Nancy Darsch

Nancy Darsch
Nancy Darsch, 2011

Nancy Darsch (born December 29, 1951) is an assistant coach for the Seattle Storm in the Women's National Basketball Association. She has coached women's basketball at both the professional and Division I college levels. A native of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Darsch is a 1973 graduate of Springfield College. She also earned a master's degree in physical education from the University of Tennessee.

Early Career and College Basketball

Darsch began her coaching career at Longmeadow High School (Massachusetts), where she coached basketball, softball, and field hockey from 1973 to 1978. As an assistant under University of Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt from 1978 to 1985, Darsch helped lead the Lady Vols to five Final Four appearances. Darsch became the head coach at Ohio State University in 1985. In her 12 years at the helm at Ohio State, she led the Buckeyes to four Big Ten Conference Championships and seven NCAA appearances. In 1993, Darsch led Ohio State to a 24–4 record, a Big Ten Championship and the NCAA final. In the championship game, Ohio State lost to Texas Tech, 84–82. She compiled a record of 234–125 (.652) while at Ohio State. Darsch took on the role of assistant coach at Boston College in 2006 and 2007, helping the Eagles to compile a 33-27 record during those two seasons, as well as earning a berth in the post-season WNIT.

Olympics

Since 1984 Darsch has been part of USA Basketball. As an assistant coach for the USA Women’s Olympic Basketball team she won Olympic gold medals in both the 1984 (Los Angeles) and 1996 (Atlanta) Olympic Games.^[1]

Professional

Darsch started her professional coaching career in the WNBA's inaugural season (1997) with the New York Liberty. As the head coach, she led the Liberty to a 17–11 season and the team advanced to the WNBA final against the eventual champion, the Houston Comets. She had the privilege of coaching the Liberty in the first-ever WNBA game against the LA Sparks. Darsch earned her first professional victory in that game with a 65–51 victory on June 21, 1997. In her two seasons with New York, she compiled a 36–24 record. In 1999, Darsch took over as head coach for the Washington Mystics.^[2] After two seasons at the helm, she became an advance scout for the team. For the seasons 2003-2005 she was an assistant coach with the Minnesota Lynx^[3]. Darsch's overall WNBA head coaching record stands at 57–57 in four seasons. Darsch joined the Seattle Storm as an assistant coach for the 2008 season.^[4] In 2010, under the direction of Head Coach Brian Agler and Assistant Coach Nancy Darsch, the Seattle Storm won the WNBA Championship over Atlanta in three games.

External links

• CSTV
• Official Site Of the Seattle Storm

References