A Familiar Face Steps in as New Women's Basketball Coach

On April 20, Xavier Athletics announced Amy Waugh as the women's basketball coach for the 2011-2012 season. Waugh spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the Musketeers.

Prior to coaching at Xavier, Waugh spent five seasons at Wake Forest and one at Youngstown State.

Waugh also played a vital role as a leader on the 2001 Xavier team that brought Xavier to its first ever Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA tournament. During her senior season as a Musketeer, Waugh set a school of scoring 107 three-pointers.

"I have been impressed with Amy's personality, competitive fire and leadership abilities beginning with her days here as a player," Associate Vice President and Athletic Director Mike Bobinski said. "She has matured as a coach over the past eight years as an assistant but I see that competitive fire burning even stronger today in her than I did when she was our point guard."

Waugh still holds four Xavier records: free throw percentage (.854), single-season 3-point field goals attempted (271), single-season free throws made (146) and single-season free throw percentage (.885). Waugh set these three single-season records during her 2002-2003 season.

Waugh served as an assistant coach to the 2010 team when the Musketeers appeared in the Elite Eight for a second time.

"I am tremendously excited for this opportunity to be head coach at Xavier University," said Waugh. "There is a tradition of excellence at Xavier both academically and athletically. Those are traditions I am proud to have been a part of as a player and a coach. I am honored and humbled to be entrusted with the program and am very eager to continue the success of Xavier women's basketball."

Waugh has spent a total of six seasons as a player and coach at Xavier thus far. Out of these six seasons, the Musketeers have appeared in the tournament five times.

"As a team, we're looking to grow on our success that we've had these past years," sophomore Katie Rutan said.

Following the loss of Kevin McGuff, the players were happy to know that they would be seeing a familiar face on the court next season.

"I'm very excited. She means a lot to me as a coach and a person," Rutan said. "It's hard to work for someone that you don't really know and trust."

Redshirt sophomore Amber Gray also has high hopes for next year's team.

"We're excited. We're ready to get this process over with so we can start concentrating on our team," Gray said. "We're going to stick together."

The Xavier women's team will enter into the 2011-12 season with an 28-0 undefeated record in the Atlantic 10 over the past two years as well as two consecutive A-10 championship titles.