Eastern Illinois head women’s basketball coach Debbie Black has made the first addition to her new staff with the hiring of long time coach Kim Foley as associate head coach for the Panthers program.
Foley has served the last three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Lafayette College. While at Lafayette, Foley has helped bring in recruiting classes that have featured three straight years with a player earning Patriot League All-Rookie Team honors including the Rookie of the Year Award winner Emily Homan in 2012. This past season Foley helped coach the program to signature wins over Big East member Pittsburgh and Atlantic-10 member Fordham.
Prior to her time at Lafayette, Foley spent one season as an assistant coach at Colgate for the 2009-10 season. She helped the team finish in fourth place in the Patriot League after a last place finish the season prior to her arrival on staff. She coached Jhazmine Lynch the league’s Rookie of the Year award winner in 2010.
From 1996-2002, Foley was the head coach at Central Connecticut State. During her second season as head coach the team improved from two wins to 17 wins transitioning from the Mid-Continent Conference to the Northeast Conference. The turnaround is the fourth best in NCAA history as the club finished second in the NEC standings after being predicted to finish last in the preseason poll. Three members of Foley’s first recruiting class earned NEC All-Rookie honors. During her six year tenure as head coach, Foley coached four All-NEC performers with the team always excelling in the classroom. She was the first coach in school history to organize and implement an International Tour for her program.
Foley began her coaching career as an assistant coach at Drexel in 1992 coaching three seasons with the Dragons program. She was a key contributor on the staff that helped Drexel reach the conference tournament semifinals. She then spent one season as an assistant coach at Central Connecticut State before taking over the head coaching reigns in July of 1996.
Foley played collegiate basketball at Saint Joseph’s University being named the Jesuit College National Player of the Year as a senior in 1989. She was a Basketball Writers Association All-American in 1989 and was inducted into Saint Joseph’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002. In addition to the Saint Joseph’s Hall of Fame, Foley has also been inducted into the Philadelphia Big 5 Hall of Fame, New England Basketball Hall of Fame and Peabody High School Hall of Fame.
Following graduation in 1989, Foley played professional basketball for three seasons in Australia. She was the Australian WNBL Defensive Player of the Year in 1991 while helping her team win the country’s National Championship.
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