Story: AJ Nelson, Senior Staff Writer, WHoopDirt.com
BOSTON, MA – The following women’s college basketball coaches have been honored with the Week 5 WHoopDirt.com Coach of the Week Award, presented by FastBreak PlayBook. These coaches are now eligible for the prestigious WHoopDirt.com National Coach of the Year Award, presented by FastBreak PlayBook, which will be announced at the conclusion of the 2024-25 college basketball season.
This year, WHoopDirt.com has partnered with FastBreak PlayBook to bring even more value to the Coach of the Week program. As part of the collaboration, each weekly winner will receive a complimentary Full-Team Annual Membership to the FastBreak PlayBook platform.
“FastBreak PlayBook is very excited to partner with WhoopDirt for the Coach of the Week Award. We are passionate about bringing a spotlight to deserving women’s basketball coaches and look forward to providing a free Full-Team Annual Membership to each winner.” -Kendall Acho, Chief Operating Officer
This marks the fifth season of WHoopDirt.com’s Coach of the Week and Coach of the Year programs. The list of 2024-25 weekly winners, as well as the all-time COY recipients can be found below this week’s release.
To nominate coaches for future weeks, please email [email protected] with your selection(s).
The Week 5 winners are:
D1: Dawn Staley – University of South Carolina
Coach Staley’s Gamecocks had an impressive week, picking up two big victories over fellow top-10 opponents. Hosting No. 8 Duke in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Thursday, the third-ranked Gamecocks won 81-70 to collect their 62nd straight home victory. South Carolina then hit the road for a showdown with No. 9 TCU on Sunday. The Gamecocks dominated wire-to-wire, taking an 85-52 victory and handing TCU its first loss of the season. Now 9-1 on the season, South Carolina will look to make it five straight wins when it hosts South Florida on Sunday afternoon.
NCAA D2: Kari Kerkhoff – McKendree University
With two more wins this week, Coach Kerkhoff’s squad continued their best start in DII-era program history. On Monday, the Bearcats picked up a hard-fought 66-61 victory at Rockhurst before returning home to take on Illinois – Springfield on Saturday. McKendree jumped out to a 31-13 lead after the first quarter and never looked back, coming away with a 72-62 triumph. Now 7-0 (3-0 GLVC) for the first time since joining Division II in 2012, the Bearcats will host Missouri Western State in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday evening.
NCAA D3: Meg Barber – New York University
Another week, another pair of dominant victories for Coach Barber’s Violets, as the top-ranked team in the nation remained undefeated on the season. NYU hosted SUNY Cobleskill on Friday, jumping out to a 16-0 lead and never looking back en route to a 119-55 win. 16 different players scored for NYU in the victory. Back in action on Sunday, the Violets led by as many as 49 in a 97-50 road triumph over Tufts. With the wins, NYU extended its nation-long winning streak to 38 games dating back to last season. All of the Violets’ wins this season have come by at least 29 points. NYU returns to the floor on Wednesday, when it takes on Brooklyn College on the road.
NAIA: Adam Hocking – Clarke University
Coach Hocking guided Clarke to a pair of impressive come-from-behind victories this week as the Pride improved to 6-1 on the season. Clarke trailed by as many as 11 in the first half before rallying to defeat Culver-Stockton 79-75 at home on Tuesday. Hosting Central Methodist on Saturday, the Pride again found themselves down 11, this time in the second half. Again they fought back, however, and pulled out an 80-79 victory in a nail-biter. Clarke will continue its four-game homestand when it hosts MidAmerica Nazarene on Saturday afternoon.
JUCO: Jamie Fisher – Florida SouthWestern State College
Coach Fisher led Florida SouthWestern to three big victories this week, extending the Buccaneers winning streak to five. In the Citrus Conference opener on Monday, Florida SouthWestern jumped out to a 36-11 halftime lead and never looked back, defeating St. Petersburg 76-42. The Bucs then hosted No. 19 Eastern Florida, who entered the matchup riding a 47-game conference winning streak dating back to 2021. FSW snapped that streak in commanding fashion, taking a 75-60 victory and picking up their third win over a ranked opponent on the season. The Bucs then closed out the week on the road, taking down Daytona State 72-53 to improve to 7-3 (3-0 Citrus) on the season. FSW is back in action on Wednesday, facing off against Florida State College at Jacksonville on the road.
2024-25 WHoopDirt.com / FastBreak PlayBook Coach of the Week Winners
Week 1
Early season – no winners selected.
NCAA DI: Kenny Brooks – University of Kentucky
NCAA DII: Buffie Burson – University of North Georgia
NCAA DIII: Laurie Kelly – Gustavus Adolphus College
NAIA: Bill Harmsen – Dordt University
JUCO: Mike Seney – CCBC Essex
NCAA DI: Geno Auriemma – UConn
NCAA DII: Danielle Fleming – PennWest Clarion
NCAA DIII: Lindsay Schultz – Carroll University
NAIA: Hannah Moeller – Mid-American Christian University
JUCO: Austin Mefford – New Mexico Junior College
NCAA DI: Kara Lawson – Duke University
NCAA DII: Rick Neumann – University of Mary
NCAA DIII: Mia Smith – Illinois Wesleyan University
NAIA: NaJarius Green – Columbia College
JUCO: John Ontjes – Hutchinson Community College
Previous Coach of the Year Award Winners:
Division I
- 2022-23: Kenny Brooks – Virginia Tech University
- 2021-22: Dawn Staley – University of South Carolina
- 2020-21: Adia Barnes – University of Arizona
- 2019-20: Dawn Staley – University of South Carolina
Division II
- 2022-23: Kari Pickens – Ashland University
- 2021-22: Kim Stephens – Glenville State College
- 2020-21: Steve Gomez – Lubbock Christian University
- 2019-20: Molly Miller – Drury University
Division III
- 2022-23: Juli Fulks – Transylvania University
- 2021-22: Brian Morehouse – Hope College
- 2020-21: Brian Morehouse – Hope College
- 2019-20: Jill Pace – Tufts University
NAIA
- 2022-23: Courtney Boyd – Clarke University
- 2021-22: Jeff Hans – Thomas More College
- 2020-21: Kirsten Moore – Westmont College
- 2019-20: Chris Nelson – Bethel University
JUCO
- 2022-23: Mike Seney – CCBC Essex
- 2021-22: Trenia Tillis Hoard – Tyler Junior College
- 2020-21: No winner named – COVID season
- 2019-20: Cayla Petree – South Plains College
FastBreak PlayBook provides coaches with a database of plays drawn by professional and college level coaches with coaching points and player assignments. All plays are editable to fit your system or you can quickly draw your own with their custom-built play drawing tool. Additional features allow coaches to create practice schedules, scouting reports, as well as integrate and distribute video to their team directly with the mobile team app.
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