Howard University has announced a four-year contract extension for head women’s basketball coach Ty Grace, the 2020-21 MEAC coach of the year.
“I would like to thank President Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick and Athletic Director Kery Davis for the opportunity to continue to lead this program,” Grace said. “We have accomplished some great things thus far, but we have more to do. I am very honored and humbled to work at Howard and coach these young women. I am thankful and excited about the years to come.”
The Bison won the 2020-21 MEAC Northern Division Title and qualified as the No. 1 seed in the 2021 U.S. Air Force Reserve MEAC Basketball Tournament.
“Coach Grace has established herself as one of the top coaches in the entire sport of women’s basketball. Her student-athletes have excelled on the court and in the classroom. The future for Lady Bison Basketball is incredibly bright under the stewardship of Coach Grace.” said Davis
Despite Covid-19 changing the landscape of Women’s Basketball, Howard’s women’s basketball program did not miss a beat. Grace squad ended the season with a .824 (14-3) winning percentage, the highest in school history; the 1997 team set the previous mark of .800.
In addition, the team brought home MEAC Player of the Year (first since 2016-17), Rookie of the Year (first since 2009-10), and Coach of the Year (first since 2001-02), a first for Howard University.
Grace is the fastest head coach to reach the 86 win (six seasons) mark in school history and is on pace to reach 100 games this season.
The women’s program has also showed out in the classroom; this past season, the squad averaged a 3.41 GPA, nine members qualified for the all-academic team, and over her six-seasons, the team produced 24 student-athletes made the All-Academic team(excluding the 2019-2020 season due to Covid-19).
Under Grace’s tutelage, several Bison collected postseason accolades aside from 2021 MEAC Player of the Year Jayla Thornton and Rookie of the Year Anzhane’ Hutton; Te’Shya Heslip was named 2016-17 Player of the Year, 17 players were named to the All-MEAC Teams since 2017.
Photo Courtesy Howard Athletics
https://hubison.com/news/2021/8/26/womens-basketball-grace-signs-contract-extension.aspx
