Jane Gibson Albright is an American women's college basketball coach who was most recently head coach at

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

from 2008 to 2017. Albright was previously head coach at

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

from 1984 to 1994,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

from 1994 to 2003, and

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 ...

from 2003 to 2008.

Early life and education

Born and raised in

Graham, North Carolina Graham is a city and the county seat of Alamance County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census the population was 17,153. History Graham was laid ou ...

, Albright graduated from Graham High School in 1973 and

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (), or App State, is a Public university, public research university in Boone, North Carolina, United States. It was founded as a normal school, teachers' college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and th ...

in 1977 ''cum laude'' with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education. At Appalachian State, Albright played basketball and volleyball.

Coaching career

Albright began her career as the girls' varsity basketball coach at

Spartanburg High School Spartanburg High School is a public high school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. It is part of Spartanburg County School District 7. The current principal is Andrew McMillan, former principal of Chapman High School in Inman, Sou ...

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 11th ...

in 1977. The team went 3–18 in Albright's first year, then improved to 11–10 in 1978–79, 16–13 in 1979–80, and 20–7 in 1980–81 and made the playoffs in 1980 and 1981. From 1981 to 1983, Albright was a graduate assistant at

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

under

Pat Summitt Patricia Susan Summitt (; June 14, 1952 – June 28, 2016) was an American women's college basketball head coach and college basketball player. As a coach, she acquired 1,098 career wins, the most in college basketball history at the time ...

. Albright then was an assistant coach at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

for the 1983–84 season. From 1984 to 1994, Albright was the head coach at Northern Illinois University and helped the Lady Huskies to become a nationally recognized program. She had a record of 188–110 in her 11 years at NIU as the Lady Huskies made the NCAA tournament four times in five years. From 1994 to 2003, she coached at the

where she compiled a 161–107 record with five NCAA tournament and two WNIT appearances. The two WNIT appearances were back to back, in 1999 as runners-up and 2000 as champions. For the first time in program history, Wisconsin reached the top 10 in both the AP and coaches' polls during the 2001–02 season. Following a 7–21 season in 2002–03, Albright resigned on February 25, 2003, with one year remaining on her contract and Wisconsin declining to sign her to a long-term contract extension. After nine seasons at Wisconsin, Albright was head coach at

from 2003 to 2008, where she went 48–95. Her best season was in 2005–06 with a 15–13 record, the only winning season during her five seasons there. Albright was head coach at

from 2008 to 2017, with a 115–165 overall record with two WNIT appearances in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. Nevada had its first 20-win season in 2010–11 with a 22–11 record that included regular season wins over

Power Five The power conferences are the most prominent athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I, the highest level o ...

opponents NC State and Arizona and the program's first WNIT victory, over Saint Mary's. However, Nevada went only 7–23 in 2011–12, its final season in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

. In 2012, Nevada moved to the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

(MW). Nevada had only one winning season after that, the 2013–14 season with an 18–13 (12–6 MW) record. On March 1, 2017, Albright retired from Nevada, following an 11–19 season.

USA Basketball

Albright served as the assistant coach for the team representing the United States at the

World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

held in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

in July 1993. The USA team defeated teams from Israel, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Russia. They were defeated by Cuba 88–80 and by China 75–73. The USA team defeated Lithuania 83–73 to earn the bronze medal. In 1996, Albright was head coach of a U.S. squad of players chosen after the Olympic team that won the gold medal in the

William Jones Cup The William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament (), also known as the William Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in sports, 1977 ...

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albright, Jane Living people American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Appalachian State Mountaineers women's basketball players Appalachian State Mountaineers women's volleyball players Basketball coaches from North Carolina Basketball players from North Carolina Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball coaches Forwards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in South Carolina Nevada Wolf Pack women's basketball coaches Northern Illinois Huskies women's basketball coaches People from Graham, North Carolina Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball coaches University of Tennessee faculty Wichita State Shockers women's basketball coaches Wisconsin Badgers women's basketball coaches Year of birth missing (living people)