Ceal Barry Named Head Coach of 2011 USA Basketball Women’s

- Jennifer Gillom And Debbie Ryan To Assist Oct. 21-25 In Guadalajara, Mexico -

Sept. 15, 2011 • Colorado Springs, Colo.

The USA Basketball Women’s Pan American Games Team will be led by an experienced trio of accomplished coaches at the 2011 Pan American Games, including USA head coach Ceal Barry alongside assistant coaches Jennifer Gillom and Debbie Ryan. The trio will look to defend the USA’s 2007 gold medal at the Pan American Games women’s basketball competition Oct. 21-25 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Barry, who previously has captured three medals as a USA Basketball coach and won 510 games in 26 collegiate seasons, currently is in her seventh year serving as the University of Colorado's Associate Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator.

“It is a great honor to be selected to coach for USA Basketball, and I am really looking forward to the challenge,” Barry said. “Once we get started I think our focus will be on establishing our offensive and defensive scheme and really trying to get all 12 players on the same page. One advantage to gathering in October as opposed to the beginning of the summer is that the players should be in good shape, having started conditioning programs with their colleges and universities, and that should give us a good head start.”

Gillom, who most recently helped the USA to gold at the 2010 FIBA World Championship as an assistant coach, has won five golds and one silver medal as a player on six different USA teams. Ryan, a Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member who has coached five USA teams and won two golds and one silver medal, retired from the University of Virginia following the 2010-11 season after 34 years as the Cavaliers head coach.

“It's an absolute thrill and honor to join the coaching staff for the Pan American games,” Gillom said. “I look forward to working with the coaching staff, players, and representing our country.

“Ceal Barry and Debbie Ryan will greatly add to the depth of knowledge and experience on our staff,” Gillom continued. “It will be a great experience for us all to come together and compete for the USA”

“It is the highest of honors to be chosen to coach USA Basketball, and I am very proud to be representing our country in the Pan Am Games,” Ryan said. “USA Basketball is the pinnacle of our sport and it is very humbling to be a part of the team again.

“I am very excited to work with Ceal and Jen,” Ryan continued. “They are both tremendous coaches, talented colleagues and exceptional people.”

The official, 12-member USA Basketball Women’s Pan American Games Team is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Women’sNational Team Steering Committee, which also will select the team’s players.

Training camp for the 2011 U.S. Women’s Pan American Games Team will take place Oct. 15-18 in Houston, Texas, prior to the team’s departure for Guadalajara.

The draw for the 2011 Pan American Games women’s basketball competition took place on June 27, and the U.S. women will play in preliminary round Group A, along with Argentina, Mexico and Puerto Rico, while Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Jamaica comprise Group B. Preliminary round play for the women's basketball competition runs Oct. 21, 22 and 23, with the semifinals on Oct. 24, and the finals on Oct. 25.

The Pan American Games are a multi-sport competition held every four years (2011, 2015, etc.) in the year preceding the Olympics. Organized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), the Games are open to men and women representing countries from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Overall, the USA women in Pan American Games competitions have won seven of 14 gold medals, as well as four silver and two bronze medals, compiling a 72-12 overall record.

Former players of note that have competed in the Pan American Games include: Jennifer Azzi (1991); Cynthia Cooper (1987); Anne Donovan (1983 and 1987); Teresa Edwards (1987 and 1991); Pat Head Summitt (1975); Nancy Lieberman (1975 and 1979); Janel McCarville (2003); Katrina McClain (1987 and 1991); Carla McGhee (1995); Ann Meyers (1975 and 1979); Cheryl Miller (1983); Dawn Staley (1995); and Sheryl Swoopes (1995).

Ceal Barry

Barry will undertake her fifth USA Basketball head coaching assignment, having previously led the 2004 USA Junior World Championship Qualifying Team to a gold medal, the 1992 USA Select Team to a 4-1 record, the 1988 USA R. Williams Jones Cup Team to a silver medal and the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival East Team to a bronze medal finish.

As an assistant coach for the red, white and blue, she helped the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team and the 1994 USA Goodwill Games Team to gold medals, the 1994 USA World Championship Team to a bronze medal, a seventh-place finish with the 1993 USA Junior World Championship Team and a 2-2 record with the 1990 USA Junior National Team. Additionally, Barry served as the lead clinician during USA Basketball’s 2011 Women’s U16 National Team Trials in Colorado Springs in May.

