Virginia Union University announced on Tuesday, April 21, that AnnMarie Gilbert will become the eighth head coach of the VUU Women’s Basketball Team.

With over 20 years of college coaching experience, AnnMarie Gilbert was the head coach at Eastern Michigan University from 2007-2012, where she compiled a 94-64 record. As head coach, the Eagles had three consecutive 20+ win seasons (2009-12) and received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2012.

Gilbert guided Eastern Michigan to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament championship in her final year (2012), with her star player Tavelyn James receiving the Francis Pomeroy Naismith Award.

In 2011 Gilbert guided the Eagles to a school-record 24 wins and a berth in the WNIT. Eastern Michigan knocked off Michigan in the first round of the WNIT Sweet 16.

With Gilbert at the helm, Eastern Michigan had the second-best turnaround in the nation in 2010, recording 22 wins and a WNIT berth. The Eagles had just eight wins in 2009.

In her first year at the head of the Eastern Michigan Program she guided the Eagles to 17 wins and became only the fourth head coach in MAC history to win a division title in their first year as a coach.

Gilbert spent three seasons (2003-06) as an assistant on the Michigan State coaching staff. She was the staff’s recruiting coordinator and works with the guards.

Under her tutelage, Lindsay Bowen was a second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2006, Kristin Haynie was named honorable mention All-Big Ten and Rene Haynes was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. She helped bring a recruiting class for the 2004-05 season that All-Star Girls Report ranked 18th in the nation, including Courtney Davidson, who was ranked as the nation’s sixth-best point guard.

Gilbert spent the previous eight seasons (1994-2002) as the head coach of NCAA Division III Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. She is the winningest coach in Oberlin women’s basketball history as the Yeoman made six appearances in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) postseason tournament during her tenure. She assisted in the development of eight different all-conference players and the 1999 All-NCAC Newcomer of the Year.She began her coaching career at Oberlin as an assistant coach with the women’s basketball team in 1992-93 and was an assistant men’s basketball coach in 1993-94, before assuming the women’s basketball head coaching duties in 1994. In addition to coaching, Gilbert served as the Senior Women’s Administrator/Associate Director of Athletics at Oberlin from 1996-2002.

Gilbert played for two seasons (1986-88) at Ohio University, gaining Most Outstanding Defensive Player and All-Mid-American Conference honors in 1988. She transferred to Oberlin for her junior and senior seasons (1989-91), where she was a two-time Kodak First-Team All-American, a two-time NCAC Player of the Year, the Honda Division III Athlete of the Year and the Champion USA/WBCA Player of the Year in 1991.

Gilbert led the nation in scoring as a junior (31.1 points per game) and was the nation’s second-leading scorer as a senior (31.3 ppg). She set the NCAA Division III record for points in a game with 61 against Allegheny on Feb. 6, 1991. She is still the Oberlin record holder for points in a season (778, 1989-90), field goals in a game (28), field goals in a season (319) and free throws made and attempted in a game (13-of-17 vs. Case Reserve, Jan. 6, 1990).

In just two seasons at Oberlin, she registered 1,527 points to become the school’s leading scorer, a record which stood until 2002. All told, Gilbert set 24 school records and 10 conference records as a player and still holds 10 standing NCAA Division III records.

She received an invitation to the Pan Am Games trials in Colorado Springs in 1990. Oberlin retired her jersey in 1994 and in 2001, she was inducted into the Oberlin College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Gilbert was a Street & Smith’s All-American, a McDonald’s All-Star game participant and was Ohio Miss Basketball her senior year of high school.

She earned her B.A. in sociology with a minor in economics from Oberlin in 1991.

 

http://vuusports.com/news/2015/4/21/WBB_0421153306.aspx

 

Photo Courtesy Virginia Union Athletics

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