Sylvia Crawley (born September 27, 1972) is a former American professional

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, licensed minister and motivational speaker. She was also the head

coach of the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

, from 2008 to 2012, and an assistant coach with 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 ...

of the WNBA. She is currently an assistant coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball team, her alma mater, where she also held the same position from 2000 to 2002.

Playing career

After starring at Steubenville High School, Crawley played collegiate basketball for the women's basketball team at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

(UNC). She was a member of the UNC's

NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic ...

team in 1994, her senior season. After graduation from UNC, Crawley played for the Portland Power and

Colorado Xplosion The Colorado Xplosion was the first women's professional basketball franchise in Colorado, an American Basketball League (ABL) team based in Denver. Playing from 1996 through 1998, the team produced many memorable moments for Colorado sports fan ...

of the American Basketball League (ABL). She won the ABL's

slam dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one ...

contest in 1998 with a blindfolded dunk and a second dunk. After the ABL folded due to financial problems, she was selected by the

Portland Fire The Portland Fire were a professional basketball team in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) based in Portland, Oregon that joined the league in 2000 as the counterpart to the National Basketball Association, NBA’s Portland Trail B ...

, and played with them for three seasons. When the Fire folded, Crawley was selected by the

during the WNBA's

dispersal draft A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when their current team ceases to exist or is merged with another team. Like most other sports drafts, most dispersal drafts are conducted in North America. ...

in April 2003. But prior to the start of the 2003 season, the Fever traded Crawley and a rookie player Gwen Jackson to the San Antonio Silver Stars, in exchange for Natalie Williams and Coretta Brown. Crawley spent that one season with the Silver Stars in 2003, mostly in a reserve role, that was marred when she suffered a

sprain A sprain, also known as a torn ligament, is an acute soft tissue injury of the ligaments within a joint, often caused by a sudden movement abruptly forcing the joint to exceed its functional range of motion. Ligaments are tough, inelastic fibers ...

neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

injury after a collision with

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded pri ...

player Tonya Washington while chasing for a loose ball. Shortly before the 2004 WNBA season began, Crawley announced her retirement from basketball. But just prior to the start of the 2006 season, Crawley came out of retirement and signed a contract to return to the Silver Stars for the season. However, the day before the season started, the Silver Stars waived her from the training camp roster.

North Carolina statistics

Source

USA Basketball

Crawley was named to the team representing the USA at the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

, however, only four teams committed to participate, so the event was cancelled. Crawley represented the USA at the 1995 World University Games held in

Fukuoka, Japan is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

in August and September 1995. The team had a record of 5–1, securing the silver medal. The USA team won early and reached a record of 5–0 when Crawley's 25 points helped the USA beat Yugoslavia. In the semi-final game, the USA faced Russia. The team was behind much of the first half but managed to tie the game at the half. The USA broke the game open in the second half and won 101–74. The gold medal match was against unbeaten Italy. The Italian team started strong, scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the contest. Crawley scored eight consecutive points to end the first half, but that left the USA nine points behind. The USA took a small lead in the second half, but the team from Italy responded with a ten-point run, and won the game and the gold medal by a score of 73–65. Crawley was the second leading scorer for the USA team with 15.1 points per game. Crawley was named to the team representing the USA at the 1996

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 ...

competition in

Taipei, Taiwan Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

. The team won all nine games to win the gold medal. Crawley averaged 8.4 points per game and blocked ten shots. She was named to the All-Tournament second team. Crawley again played with the USA team at the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

. The team finished with a record of 4–3, but managed to win the bronze medal with an 85–59 victory over Brazil. Crawley averaged 5.5 points per game.

Coaching career

Crawley served as an assistant coach at her alma mater, 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 ...

, from 2000–02 and returned in 2015. In her first two seasons with the Tar Heels, the team was 41-23 and made a Sweet Sixteen appearance in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. After the completion of her professional playing career in 2004, she served as the top assistant at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

under head coach Jim Lewis. Following Lewis' retirement at the end of the 2005-2006 season, Crawley was named interim head coach. Shortly thereafter, Crawley was named head coach of the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Amer ...

' women's basketball team on April 18, 2006. On April 28, 2008, Crawley was named the head coach of

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. Upon her hiring BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo stated "This is an exciting day for BC women's basketball. Sylvia Crawley has enjoyed phenomenal success both as a player and as a coach. As a North Carolina graduate, she knows the ACC inside and out. We are very fortunate to have her as our new coach." In her first season at the Heights, Sylvia led the Eagles to a 23-12 record and an appearance in the WNIT Final Four. In her next three seasons at BC, Crawley's teams went 17-15, 20-13 and 7-23. In her four season tenure at BC, Crawley's teams never posted a winning record against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents (overall ACC record: 20-38). On March 15, 2012, Crawley announced her resignation from the BC head coaching job, citing an unspecified medical issue. After the departure of

Mickie DeMoss Mickie Faye DeMoss (born October 3, 1955) is a former American college basketball coach and player. She was the women's head coach at the University of Florida and the University of Kentucky. She was also an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech Univ ...

, the Indiana Fever and head coach

Lin Dunn Lin Dunn (born May 10, 1947) is an American women's basketball coach, currently general manager with the Indiana Fever. She is most known for being the first coach and general manager for the Seattle Storm. She has more than 500 wins to her name. ...

named Crawley as an assistant coach with the team. Crawley is an assistant coach with her alma mater, the

Head coaching record

References

External links

Sylvia Crawley page on Ohiobobcats.comWNBA player profile and statistics
* ttp://bceagles.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/042908aad.html April 29, 2008 press release on Sylvia Crawley being named head women's basketball coach at Boston Collegebr>March 15, 2012 Women's Basketball Coach Sylvia Crawley resigns on bceagles.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawley, Sylvia 1972 births Living people American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players at the 1999 Pan American Games Basketball players from Ohio Boston College Eagles women's basketball coaches Colorado Xplosion players Fordham Rams women's basketball coaches Indiana Fever coaches North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball coaches North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball players Ohio Bobcats women's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Steubenville, Ohio Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in basketball Portland Fire players Portland Power players Power forwards (basketball) San Antonio Stars players Universiade gold medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in basketball Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games United States women's national basketball team players