May 20 - Rocky Face; May 22 - Macon
May 27 - Peachtree City; May 29 - Duluth
|
MaChelle Joseph's appointment as head coach on May 19, 2003, marked the beginning of a new era for Georgia Tech women's basketball. A proven winner as both a player and assistant coach, she brought with her the vision of establishing the Georgia Tech women's basketball program as a contender in both the Atlantic Coach Conference and the national spotlight.
"I felt like I won the lottery when I took this job," said Joseph. "I feel like this is one of the best jobs in the country and there is no reason why we can't challenge for an ACC and national championship in the years to come. We have all of the resources, the support of our administration and everything that it takes to be a top-10 program, and that is my goal for Georgia Tech."
Following two years as an assistant coach under Agnus Berenato, during which the Yellow Jackets averaged 18 wins a season, Joseph was named the fifth head coach in the history of the Georgia Tech program by Institute President Dr. G. Wayne Clough and then-Director of Athletics Dave Braine.
Braine said that rewarding Joseph with her first head coaching position was a logical choice.
"MaChelle has proven herself to be an outstanding coach and recruiter in her 11 years as an assistant coach, and in particular in her two years at Georgia Tech," Braine said at the time of her promotion.
"It is no coincidence that her two years here have been two of the best seasons that we have ever had. She clearly understands what it takes to be successful at Georgia Tech, both on the court and off," he added.
"We feel that we have hired one of the bright young coaches in the women's game, and we are very excited about the future of women's basketball at Georgia Tech with MaChelle Joseph at the helm."
Prior to her hiring as an assistant before the 2001-02 season, the Yellow Jackets hadn't won 20 games in the same season since the 1992 WNIT Championship season, and hadn't finished at .500 or above in conference play since 1993.
In her two years as Tech's top assistant coach, Joseph applied her skills as an instructor and recruiter along with her all-star playing credentials to help the program enjoy two of the best seasons in its history.
In her first season under Berenato, Joseph helped guide the Yellow Jackets to their third-straight postseason appearance with a 15-14 overall record, including seven wins against ACC opponents, and a berth in the Women's National Invitation Tournament for just the fourth time in history.
The following season, Georgia Tech posted an impressive 20-11 mark, including an 8-8 record in conference play, and participated in just the second NCAA postseason tournament in the history of the program. The Yellow Jackets' 20 wins in her final season as an assistant coach matched the 1992 squad for the most wins as a Division I program.
Joseph's skill as a recruiter translated into immediate results at Georgia Tech, where she assembled the then highest-rated freshman class in school history. Tech's 2002 recruiting class, which included McDonald's and WBCA prep All-American Kasha Terry, as well as Ashley Guerrant, Megan Harpring, April Johnson, Jessica Williams and Mallorie Winn, was rated among the top-15 in the nation by a number of recruiting services and media outlets, including No. 11 by the All-Star Girls Report as the second-highest in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Even more impressive was Joseph's first recruiting class as the head coach at the Institute, as the 2004-05 freshman class was ranked the No. 5 recruiting class in the nation by the All Star Girls Report in USA Today in November, 2003. Included in that group were high school All-Americans Jill Ingram, Daphne Mitchell and Janie Mitchell, with Giuliett Ancora, Shantrell Moss and Chioma Nnamaka rounding out her first recruiting class.
Overall, Joseph's career as an assistant coach spanned 11 years in three of the nation's top women's basketball conferences, with successful stops at Auburn of the Southeastern Conference as well as Purdue and Illinois of the Big Ten preceding her Atlantic Coast Conference stint. In 15 seasons as a collegiate player and assistant coach, Joseph was a part of programs that produced winning records in every year but one, and reached the NCAA Tournament 11 times.
Joseph, 37, acquired a program that she helped take to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade and just the second time in school history when she was named the Yellow Jackets' head coach prior to the 2003-04 season. During her first season, Joseph tied the records for most overall and conference victories by a first-year head coach, tying her predecessor, Berenato, who left the Flats to become head coach at Pittsburgh after 15 seasons in the same post at Georgia Tech.
