NCAAW Basketball: Which schools hired new coaches for 2017-18?

Which coaches got new jobs in women’s college basketball?

Women’s college basketball has long strived for equality and that fight is still ongoing. But one area that women, unfortunately, have caught up with the men is coaching changes.

While the men’s side still typically dispose their coaches at a higher rate, the women are closing in fast. Since the end of the 2016-17 season, there have been 47 coaching changes, following Dave Wojcik departure from San Jose State, on the men’s side compared to 37 on the women’s side.

At the beginning of the 2016 campaign, there were 57 new head coaches, including three interim head coaches, in women’s basketball. That was the most coaching changes in women’s basketball since 2013-14 when there were 60 new head coaches. 76 programs made a coaching change in 2013-14.

Despite the fact that there has been an exorbitant number of coaching changes recently, 17 NCAA D-I coaches have been at the same school for 20 or more seasons. 61-year-old Harry Perretta is the longest tenured at head coach as he has been at Villanova since 1978-79.  Perretta, who was hired two months after graduating from Lycoming College, has compiled a 723-454 record with the Wildcats. He has led the Wildcats to 21 postseason appearances, including 10 NCAA appearances.

UConn’s Geno Auriemma, North Carolina’s Sylvia Hatchell, Notre Dame’s Muffett McCraw, Holy Cross’ Bill Gibbons, and Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer have been at their respective schools for 30-plus seasons.

Of the 37 programs that made coaching changes, six were from the power five conferences. Arkansas, Georgetown, Florida, Illinois, USC, and Washington are the major programs who changed coaches.