Molly Goodenbour, a two-time national champion at Stanford who has 12 years of head coaching experience on the collegiate level, has been named head women’s basketball coach at the University of San Francisco.
Goodenbour succeeds Jennifer Azzi, who resigned her position on Sept. 15 after guiding the Dons for the last six seasons. She becomes the ninth head coach in the program’s history, which dates back to the 1976-77 season. This marks Goodenbour’s third coaching stint on the Hilltop, where she served as an assistant coach with the Dons during the 1994-95 and 2005-06 seasons.
“We are excited to bring Molly Goodenbour to the Hilltop at a time of tremendous growth for our women’s basketball program,” said USF Director of Athletics Scott Sidwell. “Her head coaching experience and a championship mentality really fits the culture of where we are headed as an athletic department. She has won at the highest level on the court as a two time national champion at Stanford and Final Four MVP and as a very successful head coach on the junior college and Division II levels and built a Division I program with steady success in a competitive conference in the Big West.
“She brings all the qualities that we are looking for in our coaches and staff. Winners and champions have an aura about them that is contagious and we certainly felt that from Molly from our first conversation with her.”
Goodenbour comes to USF from Cal State-East Bay, where she was named head coach in June of 2016. She has previous heading coaching experience at Santa Rosa Junior College, Cal State-Chico, UC Irvine and Cal-State Dominguez Hills. Her overall career record, including two seasons at Santa Rosa JC, stands at 222-142 (.610).
“I am extremely excited to be back at USF and have the opportunity to lead the women’s basketball program,” said Goodenbour. “Jennifer Azzi worked tirelessly to build the foundation and I believe that we will be able to continue to move the program in a positive direction. Our Director of Athletics Scott Sidwell and our University leadership have made a strong commitment toward ensuring our athletic programs are in a position to succeed at a high level and I am proud to have an opportunity to be part of this.”
Prior to her appointment at Cal State-East Bay, Goodenbour spent four seasons as the head coach at Cal State-Dominguez Hills. After taking over a program that had posted a 7-48 record in the previous two seasons, Goodenbour led the Toros to a 77-34 (.694) record in her four seasons. Under her guidance, the Toros won California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament Championships in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and CCAA regular season titles in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and made three consecutive NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship appearances from 2013-16. Her 2014-15 squad won a school-record 26 games and earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA West Regional.
Goodenbour gained NCAA Division I head coaching experience at UC Irvine, where she served as the Anteaters’ head coach from 2008-12. The Anteaters qualified for the Big West Tournament in each of her four seasons, posted the highest single-season win total (15 in 2010-11) in nearly a decade and had eight players earn all-conference honors during her tenure.
Goodenbour took over the UC Irvine program after two successful seasons at Cal State-Chico, where she led the Wildcats to a 52-11 record and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2007-08, she was named the CCAA’s Coach of the Year after guiding her team to a 28-6 overall record, regular season and conference tournament titles along with a Sweet 16 appearance. The Wildcats finished the year ranked No. 17 in the nation among all Division II teams.
Goodenbour’s second coaching stint at USF came during the 2005-06 season, when she served as an assistant on Tanya Haave’s staff. Following the season, she was appointed head coach at Santa Rosa Junior College where she led the Bear Cubs to a 69-21 record, two conference championships and a quarterfinal appearance in the California state championship during her three seasons.
A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Goodenbour was a standout performer at Stanford, where she was a four-year letterwinner under Tara VanDeveer from 1989-93. She helped the Cardinal to four straight Pac-10 championships, three NCAA Final Fours and a pair of NCAA Championships in 1990 and ’92. Goodenbour was named the most valuable player of the 1992 Final Four after setting an NCAA Tournament record for most postseason three-pointers made with 18. She finished her collegiate career with 1,040 points and still ranks among the school’s career top-10 in three-pointers made (178), assists (441) and free throw percentage (.793).
After graduating from Stanford with a degree in biology, Goodenbour was selected to the U.S. National team, which won a gold medal at the 1993 World Championship Qualifying Tournament in Brazil.
Her introduction to coaching came during the 1994-95 season, when she served as an assistant coach to Bill and Mary-Hile Nepfel during a season which saw the Dons compiled a 24-5 overall record, capture the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles and make a NCAA Tournament appearance.
She embarked on her professional playing career in 1995-96 with Linkspring of the Swedish Basketball Federation. A year later, Goodenbour returned to the United States where she played for the Richmond Rage (1996-97) and Portland Power (1997-98) of the American Basketball League. She also played one season with the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs before retiring to further pursue her coaching career.
Molly is married to Pat Fuscaldo, a former USF men’s assistant coach who has served as the head coach at Sonoma State University for the past 22 seasons.
Tagged with: Molly Goodenbour WCC