That same season, the Yellow Jackets continued their success in the annual holiday tournament before Joseph became the first head coach in Georgia Tech history to win their conference opener when the Yellow Jackets defeated Florida State, 66-59, to open ACC play. At the end of the year, two seniors earned all-conference honors, including Fallon Stokes, who was named to the all-ACC second-team after garnering third-team honors the previous season. Point guard Alex Stewart also earned all-conference honors when she was named to the honorable mention team.
In 2005, Joseph guided a young Yellow Jacket team to a 13-14 record, with the top victory of the season coming against Georgia Tech's arch rival, Georgia, by a score of 55-49 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. It marked the first time since the 1998-99 season that the Yellow Jackets had defeated a team ranked in the top-10, and the highest ranked team Tech had recorded a victory against since the 1991-92 season, as the Bulldogs were ranked sixth in the nation entering the contest. Joseph again had two players earn all-conference accolades, as sophomore Stephanie Higgs was named to the honorable mention all-conference team while freshman Chioma Nnamaka earned all-rookie team honors.
Joseph's third season at the helm of the program proved to be her most successful, both on and off the court. While the Jackets again finished just one game shy of postseason qualification, Georgia Tech earned its first ACC Tournament victory under Joseph and came within five points of recording a quarterfinal victory in the conference tournament against the eventual national champion Maryland. Joseph had two players to earn their degrees the following May, and another to be selected as Georgia Tech's second-highest pick in a WNBA draft. That senior, Kasha Terry, has since gone on to make the 12-man roster for the Indiana Fever, which began their season at the end of May.
In her fourth year at Tech, Joseph again took the program to new heights. She coached the Jackets to a 21-12 finish, the best in school history, and the program's first NCAA Tournament win, a 55-54 thriller over DePaul. This season the Jackets earned their first winning record in ACC play, including wins over defending national champions and fourth-ranked Maryland and "Sweet 16" participant NC State. Tech's 9-5 ACC record is seven wins better than last season and is the second-best turnaround in conference history.
With the addition of forwards Alex Montgomery and Iasia Hemingway, guards Deja Foster, Shaday Woolcock and Simone Trice, Joseph signed one of the top recruiting classes, ranked as a high as eighth, in the history of the program in 2007. Montgomery became the top recruit to ever sign a letter of intent when the 15th-ranked player signed during the early signing period. Among the six players, there are two Parade All-Americans and three Street & Smith's All-America Honorable Mention.
The 2007-08 season proved to be another successful season with Joseph at the helm. The Jackets finished the season 22-10, the most wins in program history since joining the ACC before the 1979-80 season. Tech also made its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, another first for the Yellow Jacket program. Tech also earned a national ranking, No. 23 in both the AP and ESPN/Coaches Polls, for the first time in 14 years.
Joseph arrived on the Flats after serving as an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator on Joe Ciampi's staff at Auburn from 1997-2001. She helped guide the Tigers to a combined 97-50 record in five seasons and the second round of the NCAA Tournament on three occasions. Each of the last four recruiting classes she helped attract to Auburn were ranked in the top-10 nationally by the All Star Girls Report, including the Tigers' 2001 class that was ranked the nation's second-best.
Before joining the Auburn staff, Joseph coached at her alma mater, Purdue, from 1994-96 under Lin Dunn and helped the Boilermakers post a sterling 73-24 (.753) record in three seasons. Purdue advanced to the Final Four in 1994 and followed that performance with a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight in 1995. Joseph also served one year (1993) as an assistant at Illinois.
A four-year starter for the Boilermakers from 1989-1992, Joseph is one of the most decorated players in Purdue and Big Ten Conference history as she garnered numerous conference and national accolades. After earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors as well as second-team all-conference accolades in 1989, Joseph was a first-team all-Big Ten selection in 1990, 1991 and 1992 and was named the Big Ten Player of the Year as a senior. She also earned Kodak All-America honors in 1992, when she was tabbed the Women's Basketball News' College Player of the Year. She finished her career first on the Big Ten all-time scoring list and was the only player in conference history to rank in the top-10 in both points and assists. Joseph helped the Boilermakers reach the NCAA Tournament all four years, including the school's first appearance in 1989 and a pair of trips to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1990 and 1992.
A native of Auburn, Ind., Joseph graduated from Purdue in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in movement and sports science.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