Now in her 29th year overall at the University of Colorado, Barry currently oversees the sports of men's and women's basketball, women's golf, soccer and volleyball. She also supervises several Student Services arms of the athletic department including sports medicine, strength & conditioning, academics and student wellness.

She began her current position of Associate Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator at the University of Colorado on April 1, 2005, just one month after completing a storied 22-year CU coaching career (1983-84 to 2004-05). Barry retired having coached the most games, matches or tournaments (669) and the sixth most seasons of any sport in Colorado athletic history. Her 427 victories are also the most by any coach at the school.

Overall, she led CU to a 427-242 record for a sterling 63.8 winning percentage, 12 NCAA tournament appearances, including six times in the Sweet Sixteen and three times in the Elite Eight, 13 20-win seasons and four conference championships, earning assorted coach of the year honors in five different seasons along the way.

She became just the 24th coach in women's NCAA history to reach 500 career wins-hitting the plateau in February 2004-and her all-time record of 510-284 and 64.2 winning percentage remain among the all-time best.

Prior to the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, Barry was the Big Eight Coach of the Year four times (1989, 1993, 1994 and 1995) and the District V Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1995. The 1995 squad posted a school record 30 wins and came within a whisper of advancing to the Final Four. She led her teams to four regular season Big Eight titles and five postseason tournament titles, the last in the inaugural Big 12 Tournament in 1997.

In her 13 seasons she was 184-96 when leading the Buffs against Big Eight foes. Barry won more regular-season games (118), league titles (4), tournament titles (4), coach of the year honors (4) and coached more newcomers of the year (4) than any other league coach, while tying for the most NCAA tournament appearances with seven.

Following her second consecutive Big Eight title in 1994, the United States Basketball Writers Association and Basketball Times Magazine named Barry National Coach of the Year, and she was inducted into the Colorado Sportswomen Hall of Fame the same year. Twice, Barry has had her name on the finalist list for the Naismith Award for Coaching, those honors coming in the last three seasons.

In 2003, she was presented with the CU Alumni Association's Robert Stearns Award in recognition of one's extraordinary contributions to the university.

In 1995, she was presented with one of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's highest honors, the Carol Eckman Award, which is presented to a coach who exemplifies sportsmanship, commitment to the student-athlete, integrity, ethical behavior and dedication to the purpose.

Prior to Colorado, spent four seasons as the head coach at Cincinnati, where she compiled an 83-42 overall record.
She was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, the University of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and in January 2011, she became the third recipient of the University of Kentucky's Susan B. Feamster Trailblazer Award. Barry, who earned her bachelor's degree in accounting from UK in 1977, was part of the school's first class of women's basketball players to receive an athletic scholarship, lettering four times. She also lettered three times in field hockey in addition to her accomplishments as a basketball player.

Jennifer Gillom

Having most recently served as an assistant coach to the 2010 USA World Championship Team that claimed the gold medal, Gillom, the former WNBA Los Angeles Sparks and Minnesota Lynx head coach, returned to the USA Basketball Women's National Team staff as a court coach during the team's training camp that was held May 10-12, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nev.

During her stint as an assistant coach with the 2009-10 USA National Team, Gillom aided USA head coach Geno Auriemma and the USA to a 3-0 mark and gold medal at the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational, a victory in the 2009 WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Stars at the Sun game and a 3-1 pre-World Championship exhibition slate. In all, and including the 9-0 mark posted by the U.S. at the ’10 Worlds, Gillom has assisted the USA National Team to a 16-1 record and a pair of golds.

A player on six different USA Basketball teams, Gillom won five gold medals and one silver medal during her international basketball career and was named the 1985 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. A 1988 U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Gillom aided the 1986 and 2002 USA World Championship teams to gold, was a member of the 1987 USA Pan American Games and 1986 USA Goodwill Games squads that earned gold and garnered a silver medal with the 1985 USA World University Games Team. Additionally, Gillom served on the 2005-08 USA Basketball Cadet and Youth Committee.

The 2009 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee was hired by the Sparks as head coach on Dec. 14, 2010, after spending two years with the Minnesota Lynx. She guided Los Angeles to a WNBA Playoff appearance despite losing all-star forward and Olympic gold medalist Candace Parker to a shoulder injury just 10 games into the 2010.

Serving as an assistant coach for the Lynx in 2008, Gillom was elevated to head coach prior to the start of the 2009 season. Starting the year 4-1, in their sixth game Gillom and the Lynx lost all-star guard and Olympic gold medalist Seimone Augustus to a torn ACL in her left knee. Despite missing one of the league's top players, Gillom helped keep the Lynx within striking distance of the playoffs.

