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 Beth Dunkenberger has been named head women's basketball coach at Virginia Tech. |
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April 6, 2004
Cullowhee, N.C. - Beth Dunkenberger, who was the 2003 Southern Conference Coach of the Year and led Western Carolina to the 2004 SoCon Tournament final, has been named head women's basketball coach at Virginia Tech, the school announced today. Western Carolina will begin an immediate nation-wide search for her replacement according to Catamount Director of Athletics Jeff Compher.
"Beth Dunkenberger is a proven winner and she has showed this community, our fans, and most importantly, our women's basketball team that they can be successful both on the court and in the classroom." Compher said. "She and her staff of Shellie Greenman, Bobbie Kelsey and Stacy Cantley have raised the expectations for the Lady Catamounts forever and we will miss her. Virginia Tech is hiring a first-class person in Beth. Western's basketball program will never be the same because of the foundation Coach Dunkenberger has built for us."
Compher added, "Our commitment remains the same for the future of our women's basketball program at Western. I am confident that we will attract a coach who will share our goal to 'be the best' by winning championships and graduating student-athletes."
Dunkenberger is a native of Shawsville, Va., which is less than 25 miles from Virginia Tech's campus, and spent nine years in Blacksburg as a Hokie assistant coach. Dunkenberger additionally received a Master of Science degree in Sport Management from Virginia Tech in 1991. While at Western Carolina, Dunkenberger compiled a 65-50 record in four seasons as head coach and, during the 2002-03 season, she reached 50 wins faster than any previous Catamount women's basketball coach. This past season, she led an injury-plagued team to a 14-17 mark. However, as the sixth-seed at the SoCon Tournament, the Catamounts reached the championship game, defeating 11th-seed Wofford, third-seed Davidson and second-seed Furman before falling to top-seed Chattanooga.
"I am very thankful and appreciative of my four years at Western Carolina University," Dunkenberger said. "The support of Jeff (Compher) and (Western Chancellor) Dr. (John) Bardo made it possible for us to build a championship contending team is such a short time. The Catamounts have strong team for next year and I will be one of their biggest supporters in the race for a SoCon championship.
"Virginia Tech is a very special place to me," Dunkenberger continued. "That is where I spent my first nine coaching years and it's also very close to where I was born and raised. The chance to have my coaching career and be with so many friends and family is an opportunity of a lifetime."
In 2000-03, Dunkenberger was named the league's Coach of the Year after posting a 21-7 record and finishing second in the SoCon regular-season standings with a 14-4 scoresheet. The 21 wins tied a school record for victories in a season as the 1977-78 team posted a 21-6 record in the only other year the Cats won at least 20 games. In 2001-02, Western went 17-11, which was the program's most wins in 19 seasons, going 17-10 in 1982-83. It was also the school's first season to produce a winning record since that 1982-83 campaign. In her first season at WCU, Dunkenberger posted a 13-15 record, which was the program's best win total in 12 years.
In addition to team success, Dunkenberger has coached some of the most decorated student-athletes in WCU history. This past year's graduating class of Tiffany Hamm, Yoneko Allen and Christy Blackwell appear in the WCU single-season and career record books a combined 29 times. Hamm, a two-time All-Southern Conference pick, was the 2003 SoCon Player of the Year and the 2001 SoCon Freshman of the Year. Allen, the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers and school record holder in four other categories, was named a 2004 CoSIDA Academic All-America as well as being a two-time Arthur Ashe Jr. National Scholar-Athlete and two-time WCU Scholar Athlete of the Year. Blackwell, the school's all-time steals leader, was also named the Arthur Ashe Jr. National Scholar-Athlete team. In Dunkenberger's first two years, she helped Laura Echols earn first team honors in 2000 and '01. Echols, also an Academic All-Region honoree twice, finished her career second on the school's all-time scoring list. Each of Dunkenberger's four years at Western, the Catamounts had at least one player earn All-Southern Conference first team honors as well as having one member on the league's All-Freshman team.
In addition to the academic success of Allen, Blackwell and Echols, Western's team cumulative grade point average stands at 3.117 and Dunkenberger's teams have produced a semester GPA above 3.0 in five of her seven semesters as head coach, with no semester GPA dropping below 2.885. In fact, her team's GPA of 3.313 in 2000-01 ranked sixth nationally for women's basketball programs.
Dunkenberger came to Western on April 19, 2000 after spending three years as an assistant coach at the University of Florida. While with the Gators, she helped Florida compile a 63-36 record and make three post-season appearances, including a berth to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1997-98. During her nine seasons at Virginia Tech, Dunkenberger helped the Hokies reach the 1994 and '95 NCAA Tournament, which was the first two NCAA appearances in school history. In 1994, Virginia Tech won the Metro Conference Tournament to earn the NCAA bid and then won the Metro Conference regular-season title the following year to earn the school's second bid.
A valedictorian at Shawsville High School, Dunkenberger graduated cum laude from Randolph-Macon College with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics in 1988. She has the distinction of speaking at both her high school and collegiate commencement ceremonies. At Randolph-Macon, she was an all-district and all-conference selection as a guard on the basketball team. She is the daughter of Tom and Rebecca Dunkenberger, who reside in Shawsville.
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