Niele Ivey

Niele Deirdre Jamillah Viveca Ivey (born September 24, 1977) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team. She is a former Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) player for the Indiana Fever, Detroit Shock, and Phoenix Mercury.^[1] Prior to her move to the NBA in August 2019,^[2] she was an assistant coach for the University of Notre Dame women's basketball team, where she had played in college. She was an All-American point guard and became the 17th player in school history to record over 1,000 career points. She received the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award presented for the nation's top player under 5'8" in 2001.^[3] She would go on to lead the Irish women to their first NCAA Championship in 2001, in her hometown of St. Louis as a fifth-year senior.^[4]

Niele Ivey

Ivey with Notre Dame in 2025
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Position	Head coach
League	Atlantic Coast Conference
Personal information
Born	(1977-09-24) September 24, 1977 (age 47) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Listed height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Listed weight	149 lb (68 kg)
Career information
High school	Cor Jesu Academy (Affton, Missouri)
College	Notre Dame (1997–2001)
WNBA draft	2001: 2nd round, 19th overall pick
Selected by the Indiana Fever
Playing career	2001–2005
Position	Guard
Number	33, 11
Coaching career	2005–present
Career history
As player:
2001–2004	Indiana Fever
2005	Phoenix Mercury
2005	Detroit Shock
As coach:
2005–2007	Xavier (admin. assistant)
2007–2015	Notre Dame (assistant)
2015–2019	Notre Dame (associate HC)
2019–2020	Memphis Grizzlies (assistant)
2020–present	Notre Dame
Career highlights and awards
As player: NCAA champion (2001) Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (2001) First-team All-Big East (2001) Third-team All-American – AP (2001) As assistant coach: NCAA champion (2018) As head coach: ACC regular season champion (2023) ACC Coach of the Year (2023) ACC tournament champion (2024)
Stats at Basketball Reference

In the WNBA, she finished her career with 408 points, including over 100 in 2 separate seasons. She also had ninety 3-point field goals, 228 assists, and 94 steals.

High school

Ivey grew up playing many sports, but favored basketball. She learned the game from her older brothers, and was shooting from three-point range by the time she was in fourth grade. She attracted attention for her long-range shooting from high school coaches, including Gary Glasscock of Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis.^[5] Ivey had attended Catholic grade school, so it was a natural fit to attend Cor Jesu. As a junior, Ivey scored 18 points per game to help her team to a 31–0 record and a Class 4A State Championship, the first in school history.^[6]

College career

Ivey was a big fan of Michael Jordan, who attended college at the University of North Carolina, so she was determined to go there for college. She used her own money to attend a basketball camp in Chapel Hill, but the UNC head coach, Sylvia Hatchell, appeared only at the opening and closing of the camp, and did not get a chance to see Ivey play. Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame became interested in Ivey, and traveled to St. Louis a number of times to watch Ivey play pick-up games at the YMCA in St. Louis.^[7] McGraw was prohibited by NCAA rules from talking to recruits at this time, but Ivey was aware of her presence, and it convinced her that McGraw was seriously interested in her. Ivey decided to commit to attend Notre Dame.^[8]

Notre Dame statistics

Source^[9]

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Year	Team	GP	Points	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1996–97	Notre Dame	5	15	37.5%	0.0%	75.0%	2.4	3.0	1.6	0.2	3.0
1997–98	Notre Dame	31	254	44.9%	37.3%	78.8%	3.4	2.9	2.5	0.2	8.2
1998–99	Notre Dame	28	369	50.2%	44.8%	87.0%	3.8	6.5	2.6	0.0	13.2
1999-00	Notre Dame	32	358	43.4%	36.5%	75.3%	3.5	6.1	3.0	0.1	11.2
2000–01	Notre Dame	36	434	46.3%	44.2%	71.2%	4.1	6.9	2.6	0.2	12.1
Career		132	1430	46.0%	40.5%	77.7%	3.7	5.5	2.6	0.1	10.8

Coaching career

Following the retirement of Notre Dame women's coach Muffet McGraw in April 2020, Ivey was named the Fighting Irish head coach.^[1]

Personal life

Ivey was born September 24, 1977, in Saint Louis, Missouri, to Thomas and Theresa Ivey. She was the youngest of five children, and the only daughter.^[10] She attended Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis and played at the University of Notre Dame. She has one child, Jaden Ivey, born on February 13, 2002, with former Notre Dame and NFL player Javin Hunter. Jaden played college basketball for Purdue and in 2022 was drafted with the fifth pick of the first round by the Detroit Pistons.^[11][12]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2020–present)
2020–21	Notre Dame	10–10	8–7	6th
2021–22	Notre Dame	24–9	13–5	T–3rd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2022–23	Notre Dame	27–6	15–3	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2023–24	Notre Dame	28–7	13–5	T–2nd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2024–25	Notre Dame	24–3	15–1
Notre Dame:		113–35 (.764)	64–21 (.753)
Total:		113–35 (.764)
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

WNBA career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career best	°	League leader

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2001	Indiana	32	26	22.1	37.3	35.7	93.3	1.7	2.2	1.0	0.2	1.1	3.6
2002	Indiana	31	23	14.2	35.2	38.0	81.0	0.9	1.3	0.5	0.1	0.7	2.8
2003	Indiana	27	21	24.1	38.8	39.3	70.6	1.2	2.6	1.1	0.3	1.0	5.0
2004	Indiana	15	1	11.9	29.7	33.3	66.7	0.7	1.2	0.3	0.2	0.4	2.3
2005	Detroit	12	0	8.5	21.7	25.0	1.000	1.0	0.8	0.5	0.0	0.4	1.2
	Phoenix	14	0	10.9	33.3	20.0	1.000	0.7	1.4	0.4	0.0	0.4	1.7
Career	5 years, 3 teams	131	71	17.0	35.4	36.0	81.8	1.1	1.7	0.7	0.1	0.8	3.1

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2003	Indiana	3	0	3.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Career	1 year, 1 team	3	0	3.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

References

1. Voepel, Mechelle (22 April 2020). "Irish's McGraw retires after Hall of Fame career". ESPN.com. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
2. "Memphis Grizzlies announce assistant coaching staff". NBA.com. August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
3. "Frances Pomeroy Naismith". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on 2014-07-15. Retrieved 30 Jun 2014.
4. Araton, Harvey (2015-04-06). "For Inspiration, Notre Dame Can Look to 2001 and Niele Ivey". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
5. Cashore, Matt (2012-02-19). "Cor Jesu, Notre Dame great Ivey feels blessed to be back with Irish". STL Today. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
6. Goldberg p 16–18
7. Hochman, Benjamin (Winter 2018–19). "The Competitor". Notre Dame Magazine. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
8. Goldberg p 19–20
9. "Notre Dame Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
10. Goldberg p 16
11. La Lumiere Basketball. Twitter. https://twitter.com/LaLuBasketball/status/1196155609936285699
12. II, Omari Sankofa. "Detroit Pistons jolt backcourt, select Jaden Ivey at No. 5 in 2022 NBA draft". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2022-06-24.

Sources

• Goldberg, Jeff (2011). Bird at the Buzzer: UConn, Notre Dame, and a Women's Basketball Classic. Doris Burke. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-2411-7.

External links

• http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/niele_ivey/index.html