Carly Thibault-DuDonis (born July 31, 1991) is the women's basketball coach for

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2023, the university had about 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,200 gra ...

since 2022. As a basketball player at

Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its university charter, c ...

, Thibault was named All-Northeast Conference in 2013 and scored 730 points overall. Her 106 career three points were in the top five for the school during 2024. Thibault began her career with

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

as their Director of Recruiting Operations during 2013. Throughout the remainder of the 2010s, she held assistant coaching positions with

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public university, public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal ...

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. At Minnesota, Thibault-DuDonis was primarily the associate head coach during the 2020s. In January 2022, she was their temporary coach. With Fairfield, her team were first at the 2024 MAAC women's basketball tournament and in the first round of the

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, sometimes referred to as Women's March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Div ...

. That year, Thibault-DuDonis was given a Coach of the Year award by the

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its current 13 full members are located in five Northeastern states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachuse ...

. She also was the Kay Yow Award recipient.

Early life and education

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, Carly Thibault's birth occurred on July 31, 1991. As a toddler, she started playing basketball. Before she attended middle school, gymnastics was her main interest. She began living in Connecticut during 2003. She was on the Connecticut Storm girls basketball team until 2008. Thibault began her time with East Lyme High School in 2005. That year, she played "in the first round of the CIAC Class L girls' soccer tournament". During 2008, Thibault had injuries to her knee, nose and eye while on their basketball team. Her team reached the championship game of the 2008 Class L Girls Basketball Tournament. During the late 2000s, Thibault was with the

Rhode island Breakers Rhode may refer to: Greek mythology and literature *Rhodos, goddess and personification of the island of Rhodes *Rhode, one of the fifty daughters of Danaus *Rhode (Hermas), a central character in ''The Shepherd of Hermas'' Places *Rhode, a ...

as part of the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

. In 2009, Thibault began playing basketball at

. She was named All-Northeast Conference during 2013. After leaving the team in 2013, she had 254 rebounds and 730 points. Her 166 career three-pointers was in the top five for Monmouth during 2024. Thibault studied

sport psychology Sport psychology is defined as the study of the psychological basis, processes, and effects of sport. One definition of sport sees it as "any physical activity for the purposes of competition, recreation, education or health". Sport psychology i ...

while at the university.

Career

Thibault began her women's basketball career in 2013 when she went to

to work as their Director of Recruiting Operations. With

, she became an assistant coach in 2014. She continued her assistant coaching experience after moving to

in 2016. During 2018, Carly Thibault-DuDonis remained as an assistant coach upon joining the

. She was selected as an assistant coach for the

2019 Aurora Games The 2019 Aurora Games was a female international multi-sport event that was held between 20 and 25 August 2019 in Albany, New York, United States of America. Planned to be a biennial event, the Times Union Center served as host venue. Al ...

. While at Minnesota, she became their associate head coach during 2020. Thibault-DuDonis temporarily coached the team in January 2022. During April 2022, she became the head coach at

. Her team won 29 straight games, went 20-0 in the MAAC regular season, and won the 2024 MAAC women's basketball tournament. In that year's

, they reached the first round. In addition, her team was ranked #25 in the AP Poll for the last few weeks of the season, marking the first time in Fairfield history the team was ranked in the Top 25. In the 2024-2025 season, Thibault-DuDonis' Stags won on the road at Arkansas and Wake Forest, while also defeated Big East member Villanova. In the Villanova game, the MAAC preseason player of the year, Janelle Brown, tore her ACL. Despite Brown's absence, the team went 19-1 in the MAAC regular season to win their 2nd straight regular season title. The team then went on to win the MAAC tournament for the 2nd year in a row as well, making them the 1st team to win back-to-back MAAC tournaments since 2019. It was also the first time in program history that the program won back-to-back titles. The team earned a 12-seed in the NCAA tournament, the highest seed in program history.

Honors and personal life

In 2024, the

and Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association gave Coach of the Year awards to Thibault-DuDonis. That year, she was the Kay Yow Award recipient. Thibault was married in 2017. She is the daughter of

Mike Thibault Michael Francis Thibault (born September 28, 1950) is an American basketball head coach and basketball general manager. He is the head coach of the Belgium, Belgian women's national basketball team Belgian Cats since 2025. Before he coached the C ...

and sister to

Eric Thibault Eric Thibault (born August 22, 1987) is an American professional basketball coach who is the associate head coach for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Thibault previously spent 12 seasons as an assistant ...

, both of whom have coached in the WNBA.

References

{{Kay Yow Award 1991 births Monmouth Hawks women's basketball players Florida State Seminoles women's basketball coaches Eastern Michigan Eagles women's basketball coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball coaches Monmouth University alumni Fairfield Stags women's basketball coaches Living people