Melissa McFerrin will succeed Shann Hart as the head coach of the AU Women's Basketball team, according to an announcement by the Athletics Department in early May.
McFerrin joins the Eagles from the University of Minnesota, where she was an assistant coach for the past two years, including last season's run to the Final Four.
"Our goal is to become the pride of the Patriot League and consistently position ourselves to go to the NCAA Tournament," McFerrin said in an AU interview.
She brings a professional attitude to the Eagles, having spent five years as a member of the WNBA, both as an assistant coach of the New York Liberty and as the general manager of the Washington Mystics.
Her connections in the area should help her both during the recruiting process as well as helping players move on after they graduate.
McFerrin replaces Hart, who resigned in March after four years on the courtside to pursue other coaching opportunities, The Eagle reported March 29.
As the summer has progressed, McFerrin has begun to fill out her staff, naming Matt Corkery and Linda Lyons as her top assistants.
Corkery was assistant coach at Emporia State, where he helped the team to a No. 2 ranking in the Div. II national polls. He will bring winning experiences, having never been a part of a losing team in almost a decade of coaching college basketball.
Lyons comes from nearby George Mason University, where she was an assistant coach. She was also a starter for the University of Virginia during her playing days.
While the new staff at AU has little head coaching experience, McFerrin and her top two assistants all hail from successful programs and have learned under some of the game's best coaches.
One of McFerrin's greatest challenges will be developing a low post game for the Eagles, who struggled in the paint last year. Her work with All-American Janel McCarville should help her as she tutors Eagles center Kim Salem and tries to turn star Chanel Hunt back into the dominant low-post scorer of two years ago.
It may take a couple years for McFerrin to put her stamp on this team, but she will inherit a talented core that includes potential PL Player of the Year Hunt, senior point guard Joanna Barnes, senior Salem and sophomore sparkplug Tara Williams.
