College of Charleston head women’s basketball coach Nancy Wilson has been named the 2010 FCA Kay Yow Heart of a Coach award-winner as announced by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes on Wednesday, March 24. The award, in its third year, will be presented on Sunday, April 4 during a breakfast ceremony at the NCAA Women’s Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
Named for the late North Carolina State coaching icon Kay Yow, the award is presented annually by FCA to honor a basketball coach who has exemplified biblical principles over the course of his or her career. The late Kay Yow, who passed away from breast cancer in 2009, was presented with the inaugural award at the 2008 Women’s Final Four in Tampa.
“As a Christian and a coach, this is the most humbling honor that one can get” said Wilson. “I have always been a great admirer and a friend of Kay Yow’s and all that she meant to the game and her fellow Christian coaches. To be able to accept this award, that is named for her Kay because of her prestige, I am very grateful”.
Wilson, who is in her 15th season at the helm of the College of Charleston women’s basketball team, is the Cougars all-time leader in victories with 294 and is currently in her 28th year overall as a college head coach. She began her career with CofC in 1976 before taking over at the University of South Carolina from 1984-1997, where she is also the all-time leader in coaching victories.
Following five NCAA Tournament appearances with the Gamecocks, a trip to the “Sweet 16” and a stint as the associate head coach of the American Basketball Association’s Seattle Reign, Wilson returned to Charleston in 2003.
Wilson currently owns a 525-321 overall career coaching record, making her one of only 24 active Division I coaches to surpass the 500-win milestone. At the College of Charleston, Wilson began that illustrious career by leading the Cougars to seven 20-win seasons from 1976-84 as well as three AIAW Division II National Championship appearances. Those performances earned her three South Carolina Coach of the Year awards and in 1982 she shared National Coach of the Year honors.
The College of Charleston and Coach Wilson will be back in action on Thursday, March 25 when they take on Appalachian State in the East Region Final of the Women’s Basketball Invitational.
