Tricia Lynne Bader Binford ( Bader; born February 26, 1973) is an American former professional

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who played for the

Utah Starzz The Utah Starzz were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Salt Lake City. They began play in the 1997 WNBA season as one of the league's eight original teams. History One of the eight original WNBA teams, the Starzz ...

and

Cleveland Rockers The Cleveland Rockers were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Cleveland, that played from 1997 until 2003. The Rockers were one of the original eight franchises of the WNBA, which started in 1997. The owner was Gordon ...

of the

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(WNBA). She is currently the head coach of the

Montana State Bobcats The Montana State Bobcats are the varsity athletic teams representing Montana State University in Bozeman in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors thirteen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, skiing, tennis, an ...

. She played

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for the

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as a four-year starter at

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, earning All-

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honors three times and setting the school's career assists record. She then played two seasons of professional basketball in Australia before being selected by the Utah Starzz in the fourth round of the

1998 WNBA draft 1998 WNBA draft *On January 27, 1998, a total of 4 players were assigned to two teams in no particular order. *On February 18, 1998, a WNBA expansion draft took place. *On April 28, 1998, the regular WNBA draft took place. *On September 15, 1 ...

. She played for the Starzz from 1998 to 1999 and for the Cleveland Rockers from 1999 to 2002. Following her playing career, she served as an assistant coach at Boise State and for the

Utah State Aggies The Utah State Aggies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Utah State University, located in Logan, Utah. Utah State fields 16 – seven men and nine women – National Collegiate Athletic ...

. She became the head coach of the Montana State Bobcats in 2005 and is the winningest coach in team history. Binford is also a five-time Big Sky women's basketball coach of the year.

Early life

Tricia Lynne Bader was born on February 26, 1973, in

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, and raised in

Carbondale, Colorado The Town of Carbondale is a home rule municipality located in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 6,434 at the 2020 United States census. Carbondale is a part of the Rifle, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The t ...

. She attended Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale, participating in basketball,

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, and track. She earned All-State honors three times in basketball and led the team to the 1989, 1990 and 1991 state basketball championships. Binford was named the Colorado Player of the Year and a Street and Smith's

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

her senior year in 1991. She was a two-time ''

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'' All-American as well. Binford also won five state titles in track. Roaring Fork High named its "Three-Sport Athlete Award" after Binford. She was inducted into the

Colorado High School Activities Association The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) is a governing body for high school activities in Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners reg ...

Hall of Fame in 2017.

College career

Binford received offers from several in-state schools to play

but instead decided to enroll at

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

. She played for the

as a

from 1991 to 1996, and was a four-year starter. She played in 29 games during her freshman year in 1991–92, averaging 6.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. She appeared in 27 games during the 1992–93 season, averaging 11.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, a conference-leading 4.7 assists, and 2.3 steals, earning All-

honors. Binford participated in the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival as part of the West team. She was the first Boise State basketball player, male or female, to ever play at the festival. She played in 29 games for Boise State in 1993–94, averaging 10.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and a conference-leading 3.0 steals per game, garnering All-Big Sky recognition for the second consecutive season as Boise State advanced to the

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for the first time. She appeared in three games in 1994–95 before suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the third contest. She played in 27 games her senior year in 1995–96, averaging 11.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 2.1 steals per game, earning All-Big Sky accolades for the third straight season. Binford was named the 1996 Idaho

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Woman of the Year. Binford set the school record for career assists with 438 and finished second in steals with 259. Boise State had a 76–36 record in the four seasons she started at point guard. She graduated from Boise State with a degree in criminal justice in 1995. Binford was also a four-time Big Sky All-Academic selection in 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1996. Binford was inducted into the Boise State Hall of Fame in 2001.

Professional career

After her college career, she underwent double-knee surgery and then spent two seasons playing professionally in Australia, spending time with the Brisbane Blazers of the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

, the

Launceston Tornadoes The Launceston Tornadoes are an Australian basketball team based in Launceston, Tasmania. The Tornadoes compete in the Women's NBL1 South and play their home games at Elphin Sports Centre. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the See Eyeca ...

of the

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, and the Latrobe Demons of the North West Basketball Union (NWBU). She had a

quadruple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: point (basketball), points, rebound (basketball), rebounds, assist (basketball), assist ...

in a 1997 NWBU game, recording 67 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds, and 10 steals. Her 67 points also set the league's single-game scoring record. Binford was selected by the

in the fourth round, with the 31st overall pick, of the

. She played in 22 games during her rookie WNBA season in 1998 and averaged 2.1 points per game as the team's third-string point guard. She made $19,000 during the 1998 season. Binford appeared in seven games for the Starzz in 1999 and averaged 0.3 points per game. She was waived by the Starzz on July 5, 1999, after a midseason coaching change. On July 23, 1999, Binford was claimed off waivers by the

to bolster the team's depth at point guard after

Suzie McConnell-Serio Suzie McConnell-Serio (born July 29, 1966) is an American former women's basketball coach and player. She was the head coach for the women's basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh from 2013 to 2018. In 2004, she was named WNBA Coach of t ...

suffered an injury. Binford appeared in nine games for the Rockers in 1999, averaging 0.6 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. She played in 25 games during the 2000 season and averaged 1.9 points per game as the third-string point guard behind backup

Helen Darling Helen Marie Darling (born August 29, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Early life Darling is the daughter of Patricia Smith and Donald Darling. She has ...

and starter McConnell-Serio. Binford also appeared in five playoff games in 2000, averaging 1.6 points per game, as the Rockers advanced to the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals. She played in 19 games in 2001 as the third-string point guard behind

Jennifer Rizzotti Jennifer Marie Rizzotti (born May 15, 1974) is an American former collegiate and professional basketball player, and former Division I coach at George Washington University. She is the president of the Connecticut Sun. Rizzotti was inducted into t ...

and starter Helen Darling, averaging 1.1 points per game. Binford also played in one playoff game that season, totaling zero points and one rebound in four minutes. A 2001 article in the ''

Idaho Statesman The ''Idaho Statesman'' is the daily newspaper of Boise, Idaho, in the western United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History The paper was first published as the ''Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman'' on July 26, 1864, by James S. Reynold ...

'' noted that Binford, who was five feet, four inches tall, was one of the smallest players in the WNBA. She was the third-string point guard again in 2002, this time behind Brandi McCain and starter Jennifer Rizzotti. Binford appeared in 18 games during her final WNBA season and averaged 0.8 points per game.

Coaching career

Binford was an assistant coach at Boise State from 1999 to 2001 during her time in the WNBA as the WNBA and college seasons did not overlap. She left Boise State in March 2001 to focus on her WNBA career, but in March 2002, it was reported that Binford—who was still in the WNBA—had applied for Boise State's vacant head coaching position. She was not hired. On April 22, 2003, she was hired as an assistant coach for the Utah State Aggies women's basketball team and served in that role during the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons. Her coaching duties with the Aggies included recruiting, defense, and guards. On April 13, 2005, Binford was hired as the head coach of the Montana State Bobcats women's basketball team. She led the Bobcats to the Big Sky regular season title in 2015–16, 2016–17, 2019–20, 2022–23, and 2024–25. The Bobcats also won the Big Sky tournament title in 2016–17, 2021–22, and 2024–25. In 2019–20, the Bobcats won a Big Sky–record 19 conference games and advanced to the championship game of the 2020 Big Sky Conference women's basketball tournament, but the game was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. They earned a spot in the NCAA tournament in 2016–17, 2021–22, and 2024–25 as well. Binford was named the Big Sky women's basketball coach of the year in 2015–16, 2019–20, and 2024–25, and co-coach of the year in 2020–21 (shared with Seton Sobolewski) and 2022–23 (shared with Mark Campbell and Loree Payne). As of the 2024–25 season, she is the winningest basketball coach in school history for both men and women, having compiled a record of 359 wins and 252 losses in 20 seasons. Her 224 conference wins are also the second-most in Big Sky basketball history for both men and women, behind

Robin Selvig Robin Selvig (born August 21, 1952) is an American former women's college basketball coach. Selvig completed his 38th and final season as head coach of the Lady Griz women's basketball team at the University of Montana, in 2015–16. Selvig fini ...

Personal life

Binford met her husband Todd Binford while she was an assistant coach at Boise State. They have two children.

Career playing statistics

WNBA

Source

Regular season

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Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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, 7 , , 0 , , 4.9 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , .3 , , .1 , , .4 , , .1 , , .6 , , .3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

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, 25 , , 0 , , 8.0 , , .354 , , .333 , , .833 , , .4 , , .8 , , .7 , , .0 , , .7 , , 1.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 19 , , 0 , , 6.0 , , .400 , , .385 , , – , , .6 , , .6 , , .3 , , .0 , , .4 , , 1.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 18 , , 0 , , 7.3 , , .154 , , .071 , , .833 , , .4 , , .8 , , .3 , , .1 , , .4 , , .8 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 5 years, 2 teams , 100 , , 0 , , 7.6 , , .288 , , .284 , , .727 , , .5 , , .8 , , .5 , , .7 , , .0 , , 1.4

Playoffs

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2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

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Head coaching record

Sources:

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binford, Tricia Bader 1973 births Living people American women's basketball players Point guards Boise State Broncos women's basketball players Women's National Basketball League players Utah Starzz players Cleveland Rockers players Basketball players from Decatur, Illinois 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen American women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Illinois Boise State Broncos women's basketball coaches Utah State Aggies women's basketball coaches Montana State Bobcats women's basketball coaches