Chancellor, who succeeds Pokey
Chatman, becomes the fifth women’s basketball coach in the school’s 32 year
history of playing the sport.
Chancellor, a veteran head coach of
29 years at both the collegiate and professional levels, brings to LSU an
impeccable resume, one that includes leading the United
States to a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics
Games, four WNBA titles with the Houston Comets and 14 NCAA Tournament
appearances at Ole Miss.
“It’s a rare occasion that an
athletic director has the opportunity to hire a person with the credentials that
Van Chancellor brings to our women’s basketball program,” Bertman said. “Van has
experienced tremendous success at all levels of women’s basketball.
“He developed Ole Miss into a
powerhouse in the SEC, won WNBA titles with the Houston Comets and led our
national team to a gold medal in the Olympics. He knows how to win championships
and that’s what we have come to expect at LSU. Van is a man with a great deal of
energy and drive and we are excited to have him become our women’s basketball
coach.”
In addition to his recent selection
to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, along with the likes of Roy Williams, Phil Jackson and Mendy Rudolph, Chancellor is also a member of the
Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Success has followed Chancellor at
every turn, as he posted a 38-0 mark in International competition as head coach
of the United States Olympic Team. Add to that his 211 victories as head coach
of the Comets and the 439 games he won at Ole Miss, and Chancellor comes to LSU
with nearly 700 victories to his credit.
Most recently, Chancellor served
for 10 years as head coach of the Houston Comets from 1997-2006. During that
time, Chancellor was named the WNBA Coach of the Year three times (1997, 1998,
1999) and he led the franchise to the league’s first four titles. Under
Chancellor’s direction, the Comets were the only team in the WNBA to make the
playoffs in each of the first seven seasons of the league.
His 1998 Comets team still holds
the record for highest winning percentage in the history of NBA and WNBA
basketball with a 27-3 mark (.900).
In 10 years with the Comets,
Chancellors’ teams posted a 211-111 record, which makes him the winningest coach
in the history of the league. Chancellor had the distinction of coaching the
Western Conference All-Star Team three times during his career and he was also
named the coach of the WNBA’s All-Decade Team in June of 2006.
As head coach of the Comets,
Chancellor produced the WNBA Most Valuable Player five times, the WNBA Defensive
Player of the Year three times and the league’s most improved player twice.
Before his jump to the professional
ranks, Chancellor spent 19 seasons at Ole Miss, developing the Lady Rebels into
one of the nation’s premier women’s basketball programs. As the Ole Miss head
coach, Chancellor guided the Lady Rebels to the NCAA Tournament 14 times, which
included 11 consecutive appearances from 1982 to 1992.
In 19 years at Ole Miss,
Chancellor’s teams won at least 20 games 15 times, including a school-record 31
wins in 1978-79. He also led the Lady Rebels to top 20 final rankings 13 times,
with top 10 finishes four times (No. 5 in 1992, No. 6 in 1985, No. 8 in 1987, and No. 10
in 1984).
Chancellor led Ole Miss to the
Elite Eight at the NCAA Tournament four times, while his teams made the Sweet 16
on three other occasions.
Chancellor was named the
Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year three times, including the 1992 season
when the Lady Rebels were 29-3 overall and claimed the league’s regular season
title with a perfect 11-0 mark. That year, the Lady Rebels reached the NCAA
Tournament’s Elite Eight before falling to Southwest Missouri State.
Chancellor played two years of
basketball at East Central Junior
College in Decatur, Miss., before transferring to Mississippi State, where he earned a bachelor’s degree
in math and physical education in 1965.
He also entered the coaching ranks
during his senior year at Mississippi
State, serving as head coach of the
boy’s basketball team at Noxapater High
School. Chancellor went on to coach boy’s and girl’s
basketball at Horn Lake High
School and Harrison
Central High
School in Mississippi. Chancellor received his master’s
degree in physical education from Ole Miss in 1973.
Born September 27, 1943, in
Louisville, Miss., Chancellor and his wife, Betty, have
two children, John and Renee, and four grandsons, Nicholas, Jacob, Joseph and
Zachary.
A book published in the fall of
1999, “Nothin’ But a Champion,” chronicles Chancellor’s life from his childhood
in Mississippi
through his third WNBA Championship with the Houston Comets. In addition to his
coaching duties, Chancellor has also spent time serving as a television analyst
for women’s college basketball, working for both ESPN and SEC-TV.
