Newly-named Winthrop women’s basketball coach Lynette Woodard pledged she will work hard to get the program turned around and will instill a vision in the players that will lead to success as she was introduced at Tuesday morning’s news conference by Director of Athletics Ken Halpin.
Woodard joined the Winthrop coaching staff last August as an assistant, was appointed acting head coach in January, and was elevated to interim head coach in February. She succeeds Kevin Cook as the 16th head women’s basketball coach in Winthrop’s history.
A basketball legend, Woodard is a two-time U.S. Olympian, a four-time All-American, a former Division I women’s all-time scoring leader, a 10-time Hall of Fame inductee, and the first woman to play for the world-renowned Harlem Globetrotters.
“We are going to make you proud of our basketball program. There is not a doubt in my mind,” she told the gathering. “My thoughts today are about going forward. With each and every one of these players, I want to pour into them. I have had a wonderful career, a very illustrious career, but this is not about me, it is about them and what I know they can do.
“I want them to be the best students here. I want them to be the best players. I want them to be the best citizens. I want them to go home where their community is proud of them. I see a vision for them. They are going to be our leaders tomorrow,” she said.
When asked what her vision is for the program, Woodard said first and foremost it is having players that are in shape. She wants a team that plays defense, is intense, and comes ready to play every day to work and get better. “If we can start right there, I already know what’s going to happen. It’s going to catapult us to another level,” she said.
A native of Wichita, KS, Woodard played college basketball for the Kansas Lady Jayhawks and noted head coach Marian Washington. During her four-year career, Woodard scored 3,649 points and helped lead KU to three straight Big Eight championships while breaking 24 school records. She was voted to the Kodak All-American team all four years, was the 1981Wade Trophy winner which goes to the college player of the year, and was a GTE Academic All-America selection. Woodard graduated from Kansas in 1981 with a degree in speech communications.
Woodard, who is considered a pioneer in women’s basketball, was inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame in 1990, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and 2004, the Globetrotter Hall of Fame in 2004, and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
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