Felisha Legette-Jack, a New York native with 10 years of Division I head coaching experience, has been named the 12th head coach in the history of the University at Buffalo women’s basketball program, athletic director Danny White announced on Thursday morning. Legette-Jack most recently spent six seasons as the head coach at Indiana University.
Legette-Jack led the Hoosiers to three postseason appearances, winning 18 or more games in each of those years. In 2008-09, Indiana won a program record-tying 21 games. While in Bloomington, Legette-Jack knew how to get the most out of her players, both on the court and in the classroom, as evident by her 21 Academic All-Big Ten selections in six seasons. On the basketball floor, the Hoosiers won five games over nationally-ranked opponents, including a victory over fourth-ranked Ohio State in 2010.
Prior to taking the reins at Indiana, Legette-Jack led Hofstra University to unprecedented levels of success. She guided Hofstra to one of its best seasons in school history in 2005-06. The Pride’s 19 victories that season still stand as the second-most in school history, and the 12 league triumphs tied a school record. In addition to the team success, Hofstra ranked among the CAA’s top three in scoring offense (69.5 ppg), field goal percentage defense (.379), rebounding offense (43.0), rebounding margin (+3.9), assists per game (16.0), steals (11.03), offensive rebounds (16.73), defensive rebounding (26.27) and three-point field goals per game (5.37).
Outside of the college ranks, Legette-Jack has also had success with USA Basketball, serving on two different coaching staffs where the United States won gold medals. In 2005, she helped coached the Americans to the gold at the U19 World Championships and in the summer of 2003, Legette-Jack served on Jim Foster’s staff as they won the gold medal at the FIBA World Championships in Sibenik, Croatia. The 2003 squad team featured the top two players in the 2004 WNBA Draft.
Legette-Jack arrived at Hofstra after two years as an assistant to Joanne P. McCallie at Michigan State. Legette-Jack served as the Spartans’ recruiting coordinator, supervised the team’s academic progress and preseason and postseason conditioning programs and helped sign the nation’s 14th-best recruiting class in 2001-02. Legette-Jack helped orchestrate one of the nation’s top turnarounds from 2000-01 to 2001-02. In 2000-01, MSU was 10-18 overall, but the Spartans responded by posting a 19-13 record in 2001-02, capped by a WNIT semifinal appearance. The 19 wins included three triumphs over nationally-ranked opponents. She recruited the nucleus of the Spartans’ 2005 national finalist club.
Legette-Jack worked as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at her alma mater, Syracuse, from 1993-2000. In addition to handling team travel, tape exchange and overseeing the conditioning program, Legette-Jack recruited two Gatorade Players of the Year to the Orange. Syracuse also boasted a 100 percent graduation rate during her tenure.
A 1989 Syracuse graduate with a double major in child and family studies and psychology, Legette-Jack scored 1,526 points and grabbed 927 rebounds. Legette-Jack is the second-leading scorer and all-time leading rebounder in Syracuse history. She won 1985 Big East Rookie of the Year honors and earned all-league laurels three times in her career. An inductee into the Greater Syracuse Hall of Fame, the Syracuse Urban League Hall of Fame and the Syracuse University Orange Plus Hall of Fame, Legette-Jack was one of 15 players named to the Big East Conference Silver Anniversary Team in 2004.
After graduation from Syracuse, Legette-Jack became head girls basketball coach at Westhill High School in Syracuse. She posted a 26-13 ledger in two seasons there, and five of her players earned Division I scholarships. Legette-Jack then spent two years as an assistant coach at Boston College, where the Golden Eagles recorded a 100-percent graduation rate during her tenure.