Van Chancellor
File
Birthdate:
Sept. 27, 1943
Hometown:
Louisville, Miss.
Wife: Betty
Children:
John and Renee
Grandchildren: Nicholas, Jacob, Joseph and
Zachary
Education
Undergraduate: Mississippi State, ’65 (Bachelor’s in Math and
Physical Education)
Graduate:
Ole Miss, ’73 (Master’s in Physical Education)
Coaching
Experience
Head coach at Ole Miss, 1978-97;
Head coach of the Houston Comets (WNBA), 1997-2006; Head coach U.S. Olympic
Team, 2004; Head Coach USA Basketball Women’s World Championship Team, 2002.
Coaching
Highlights
Selected to Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007; Head coach of the United States’ gold medal
women’s basketball team in the 2004 Olympics; Head coach of four WNBA titles
with the Houston Comets; Winningest coach in WNBA history with 211 wins;
Winningest coach in Ole Miss history with 439 victories; Coached U.S. Women’s
Basketball team to a 38-0 mark in International competition in 2004; Named WNBA
Coach of the Year three times; Named SEC Coach of the Year three times; Named
2002 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year; Led Ole Miss to 14 NCAA
Tournament appearances, including four Elite Eights and three Sweet 16s;
Inducted into Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001; Named 1992 National
Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball News Service.
Van Chancellor’s Head
Coaching Record
College
Year
Team
Record
Pct.
Notes
1978-79
Ole Miss
31-9 .775
AIAW
State
Champions
1979-80
Ole Miss
23-14
.662
1980-81
Ole Miss
14-12
.538
1981-82
Ole Miss
27-5
.844 NCAA
First Round
1982-83
Ole Miss
26-6
.813 NCAA
Second Round
1983-84
Ole Miss
24-6
.800 NCAA
Second Round
1984-85
Ole Miss
29-3
.906 NCAA
Elite Eight
1985-86
Ole Miss
24-8
.750 NCAA
Elite Eight
1986-87
Ole Miss
25-5
.833 NCAA Sweet
16
1987-88
Ole Miss
24-7
.774 NCAA
Sweet 16
1988-89
Ole Miss
23-8
.742 NCAA
Elite Eight
1989-90
Ole Miss
22-10
.688 NCAA
Sweet 16
1990-91
Ole Miss
20-9
.690 NCAA
First Round
1991-92
Ole Miss
29-3
.906 NCAA
Elite Eight
1992-93
Ole Miss
19-10
.655
1993-94
Ole Miss
24-9
.727 NCAA
Second Round
1994-95
Ole Miss
21-8
.724 NCAA
First Round
1995-96
Ole Miss
18-11
.621 NCAA
First Round
1996-97
Ole Miss
16-11
.593
TOTALS 19
years
439-154
.740
Professional
Year
Team Record
Pct.
Playoff Record
Notes
1997
Houston
Comets 18-10
.685
2-0
WNBA Champions
1998
Houston
Comets 27-3
.900
4-1
WNBA
Champions
1999
Houston
Comets 26-6
.813
4-2
WNBA Champions
2000
Houston
Comets 27-5
.844
6-0
WNBA Champions
2001 Houston Comets 19-13
.594
0-2
WNBA Playoffs
2002
Houston
Comets 24-8
.750
1-2
WNBA Playoffs
2003
Houston
Comets 20-14 .588
1-2
WNBA Playoffs
2004
Houston
Comets 13-21
.382
0-0
2005
Houston
Comets 19-15
.559
2-3
WNBA Conference Finals
2006
Houston
Comets 18-16
.529
0-2
WNBA Playoffs
TOTALS 10
years
211-111
.655
20-14
USA
Basketball
Year
Team Event Record
Finish
2004
U.S. National Team
Olympics
8-0
Gold Medal
2004
U.S. National Team
Pre-Olympics Exhibition Games
16-0
--
2002
U.S. National Team
FIBA World Championships
9-0
Gold
2002
U.S. National Team
Opals World Challenge
4-0
1st Place
2002
U.S. National Team
WBCA All Star Challenge
1-0
TOTALS 38-0