By Michelle Lewis

The University of Louisville’s Women’s Basketball team has been to two Final Fours and

played for the National Championship both times. The Cardinals have fielded a women’s team

since the 1975-1976 academic year and has had seven head coaches (including a pair of co-head

coaches). Of these, only one has led the team to a Final Four.

Jeff Walz came to U of L before the 2007-2008 season and in his first season led the

Cards to the team’s first Sweet Sixteen. He was rewarded for that by being named the WBCA/

Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year.

The next year, in 2008-2009 Coach Walz and the team improved on that by finishing

with a 34-5 overall record, including a 14-1 record at home, and a runner up finish in the Big

East behind the University of Connecticut. Three of the team’s five losses came to the Huskies,

including the squad’s eventual loss in the national title game. The other two came on the road- an

early season loss at Nevada and a conference loss at West Virginia.

Currently in his seventh season at UofL, Walz has guided the team to five top five

finishes in his first six seasons and has them entering 2013-2014 ranked number five in the

country coming off their runner-up finish last season.

Before being hired to coach the Cardinals, Walz was an assistant coach at Maryland

where he helped head coach Donna Freese build the Terrapins into a national power program.

During his tenure he helped guide Maryland to the 2006 National Championship. While at

Maryland Walz honed his recruiting skills landing top five national recruiting classes in 2004

and 2005 as well as signing players such as Crystal Langhorne and Marissa Coleman who were

named ACC Rookies of the Year in back-to-back seasons.

Prior to his time at Maryland Walz served as an assistant at Western Kentucky (WKU),

Minnesota, and Nebraska, proving himself both on the sidelines and on the recruiting trail. He

has also coached at the middle, high school, and AAU levels before moving up to the college

Walz played college basketball at Northern Kentucky University where he earned his

bachelor of science in secondary education before earning his masters of education at WKU.

The Cardinals’ fans are huge fans of Walz.

“He’s a real down to earth guy. Genuine. When I followed him on twitter and started

tagging him in stories he followed back and even called me. Has the right vision and will turn

our program into a UConn type program,” former U of L football player Jeremy Whamans said.

“I think he’s great. That’s all there is to say” Brian Selch said, “I just hope he’s still here

when my daughter is old enough to play college ball.”

Another fan, Lisa Sanders-Ryal, said, “I don’t know him personally but, I know players

love him. He has taken us to [the] National Title game, Final four, Elite8. He is passionate about

U of L, that is evident.”

Clearly, the fans are thankful for a coach who has brought unprecedented success to U of

L Women’s Basketball and are ready to see him guide his team back to the title game.