For six seasons (2004-05 to 2009-10) Gillom worked in Phoenix, Ariz., at Xavier College Preparatory, a Catholic, all-female private high school, where she coached the basketball teams to a 117-27 record for a remarkable 81.3 winning percentage. Gillom, a four-time regional coach of the year honoree, advanced the Gators to the state tournament every year and earned one regional title.

The recipient of the WNBA’s Kim Perrot Sportsmanship of the Year award in 2002, Gillom spent the first six years of her seven-year WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury. Traded to Los Angeles for her final season, Gillom and the Sparks advanced to the 2003 WNBA Finals. A member of the 1999 All-Star Game West Team, Gillom was also named to the 1997 All-WNBA first team and 1998 All-WNBA second team. Gillom helped lead the Mercury to three playoff berths (1997, 1998, 2000), where they advanced to the 1998 WNBA Finals.

Gillom also enjoyed a lengthy professional career overseas prior to joining the WNBA playing for teams in Italy, Greece, Spain and Turkey.

Gillom played collegiately for Van Chancellor at Ole Miss, where she was the 1986 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Female Athlete of the Year. A 1986 Kodak All-American, Gillom earned 1986 NCAA Midwest Regional MVP and 1985 All-Mideast Region honors and was a four-time All-SEC first team selection. During her four-year career (1982-83 to 1985-86), Gillom helped her teams to a 103-23 record (.817 winning percentage), four NCAA appearances, including a pair of Sweet Sixteens (1983, 1984) and two Elite Eight finishes (1985, 1986), and a share of three SEC West titles.

Debbie Ryan

Ryan enters her 2011 USA assistant coaching assignment with a wealth of USA Basketball coaching experience. Most recently in 2010, she was a coach of the USA Select Team that helped the USA Women’s National Team train in preparation for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

She also directed the 2003 USA Pan American Games Team to a 5-2 slate and a silver medal, the 2001 USA World University Games Team to a gold medal, the 1989 USA U19 World Championship Team to a seventh place finish, the 1988 USA FIBA Americas U18 Championship Team to a gold medal and the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival West Team to a gold medal in her first USA coaching position.

For her efforts at the 2001 World University Games, which included a hard-fought 87-69 gold medal victory against host China, Ryan earned USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year honors.

In addition to her USA Basketball coaching stints, Ryan served as a member of the USA Basketball Games Committee for Women and the USA Basketball Women's Player Subcommittee during the 1988-1992 quadrennium, helping to select athletes for numerous competitions including the 1990 World Championship and 1992 Olympic teams.

A 2008 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, Ryan spent 34 years (1977-78 through 2010-11) at the helm of the University of Virginia women’s program, retiring after the 2010-11 season with a remarkable 736-323 record and a shining 69.5 winning percentage.

Notching 28 postseason berths, including 20 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (1983-84 -2002-03), Ryan's teams reached the Sweet Sixteen 12 times, made four Elite Eight appearances, three Final Fours (1990, 1991, 1992), and advanced to the 1991 NCAA Tournament Championship game.

Ryan's sideline successes did not go unnoticed. A seven-time recipient of the Atlantic Coast Conference  (ACC) Coach of the Year award, Ryan was also tabbed the 1986 and 1987 Converse District III Coach of the Year and 2000 WBCA Coach of the Year. In 1991, when she led the Wahoos to a 31-3 overall finish, a perfect 14-0 ACC record, and a trip to the NCAA title game, Ryan was selected the 1991 Naismith National Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club.

USA Basketball

Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA Basketball is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men's and women's basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the United States by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA sponsored international basketball competitions, as well as for some national competitions.

Since 2008, USA Basketball men’s and women’s teams have compiled a sterling 134-6 win-loss record in FIBA or FIBA Americas competitions. USA teams are the current men’s and women’s champions of the Olympics and the FIBA World Championships; FIBA women’s U19 world champions; the men’s and women’s title holders for the FIBA U17 World Championships; and the men’s and women’s U18 and U16 FIBA Americas champions. USA Basketball currently ranks No. 1 in all five of FIBA's world ranking categories, including combined, men's, women's, boys and girls.

For further information about USA Basketball, go to the official Web site of USA Basketball at www.usabasketball.com and connect with us on facebook.com/usabasketball, twitter.com/usabasketball and www.youtube.com/therealusabasketball.