Shocking news out of South Bend on Wednesday afternoon as legendary women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw is retiring. McGraw has not only coached the Notre Dame women’s team since the 1987-88 season but turned them into one of the top programs in collegiate sports.
McGraw released the following statement on Wednesday:
— Muffet McGraw (@MuffetMcGraw) April 22, 2020
McGraw led the Fighting Irish to 24 straight NCAA Tournament appearances beginning in 1996, a streak that would have ended this past year had the tournament been played. In that stretch she won a pair of national championships while reaching the final five more times and the Final Four three more times.
McGraw retires with the seventh most coaching wins in the history of women’s basketball, compiling 936 wins between her five years at Lehigh before her 33 seasons at Notre Dame. McGraw finishes with a career mark of 848-251 at Notre Dame and went 425-97 in Big East and ACC play.
McGraw was elected to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017. She was also awarded 10 different coach of the year awards in her time with the Fighting Irish.
Former Notre Dame player and McGraw assitant Niele Ivey will be the next head coach. She takes the post after working most recently as an assistant coach with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.
More on the story as it comes but an absolute stunner to see a legend like McGraw, who would perhaps be on the Mt. Rushmore of Women’s Basketball coaches all-time, retires.