Monday meant four years since [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] took over the Notre Dame women’s basketball program. Hall of Famer [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag] had been at the helm for 33 years, but she chose to retire after completing the worst season of her career. While Ivey had plentiful experience as an assistant coach, including on McGraw’s staff, the question obviously was whether she could be a worthy successor to her mentor.
Four years later, Ivey has laid the groundwork for her own long tenure as Irish coach. She has accumulated an 89-32 record, made three straight Sweet 16s for the NCAA Tournament and won both an ACC regular-season championship and ACC Tournament championship. Obviously, the ultimate goal is to a win a national championship like she did as a player for the 2001 Irish.
Until that national title comes, Irish fans can be happy to know the program is in good hands with Ivey. Here are some images of her tenure so far: