W-Hoops: Carolyn Peck Named to USA Junior Coaching Staff
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | Women's Basketball
University of Florida women's basketball head coach Carolyn Peck today was named to the coaching staff of the 2004 USA Junior World Championship Qualifying Team.
University of Colorado's Ceal Barry, who was an assistant coach for the historic 1996 gold-meal winning U.S. Olympic Team, will serve as head coach of the team, while current Georgia State head coach and former Florida interim head coach Lea Henry joins Peck as an assistant. The coaching staff was selected by the USA Basketball Women's Collegiate Committee, chaired by University of Texas Senior Associate Athletics Director for Men's and Women's Athletics Chris Plonsky.
"It's a great honor anytime you can feel you're a part of something where you're representing your country," said Peck, who returns to the USA Basketball sidelines after assisting the 1997 USA R. William Jones Cup Team to a 6-1 record and the silver medal. "That's a special honor. With Ceal Barry being the head coach, I think the world of her, she's a great coach. I look forward to doing some good things.
"I think that the talent pool to pick from is incredible and I think that talent pool will be challenged to compete on the international level. But I think it's a challenge they're definitely ready for."
Trials to select the 18-and-under squad, comprised of U.S. citizens born on or after Jan. 1, 1986, will be held June 20-23 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Finalists will regroup in Denver for training camp July 22-28, where the eventual 12-member team will be announced. Following three days of training in Florida at a site to be determined July 29-31, the 2004 USA Junior National Team will travel to Mayagquez, Puerto Rico, for the Aug. 4-8 FIBA Americas Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament. The top three finishing teams will earn qualifying berths to the 2005 FIBA Junior World Championship, slated to be played in Tunisia in July.
The U.S. juniors boast a 19-2 record at this particular qualifying event, which has been held every four years dating back to 1988, and have captured two golds and two silver medals. In 2000, at the most recent Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament, a USA Basketball team piloted by University of Connecticut's Geno Auriemma and featuring players like Alana Beard and Diana Taurasi collected the gold medal with a perfect 5-0 record.
With just four years (1997-98 to present) of collegiate head coaching under her belt, Peck has built quite a resume' along the sidelines. Boasting an 85-41 record for a .675 winning percentage, Peck is one of only eight active collegiate basketball head coaches to have captured a NCAA championship.
She most recently completed a stunning turn-around at Florida, the biggest in the program's history. After winning just nine games in her first season coaching a young and injured Gators team, Peck's 2003-04 squad rebounded for a 19-11 finish, earned an at-large bid to the 2004 NCAA Championship and advanced to the second round.
After serving the 1996-97 season as an assistant coach for a Purdue University (Ind.) squad that finished 17-11 and advanced to the NCAA second round, Peck was elevated to the head coach position. In her first season she led the Boilermakers to a 23-10 record, the Big Ten Conference Tournament crown and the 1998 NCAA Elite Eight. She topped that the following season by going 34-1, 16-0 in the Big Ten regular season, earning another Big Ten Tournament title, and closed the season by cutting down the nets following the '99 NCAA title game.
Peck was amply rewarded by the media and her peers for her work at Purdue. She was named the 1999 National Coach of the Year by both the Associated Press and the WBCA, and was also named by both conference coaches and media the '99 Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Prior to arriving at Florida, Peck spent three seasons (1999-2001) as the head coach for the WNBA Orlando Miracle, where she posted a 44-52 record and took her 2000 squad to the WNBA playoffs.
Peck served her first two years (1993-94 to 1994-95) on the sidelines as an assistant coach to Pat Summit and the University of Tennessee Lady Vols. During her two seasons at Tennessee, the Lady Vols finished as the 1995 NCAA runner-up, advanced to the 1994 Sweet Sixteen, captured two Southeastern Conference titles and compiled a 65-5 record. In each of Peck's seasons, Tennessee earned the SEC championship with unblemished 11-0 conference records. Following her two seasons at UT, Peck spent one year (1995-96) as an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky before joining the Purdue staff for the 1996-97 season.
Peck played collegiately at Vanderbilt University (Tenn.) and aided the Commodores to a 77-42 record in four years (1984-85 to 1987-88) and a pair of NCAA Tournaments (1986, 1987). Selected to the 1988 All-SEC second team, Peck amassed 1,240 points, 679 rebounds and 180 blocked shots.
"We are thrilled with this coaching staff," said Committee chair Plonsky. "Ceal is a vaunted and veteran coach in this profession and someone who has not only been long-committed to her institution, but someone who continues to be very involved in USA Basketball and I think we're seeing that at every level. Our assistant coaches are people who are very respected in the industry. The fact that they've all committed part of their summer, they're taking time out of their schedule and their recruiting commitments this summer to coach what will be our future talent in USA Basketball, speaks volumes about women's basketball, as well as the people in the leadership positions within the sport."
2004 USA Basketball Junior World Championship Qualifying Team Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Ceal Barry, University of Colorado
Assistant Coach: Lea Henry, Georgia State University
Assistant Coach: Carolyn Peck, University of Florida
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