Marquette hires Megan Duffy from Miami (Ohio) as women's basketball coach
It took Marquette just under a week to find its next women's basketball coach.
The school announced Wednesday that Megan Duffy will become the sixth coach in program history. The 34-year-old Duffy will replace Carolyn Kieger, who left MU last week to take over at Penn State.
Duffy spent the last two seasons at Miami (Ohio), where she led the RedHawks to consecutive Women's National Invitation Tournament appearances, losing in the first round both times. Miami was 23-9 this season, including 13-5 in the Mid-American Conference.
"This is an incredible day to be introduced as your new women's basketball coach," Duffy said during a news conference on campus. "Not only to lead your women's basketball program, but to be a part of one of the finest universities in the country, is something that I'm so excited to be part of and don't take for granted."
Duffy, a native of Dayton, Ohio, was 44-20 at Miami. She previously was an assistant coach at Michigan, George Washington and St. John's.
Duffy was a standout guard at Notre Dame from 2002-06, helping lead the Fighting Irish to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances. She is one of four players in program history to compile 1,000 points, 500 assists and 200 steals. She was an Associated Press honorable mention All-American in 2005 and '06.
Duffy was the 31st pick in the 2006 WNBA draft and played three seasons with the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty. She also played professionally in Romania, Slovakia, Italy and Wales.
Marquette athletic director Bill Scholl was an administrator at Notre Dame when Duffy was a player there.
Scholl, associate executive athletic director Sarah Bobert and deputy athletic director Mike Broeker flew to Tampa and met with several coaching candidates during the women's Final Four. Scholl also said the school enlisted the help of search firm Parker Executive Search so the position could be filled quickly.
But Duffy separated herself from the pack.
"When you look at what she accomplished at Miami in her first couple years," Scholl said. "She actually changed the way she plays the game to fit the kids that were on the floor. I think having the ability to adjust like that is really helpful and very important."
Kieger was 99-64 in five seasons with the Golden Eagles. She was the 2018 Big East co-coach of the year and over the past three years led MU to two regular-season league titles and one conference tournament crown.
The Golden Eagles won a program-record 27 games last season but will lose five seniors who scored 1,000 or more points in their careers.
"I've known Carolyn for a long time," Duffy said. "Back in our playing days when I was at Notre Dame and she was here at Marquette. First class.
"The greatest part about this day today is she has set the championship level at a very high standard. That's the greatest part is being excited to continue that."
MU was slated to have eight newcomers next season, so Duffy's first duties at MU likely will likely be assembling a staff and figuring out next year's roster.
The Golden Eagles' recruiting class once included high-scoring guard Shemera Williams from Milwaukee Academy of Science. After Kieger's departure, Williams announced she was reopening her recruitment but would keep MU as one of her choices.
Before her introduction, Duffy met with the MU players who are expected to be on the roster next season.
"We had about a 15-minute conversation," said Chloe Marotta, who played 12 minutes per game as a freshman. "Just from those 15 minutes, I understand that she is a very competitive coach and willing to do whatever it takes for us to be the best.
"We didn't really talk about basketball. Just kind of wanted to learn a little bit more about each other. But in the end we said, 'Let's get on the court.' Because it's been a long week and all we need is basketball to fix everything."
Contact Ben Steele at (414) 224-2676 or bmsteele@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenSteeleMJS or Instagram at @bensteele_mjs