Tonya Cardoza

Tonya Maria Cardoza (born April 2, 1968)[2] is an NCAA women's basketball coach and the former[1] head coach of the Temple University women's basketball team. She previously played basketball for the University of Virginia 1988–1991, and worked as an assistant coach at the University of Connecticut for fourteen seasons before joining the Temple coaching staff in 2008.

Tonya Cardoza
Cardoza in 2015
Current position
Record230–163 (.585)
Biographical details
Born (1968-04-02) April 2, 1968
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Playing career
1987–1991Virginia
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1994–2008, 2023-presentConnecticut (asst.)
2008–2022[1]Temple
Head coaching record
Overall251-188[1]

Early years

Cardoza grew up in Roxbury, Massachusetts, near Boston, where she played high school basketball at Boston English High, where she earned all-state player honors.[3]

Virginia

Cardoza played for the Virginia Cavaliers between 1987 and 1991. She graduated in 1991 with a degree in anthropology.[4] The team won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season in 1987, 1988 and 1991. She was named captain her senior year, led the team in scoring with 15.5 points per games, and helped the team reach the 1991 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament Final Four, where they beat the Connecticut Huskies in the semifinal, then lost in overtime in the championship game. Cardoza was named to the Final Four All-Tournament team along with teammate Dawn Staley.[5]

In the semifinal game against Connecticut, Cardoza was assigned to cover Kerry Bascom, Uconn's best player. Bascom described the defense by Cardoza as like nothing she had ever seen before. In a humorous foreshadowing, on one play, Cardoza was stumbling toward the UConn bench. Head coach Auriemma "playfully ushered her toward a seat with the Huskies"[6]

Cardoza is the holder of several records at Virginia, including:[5]

  • Career blocks (110) fifth place
  • Season rebounding leader (6.1) 1991 (tied with Staley)
  • Career free throws made (338) seventh place
  • Career Field Goal percentage (.478) eighth place
  • Season Field Goal percentage (.469) 1989
  • Season Field Goal percentage (.544) 1991
  • Career points (1622) tenth place

Cardoza scored 35 points in a game against Fordham on December 28, 1988.[5]

Professional

Cardoza briefly played in 1992 as a professional basketball player in Segovia, Spain following her graduation from Virginia.[7]

USA Basketball

Cardoza was selected by USA Basketball to play on the U.S. Olympic Festival East team in 1987. The team played four games; in the final game Cardoza scored 13 to help the team win the bronze medal at the event.[8]

Connecticut

Cardoza was hired as an assistant coach prior to the 1994–95 season.  The Huskies went on to win their first national championship in her first year on the bench.[9]

Cardoza was an accomplished assessor of talent. In 2002, Maria Conlon was the only player from Connecticut on the UConn roster. Head coach Auriemma was not convinced she could be "counted on to contribute on a meaningful level". However, Cardoza shared her assessment with the head coach, "You're looking at our starting point guard next year". Conlon would go on to be the starting point guard for the next two seasons, and helped lead the Huskies to a National Championships in 2004, dishing out six assist and recording zero turnovers in 39 minutes of the championship game.[10][11]

Temple

In 2008 Dawn Staley, a Virginia teammate of Cardoza, left the Temple head coaching position to take the head coaching position at the University of South Carolina. Cardoza was named to replace Staley as head coach at Temple.[12] Cardoza joked that she was surprised Temple was so good defensively, quipping that Staley hadn't been much of a defensive player in college. But it was a good-natured jab between former teammates. Cardoza and Staley had both played for Virginia in their playing careers. She followed the jab with serious respect, noting that Staley "set the bar". Under Cardoza, the Owls contributed to reach the NCAA tournament for the next three seasons, reaching the second round twice.[13][14]

When Temple joined the American Athletic Conference, that meant games against Cincinnati as part of the conference schedule. These would not simply be another date in the schedule. Cincinnati is coached by Jamelle Elliott, who played for UConn when Cardoza joined the coaching staff, then coached alongside her when both were assistants under Auriemma. Elliott describes Cardoza simply as "my best friend. I have known her over half my life. She coached me, we talk almost everyday, she is someone I would lay down my life for, I can't describe how close we are." Now they square off as opponents. In their first two meetings each team won once, the Owls winning the first and the Bearcats winning the return game, each team winning on the opponents court.[15]

