016) was an American women's college basketball head coach and college basketball player. As a coach, she acquired 1,098 career wins, the most in college basketball history at the time ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

for the

Women's Coach of the Year award.

USA Basketball

Fennelly served as an assistant coach of the U18 team representing the US at the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina. The USA team won all five of their games, including the championship game against the host team, Argentina. The team won the final game 81–37 to claim the gold medal. Fennelly continued his position as an assistant coach as the U18 team became the U19 team, and competed in the FIBA Women's U19 World Championship. The USA lost the opening round game against Spain 90–86, but then went on to win their next eight games. In the quarterfinals, the USA team faced France, which held an eight-point lead late in the second half, but the USA team took back the lead and won by eleven to advance to the semifinals. After beating Canada in the semifinals, they had a rematch against Spain, for the championship. This time the USA jumped out to an early lead, with a score of 33–16 at the end of the first quarter. The USA went on to win 87–71 to win the gold medal. Fennelly was named the head coach of the USA representative to the 2011 World University Games (also known as the

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

) which were held in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, China. The USA team won all six games, behind the scoring leadership of

Elena Delle Donne Elena Delle Donne (born September 5, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player for 10 seasons as a member of the Washington Mystics and Chicago Sky. Delle Donne played college basketball for the Delaware Blue Hens from 2009 to ...

who scored almost 16 points per game. Although the championship game was against Taiwan, the closest contest was the semifinal game against Australia. That game remained close until the fourth quarter, when a 9–0 run extended the margin and helped secure the 79–67 victory.

Personal

Fennelly was born and raised in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

. He and his wife, Deb, have two sons, Billy and Steven, both of whom also worked for their father's coaching staff at Iowa State. Billy was director of player development from 2010 to 2012 before becoming an assistant coach at Iowa State. Steven was a graduate assistant at Iowa State from 2011 to 2013.

Head coaching record

Source for Toledo: Sources for Iowa State:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fennelly, Bill 1957 births Living people American women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Iowa Fresno State Bulldogs women's basketball coaches Iowa State Cyclones women's basketball coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Davenport, Iowa Toledo Rockets women's basketball coaches William Penn University alumni