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URBANA, Ill. (BVM) — Nancy Fahey was offered the position to be the University of Illinois Fighting Illini women’s basketball head coach on March 22, 2017, making this season her fifth coaching the squad. Fahey is very big on tightening their defense and teaching her team how to improvise their defensive techniques when they are on the court versus in practice. She also cares for putting points on the board, but her biggest goal is defensive improvement. 

Fahey takes the time to individually coach her players on their strengths and weaknesses; an example of her coaching her players was with Alex Wittenger, who accumulated second team All-Big Ten honors in 2018. Wittenger was cultivated to play with her strengths and strengthen her weaknesses, hence her receiving honors. 

Fahey started off as a player herself before transitioning into coaching. She went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her undergrad and was a four year letterwinner. Fahey played point guard for the Badgers for two of those four years and during her senior season, she led her team as captain. 

After she graduated in 1981, Fahey transitioned into coaching where she started off teaching high schoolers for two years. Later, she moved to Washington University in St. Louis to coach the Bears’ women’s basketball team as their head coach. She stayed with the Bears for 31 years where she led them to an NCAA record five Division III national championships.

During her dedicated time there, she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, becoming the first Division III representative ever inducted. Her dedication has been exhibited through numerous amounts of her work with the Bears and her continued work with the Illini women as she became the fastest coach in NCAA women’s basketball history to reach 600 wins. Fahey is using her experience from her 31 years at Washington University to apply to Illinois women’s basketball to cultivate them into future champions.

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