Cardoza found that the role of head coach was very different than that of an assistant. When she was an assistant, she did have things to worry about but she felt she could step away. As a head coach, she doesn't have that luxury. When she was an assistant, she prided herself on being a players coach, and thought she could always do that, but she has found that the relationship of a head coach to the players is different. She added Willnett Crockett to her staff, whom she had coached while at UConn. Now Crockett, as an assistant coach, fills the role Cardoza used to fill.[16]

On March 22, 2022, Temple announced that Cardoza would not return for the 2022–23 season. She finished her career as Temple's all-time winningest coach with a record of 251-188.[1]

Coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Temple Owls (Atlantic Ten) (2008–2013)
2008–09 Temple 21–1011–3T-2ndNCAA First round
2009–10 Temple 25–911–3T-2ndNCAA Second round
2010–11 Temple 24–913–12ndNCAA Second round
2011–12 Temple 23–1013–12ndWNIT Third Round
2012–13 Temple 14–185–9T-10th
Temple Owls (American Athletic Conference) (2013–2014)
2013–14 Temple 14–168–10T-5th
2014–15 Temple 20–1712–6T-3rdWNIT Semifinal
2015–16 Temple 23–1213–53rdWNIT Quarterfinal
2016–17 Temple 25–711–22ndNCAA 1st Round
2017–18 Temple 12–193–13T-11th
2018–19 Temple 11–187-9T-5th
2019–20 Temple 16-157-9T-6th
2020–21 Temple 11-1111-7
Temple: 239–171 (.583)125–78 (.616)
Total:239–171 (.583)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Awards and honors
  • 2011 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year[17]
  • 2011 Big Five coach of the year[17]
  • 2010 Big Five coach of the year[18]
  • 2009 Big Five coach of the year[18]

References
  1. "Temple women's basketball coach Tonya Cardoza is out after 14 seasons". March 22, 2022.
  2. "Women's Basketball Coaches Career". NCAA. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  3. Altavilla, John (June 26, 2008). "Huskies' Cardoza To Coach Temple". Hartford Courant. Tribune Company. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  4. "Tonya Cardoza Named Women's Basketball Head Coach at Temple". University of Connecticut. July 1, 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  5. "2012-13 WBB FactBook" (PDF). University of Virginia. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  6. Karmel, Terese (2005). Hoop tales : UConn Huskies women's basketball. Guilford, Conn: Insiders' Guide. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-7627-3501-3.
  7. "Cavalier Alumnae". University of Virginia. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  8. "East 77, North 63". AP. July 22, 1987. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  9. Berliet, Bruce (June 14, 1994). "Cardoza Likely To Join Staff". Hartford Courant. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  10. Hartford Courant (May 1, 2004). Uconn Huskies: 2004 Ncaa Women's Basketball Champions. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-58261-902-6.
  11. Riley, Lori (April 6, 2004). "Class Is In With Conlon". Hartford Courant. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
  12. Greenberg, Mel (June 30, 2008). "Owls to introduce women's coach Tonya Cardoza is set to succeed Dawn Staley as basketball coach". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  13. "Temple names Cardoza new women's basketball coach". USA Today. July 1, 2008. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  14. "Temple extends women's coach Cardoza". CSNPhilly.com. June 7, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  15. LeFurge, Ed (February 17, 2014). "The Battle of Best Friends". Owlsports.com. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  16. Altavilla, John (January 10, 2014). "Tonya Cardoza Growing Up Fast As Temple's Head Coach". Hartford Courant. Tribune Company. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  17. Greenberg, Mel (June 8, 2011). "Guru's NCAA Report: Temple's Cardoza Agrees To Five More Years". Womhoops Guru. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  18. Greenberg, Mel (March 3, 2011). "Temple's "Roxbury Girls" Honored By Atlantic 10 -- Cardoza Earns Coach Award". Womhoops Guru. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
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