 "Photo: Ryan Joyce")
On Tuesday afternoon, Boston College announced the hiring of 36-year-old Sylvia Crawley as the head women's basketball coach. Crawley replaces former Eagles' coach Cathy Inglese, who resigned on April 10.
Crawley spent the past two seasons at Ohio University, guiding the Bobcats to a 38-25 mark in her two seasons on the job. Her record was the best two-year start for any Ohio women's basketball coach, and in the 2007-2008 season, she led the Bobcats to their first 20-win season since 1994-1995.
"It's a very exciting day here at the Heights," said BC Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo. "She has a great basketball past," he said, alluding to her experience as a head coach and a player.
Before becoming the head coach at Ohio, Crawley spent one season as the top assistant coach at Fordham, where she became the team's interim head coach following the midseason retirement of head coach Jim Lewis. She also spent two seasons as an assistant coach at her alma mater of North Carolina, under the tutelage of head coach Sylvia Hatchell.
"I'm extremely happy to be back in the ACC, and competing in the ACC," Crawley said.
It was in the Tar Heel state that Crawley began her journey to Chestnut Hill. After growing up in Ohio, she attended North Carolina on a basketball scholarship. Crawley played for four years, scoring over 1,000 points in her career. In the 1993-1994 season, she was the captain of the team that won the national championship, where she was named Final Four MVP.
Crawley's success on the court continued after her graduation. In 1995, she was named the USA Female Basketball Player of the Year after leading America to a silver medal at the World University Games. Following several professional seasons in Europe, the ABL, and the WNBA, she then decided to opt for a career in coaching.
As a coach, Crawley said that her philosophy is to play an aggressive style of basketball. "I believe in an up-tempo style of play," she said during Tuesday's press conference. "I think we need to get up and down the court and just have more possessions." She then mentioned that the best teams typically score in the 80-point range, noting that BC averaged just 63.9 points per game last season.
But Crawley admitted that she cannot replace Inglese without help. "I'm the kind of head coach that is smart enough to know that I don't know everything," she said. "I will adjust to my personnel. I'm just very fortunate to inherit a team that is (part of) a really good program."
Crawley then pointed to her staff as proof of her success in Ohio, announcing that assistant coaches Stephanie Yelton, Geoff Lanier, and Angelita Forte would also be joining her.
"It means the world to me that they're here today," Crawley said. While describing their roles, she added, "Our staff is rare where we have a point guard coach, a post coach, a perimeter coach. All positions will get individual attention."
Attention and passion were two apparent themes in Crawley's introduction at BC. "I just met with the team and we had a bonding experience," she noted. "I just wanted to assure them that they were going to be free to play the game of basketball and be passionate about the game. We're going to bring the fun back into the game of basketball. I just believe that when you love what you do, you'll automatically be successful at it."
Like any head coach, winning will define Crawley's success in Chestnut Hill. She will inherit a team that went 21-12 last season and reached the NIT after just missing out on the NCAA tournament.
And with most of the players returning, Crawley sounded excited about the opportunity in front of her. "I can't wait to work with these players," she said with a slight grin, indicating that big things may be on the horizon for the BC women's basketball program.
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