The University of Miami has hired Tricia Cullop as head women’s basketball coach, Vice President/Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich announced Friday.
Cullop comes to Coral Gables after spending the past 16 seasons as the head coach at the University of Toledo, where she compiled a record of 353-169. The six-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year led the Rockets to five MAC regular season championships and 11 postseason berths, including two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Prior to Toledo, Cullop spent eight seasons as the head coach at the University of Evansville.
Cullop is the eighth head women’s basketball coach in Miami history. Her introductory press conference will take place next week at a date and time to be announced.
“We are excited to welcome Tricia to the University of Miami family,” Radakovich said. “Tricia is a proven winner who understands what it takes to build a championship culture, develop talent, mentor student-athletes, and generate excitement around a program.”
A respected leader in college basketball coaching circles, Cullop served as the President of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 membership years. In 2022, she received the WBCA Carol Eckman Integrity in Coaching Award, which is awarded to the member coach who best reflects Eckman’s character traits of courage, ethical behavior, honesty, sportsmanship and commitment to the student-athlete.
“This opportunity is a dream come true,” Cullop said. “Miami has a world-class education, winning tradition, competes in the one of top conferences in the country, and is in a beautiful location. While I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity given to me by the University of Toledo 16 years ago, I am also extremely excited for the challenge of what lies ahead.”
Cullop earned MAC Coach of the Year honors in each of the past three seasons as her Rockets won a total of 85 games and captured three conference regular season crowns. In 2023-24, Toledo posted a 28-6 record, including a 15-1 mark at home, where the Rockets averaged 4,351 fans per game, good for first in the MAC and 33rd nationally. UT advanced to the quarterfinals of the WBIT.
In 2022-23, Cullop’s squad won 29 games, advanced to the NCAA Tournament and earned the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory in 27 years, upsetting fifth-seeded Iowa State before falling to fourth-seeded Tennessee. In 2021-22, the Rockets went 29-6 and advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals.
Cullop also led Toledo to the NCAA Tournament in 2017, which was its first NCAA Tournament berth in 16 years. In 2011, the Rockets won the WNIT, the first-ever major postseason tournament title won by a MAC program.
Off the court, Cullop’s Rockets posted the best grade point average in program history (3.84) in the 2023 fall semester. Six student-athletes earned a 4.0 GPA.
Cullop arrived in Toledo after eight seasons as the head coach at Evansville, where she compiled a record of 123-110. She was named Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year in her final season in 2008, leading the Purple Aces to the second round of the WNIT. Cullop was previously an assistant coach at Radford, Long Beach State, and Xavier.
A native of Bicknell, Ind., Cullop received her bachelor’s degree in communications from Purdue. She was a team captain for the Boilermakers under former Miami head coach Lin Dunn, as well as a three-time academic All-Big Ten selection. She was named the Purdue Mortar Board Female Student-Athlete of the Year in 1993 and inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
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