Niele Ivey
Niele Deirdre Jamillah Viveca Ivey (born September 24, 1977) is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team. She is a former Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) player for the Indiana Fever, Detroit Shock, and Phoenix Mercury.[1] Prior to her move to the NBA in August 2019,[2] she was an assistant coach for the University of Notre Dame women's basketball team, where she had played in college. She was an All-American point guard and became the 17th player in school history to record over 1,000 career points. She received the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award presented for the nation's top player under 5'8" in 2001.[3] She would go on to lead the Irish women to their first NCAA Championship in 2001, in her hometown of St. Louis as a fifth-year senior.[4]
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish | |
|---|---|
| Position | Head coach |
| League | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Born | September 24, 1977 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Listed height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Listed weight | 149 lb (68 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Cor Jesu Academy (Affton, Missouri) |
| College | Notre Dame (1997–2001) |
| WNBA draft | 2001: 2nd round, 19th overall pick |
| Selected by the Indiana Fever | |
| Playing career | 2001–2005 |
| Position | Guard |
| Number | 33, 11 |
| Coaching career | 2005–present |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 2001–2004 | Indiana Fever |
| 2005 | Phoenix Mercury |
| 2005 | Detroit Shock |
| As coach: | |
| 2005–2007 | Xavier (admin. assistant) |
| 2007–2015 | Notre Dame (assistant) |
| 2015–2019 | Notre Dame (associate HC) |
| 2019–2020 | Memphis Grizzlies (assistant) |
| 2020–present | Notre Dame |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| As player:
As assistant coach:
As head coach:
| |
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
In the WNBA, she finished her career with 408 points, including over 100 in 2 separate seasons. She also had ninety 3-point field goals, 228 assists, and 94 steals.
High school
Ivey grew up playing many sports, but especially basketball. She learned the game from her older brothers, and was shooting from three-point range by the time she was in fourth grade. She attracted attention for her long-range shooting from high school coaches, including Gary Glasscock of Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis.[5] Ivey had attended Catholic grade school, so it was a natural fit to attend Cor Jesu. As a junior, Ivey scored 18 points per game to help her team to a 31–0 record and a Class 4A State Championship, the first in school history.[6]
College career
Ivey was a big fan of Michael Jordan, who attended college at the University of North Carolina, so she was determined to go there for college. She used her own money to attend a basketball camp in Chapel Hill, but the UNC head coach, Sylvia Hatchell, appeared only at the opening and closing of the camp, and did not get a chance to see Ivey play. Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame became interested in Ivey, and traveled to St. Louis a number of times to watch Ivey play pick-up games at the YMCA in St. Louis.[7] McGraw was prohibited by NCAA rules from talking to recruits at this time, but Ivey was aware of her presence, and it convinced her that McGraw was seriously interested in her. Ivey decided to commit to attend Notre Dame.[8]
Notre Dame statistics
Source[9]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | Notre Dame | 5 | 15 | 37.5% | 0.0% | 75.0% | 2.4 | 3.0 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 3.0 |
| 1997–98 | Notre Dame | 31 | 254 | 44.9% | 37.3% | 78.8% | 3.4 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 0.2 | 8.2 |
| 1998–99 | Notre Dame | 28 | 369 | 50.2% | 44.8% | 87.0% | 3.8 | 6.5 | 2.6 | 0.0 | 13.2 |
| 1999-00 | Notre Dame | 32 | 358 | 43.4% | 36.5% | 75.3% | 3.5 | 6.1 | 3.0 | 0.1 | 11.2 |
| 2000–01 | Notre Dame | 36 | 434 | 46.3% | 44.2% | 71.2% | 4.1 | 6.9 | 2.6 | 0.2 | 12.1 |
| Career | 132 | 1430 | 46.0% | 40.5% | 77.7% | 3.7 | 5.5 | 2.6 | 0.1 | 10.8 |
Coaching career
Following the retirement of Notre Dame women's coach Muffet McGraw in April 2020, Ivey was named the Fighting Irish head coach.[1]
Personal life
Ivey was born September 24, 1977, in Saint Louis, Missouri, to Thomas and Theresa Ivey. She was the youngest of five children, and the only daughter.[10] She attended Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis and played at the University of Notre Dame. She has one child, Jaden Ivey, born on Feb. 13 2002, with former Notre Dame and NFL player Javin Hunter. Jaden played college basketball for Purdue and in 2022 was drafted with the fifth pick of the First Round by the Detroit Pistons.[11][12]
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2020–present) | |||||||||
| 2020–21 | Notre Dame | 10–10 | 8–7 | 6th | |||||
| 2021–22 | Notre Dame | 24–9 | 13–5 | T–3rd | NCAA Sweet Sixteen | ||||
| 2022–23 | Notre Dame | 27–6 | 15–3 | 1st | NCAA Sweet Sixteen | ||||
| Notre Dame: | 61–25 (.709) | 36–15 (.706) | |||||||
| Total: | 61–25 (.709) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
- Voepel, Mechelle (22 April 2020). "Irish's McGraw retires after Hall of Fame career". ESPN.com. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- "Memphis Grizzlies announce assistant coaching staff". NBA.com. August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
- "Frances Pomeroy Naismith". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on 2014-07-15. Retrieved 30 Jun 2014.
- Araton, Harvey (2015-04-06). "For Inspiration, Notre Dame Can Look to 2001 and Niele Ivey". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- Cashore, Matt (2012-02-19). "Cor Jesu, Notre Dame great Ivey feels blessed to be back with Irish". STL Today. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- Goldberg p 16–18
- Hochman, Benjamin (Winter 2018–19). "The Competitor". Notre Dame Magazine. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- Goldberg p 19–20
- "Notre Dame Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
- Goldberg p 16
- La Lumiere Basketball. Twitter. https://twitter.com/LaLuBasketball/status/1196155609936285699
- II, Omari Sankofa. "Detroit Pistons jolt backcourt, select Jaden Ivey at No. 5 in 2022 NBA draft". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
- Sources
- Goldberg, Jeff (2011). Bird at the Buzzer: UConn, Notre Dame, and a Women's Basketball Classic. Doris Burke. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-2411-7.