COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland's national champion women's basketball coach Brenda Frese was recently named Nike's Coach of the Year, the corporation recently announced. As part of the award, Nike will make a donation of $10,000 to the Jimmy V Foundation on behalf of Frese.
Frese was presented with the honor last weekend in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Nike Coaches Clinic, Oct. 6-8, 2006. Frese led the Maryland Terrapins to the program's first-ever national championship in 2006 in just her fourth season at the helm in College Park. The Terps, who had no seniors in the starting lineup, defeated Duke, 78-75, in overtime in Boston to claim the title. Along the way, the team defeated two No. 1 seeds, including North Carolina, who had been the consensus favorite to win the crown, and the Blue Devils. Maryland ended the season with a 34-4 record, the most wins in school history.
Frese has been regarded one of the profession's top recruiting coaches, signing four-straight top 10 classes, including the No. 2 and No. 4 classes in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Six former high school All-Americans are currently on the 2006-07 roster. Among those All-Americans are three-time All-ACC performer Shay Doron, All-American Crystal Langhorne and ACC Rookie of the Year Marissa Coleman.
The Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research was founded by the late Jim Valvano and ESPN in 1993. The foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to saving lives by helping to fund a cure for cancer.
Maryland returns its top eight scorers from last season's championship squad, as well as 98 percent of the offense and 95 percent of its rebounding. The team officially started the basketball season with Maryland Madness on Friday, Oct. 13. Maryland plays its only exhibition game of the season on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. against LTL All-Stars. The Terps then open the regular season at Middle Tennessee State on Friday, Nov. 10, before returning to College Park for the home opener on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. against George Mason.
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