Debbie Ryan

For the actress and singer, see Debby Ryan.

Debbie Ryan (born November 4, 1952)^[1] is a former women's basketball coach who coached at the University of Virginia. Ryan also coached the American women's basketball team at the 2003 Pan American Games. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2000 but is currently in remission.^[2] She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. Ryan was also inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.^[3]

Debbie Ryan

Debbie Ryan in 2014
Biographical details
Born	(1952-11-04) November 4, 1952 (age 72) Titusville, New Jersey, U.S.
Playing career
1971–1975	Ursinus
Position(s)	Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1977–2011	Virginia
Head coaching record
Overall	739–324 (.695)
Bowls	56
Tournaments	69
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
3× NCAA Regional—Final Four (1990, 1991, 1992) 11× ACC regular season champion (1984, 1986–1988, 1991–1996, 2000) 3× ACC tournament champion (1990, 1992, 1993)
Awards
7× ACC Coach of the Year (1984, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1995, 2000) Naismith College Coach of the Year (1991)
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Medal record Women's Basketball Head coach for  United States World University Games 2001 Beijing Team Competition Pan American Games 2003 Santo Domingo Team Competition

The US Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) awarded her the Coach of the Year award in 1991.^[4] She was also named the Naismith College Coach of the Year.^[5]

Ryan started as an assistant coach at Virginia under head coach Dan Bonner.^[5] In 1977, Ryan, who had recently completed graduate school in Virginia, was asked to become the head coach of the women's basketball program. She accepted, to become only the third head coach in the program's history.^[2] Ryan resigned after 34 years of head coaching duties at UVA at the completion the women's 2010–11 basketball season.^[6][7] After her resignation, Ryan was a volunteer assistant coach of Seattle Storm for the 2011 WNBA season, reuniting with her former player Jenny Boucek, who is an assistant coach there.^[8] In 2014, Ryan was honored as one of the Library of Virginia's "Virginia Women in History" for her contributions to women's basketball and her actions as a cancer treatment advocate.^[9]

US basketball

Ryan served as the head coach of the US representative to the 1999 World University Games (also known as the Universiade). The event was held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The US team opened with a 134–37 win over South Africa. The second game was against Canada, which the US team lost in a close match 68–67. The US could not afford to lose another game if they wished to win a medal, and won the next game against Japan 106–66. They next faced undefeated Russia, and fell behind by twelve points at halftime, but came back and won 79–68. The US fell behind in their next game against undefeated China, but rallied and went on to win 89–78. They beat Brazil to advance to the semi-final, where they faced Lithuania. The game was not close, with the US winning 70–49. That set up a rematch with China, on their home court with 18,000 spectators. The USA only had a four-point lead at halftime, but did better in the second half, and won 87–69 to claim the gold medal.^[10]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Virginia (ACC) (1977–2011)
1977–78	Virginia	8–17	1–5	6th
1978–79	Virginia	16–12	2–4	6th
1979–80	Virginia	20–12	3–5	6th	WNIT Second Round
1980–81	Virginia	22–10	5–2	4th	AIAW First Round
1981–82	Virginia	17–11	2–5	5th
1982–83	Virginia	15–13	4–9	6th
1983–84	Virginia	22–7	11–3	1st	NCAA First Round
1984–85	Virginia	21–8	9–5	3rd	NCAA First Round
1985–86	Virginia	26–3	13–1	1st	NCAA First Round
1986–87	Virginia	26–5	12–2	1st	NCAA Sweet 16
1987–88	Virginia	27–5	12–2	T-1st	NCAA Elite 8
1988–89	Virginia	21–10	8–6	4th	NCAA Sweet 16
1989–90	Virginia	29–6	11–3	2nd	NCAA Final Four
1990–91	Virginia	31–3	14–0	1st	NCAA Runner-Up
1991–92	Virginia	32–2	15–1	1st	NCAA Final Four
1992–93	Virginia	26–6	13–3	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1993–94	Virginia	27–5	15–1	1st	NCAA Sweet 16
1994–95	Virginia	27–5	16–0	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1995–96	Virginia	26–7	13–3	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1996–97	Virginia	23–8	12–4	2nd	NCAA Sweet 16
1997–98	Virginia	19–10	9–7	5th	NCAA Second Round
1998–99	Virginia	20–9	12–4	2nd	NCAA First Round
1999–00	Virginia	25–9	13–3	1st	NCAA Sweet 16
2000–01	Virginia	18–14	8–8	5th	NCAA First Round
2001–02	Virginia	17–13	9–7	T-3rd	NCAA First Round
2002–03	Virginia	17–14	9–7	3rd	NCAA Second Round
2003–04	Virginia	13–16	6–9	7th
2004–05	Virginia	21–11	8–6	5th	NCAA Second Round
2005–06	Virginia	20–12	5–9	9th	WNIT Quarterfinals
2006–07	Virginia	19–15	5–9	8th	WNIT Quarterfinals
2007–08	Virginia	24–10	10–4	T-3rd	NCAA Second Round
2008–09	Virginia	24–10	8–6	T-5th	NCAA Second Round
2009–10	Virginia	21–10	9–5	3rd	NCAA First Round
2010–11	Virginia	19–16	5–7	8th	WNIT Quarterfinals
Virginia:		739–324 (.694)	160–92 (.635)
Total:		739–324 (.694)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

See also

• List of college women's basketball coaches with 600 wins
• Virginia Cavaliers basketball

References

1. "Women's Basketball Coaches Career". NCAA. Retrieved 23 Sep 2015.
2. Friedman, Vickie (June 2011). "The End of Two Eras". Coaching Women's Basketball (Post-convention issue): 22.
3. "WBHOF Inductees". WBHOF. Archived from the original on 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
4. "USBWA Women's Honors". USBWA. Archived from the original on 15 January 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
5. Leung, Brian; Holland, Terry (2016-09-15). 100 Things Virginia Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die. Triumph Books. ISBN 9781633196742.
6. (2011-03-12) "Virginia coach Ryan to step down after 34 years"^{[dead link]}, Associated Press. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
7. (2011-03-26 )"Debbie Ryan's career ends as Virginia's late run isn't enough to beat Charlotte", ESPN. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
8. "News Archive".
9. "Virginia Women in History: Deborah A. "Debbie" Ryan". Library of Virginia. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
10. "Twentieth World University Games – 2001". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.

External links

• Bio from the 2003 Pan American Games
• Bio from Virginia Archived 2007-01-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Debbie Ryan | Expert Healthcare Articles