Gail Hook

2012 USA Women's U17 World Championship Team Assistant Coach

Having completed her 14th season (1998-99 to present) as head coach at Monarch, Hook has led her team to 10 state tournaments, including the championship game in 2009 and 2012, the final four in 2003 and 2010, the elite eight in 2002, 2004 and 2011 and the round of sixteen in 2001, 2005 and 2008.

In 2011-12, Hook led Monarch to a 22-6 record, a Front Range League title – her fifth (2002, 2003, 2010-2012) – and the 5A state championship game, and she was recognized as the 2012 Helen McCall Memorial Coach of the Year by Colorado Coaches of Girls Sports.

On the USA sideline, Hook won gold as an assistant coach at the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, she was a court coach during the 2000 USA U18 National Team Trials and in 2005 she was an assistant coach for the USA Red Team that finished 3-2 to claim the bronze medal at the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival. In 2006 she acted as co-director for the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, helping USA Basketball to coordinate the seven-team tournament that was played at the USOTC.

She played for USA Basketball in the 1978 U.S. Olympic Festival, earning a gold medal with a 4-0 record.
Four times honored as the Front Range Coach of the Year (2002, 2003, 2009 and 2010), Hook was recognized as the Boulder County Coach of the Year and the Dave Sanders Colorado Coach Award recipient in 2009, and she was named the State Farm Colorado Coach of the Year in 2001.
Since 2006, she has served on the WBCA committee responsible for selecting the WBCA High School All-America Team and Coach of the Year, and she was on the nomination committee for Sportswomen of Colorado from 2005-2010.

Hook’s previous high school experience includes a year as the girls basketball coach and Dean of Students at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colo. (1995-96), and eight seasons at Centaurus High School in Lafeyette, Colo. (1986-87 to 1993-94).

While at Centaurus, she led the program to the 1991 Colorado 5A state title, the 1992 state semifinals, the 1993 state quarterfinals and the state title game in 1994. She captured league and district championships in 1992 and 1994 and a district championship in 1993. Hook was recognized as the Boulder County, Skyline Conference and Colorado Coach of the Year in 1991 and as the Skyline League, Boulder County and Joint Effort Coach of the Year in 1992.

She also has experience in the collegiate and professional ranks. She was an assistant coach to the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting in 2003 and for the American Basketball League’s Colorado Xplosion from 1996-98. She spent one season as an assistant coach at Purdue University in 1994-95, and her first coaching position came in 1985-86 as a graduate assistant at the University of Northern Colorado.

Hook attended the University of Maryland for two years and played basketball in 1978-79, helping the Terrapins win the inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in 1979. She transferred to the University of Colorado, where she earned a bachelor’s of science in physical education and coaching in 1982 and played basketball in 1979-80 through 1981-82.

She earned a master degree in physical education/athletic administration from Northern Colorado in 1986 and an administrative degree in education administration from the University of Denver in 1994. She teaches physical education and health at Monarch.