Four-time WNBA champion Tina Thompson has been named women's basketball head coach at Virginia. The school made the announcement Monday afternoon.
Thompson, who has been an assistant at Texas the past three seasons, replaces Joanne Boyle, who retired after this past season to deal with family matters. This is the first head-coaching position for Thompson, 43.
She is the fifth coach in Virginia women's hoops history; the most successful was Debbie Ryan, who went 739-324 with three Final Four appearances between 1977 and 2011.
Boyle took over for the 2011-12 season and made one NCAA tournament appearance, this past season. The Cavaliers were 19-14 overall, 10-6 in the ACC, and fell to South Carolina in the NCAA tournament's second round.
The Los Angeles native Thompson played collegiately at Southern Cal, and was the first pick in the WNBA's inaugural 1997 draft by the Houston Comets. She won four straight titles with Houston from 1997 to 2000. In all, she played 17 seasons in the WNBA (with Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle) and also had an extensive career overseas.
Thompson is second on the WNBA's all-time scoring list with 7,488 points and fourth in career rebounds with 3,070.
Thompson also won Olympic gold medals with the United States in 2004 and 2008. She will be inducted into both the Naismith Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.
Thompson joined head coach Karen Aston's staff at Texas for the 2015-16 season, and worked extensively with the Longhorns' post players. Texas advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 this past season.
