Women’s basketball hall of famer Lynette Woodard out as Winthrop head coach
Lynette Woodard will not return as the head coach of the Winthrop women’s basketball program, according to a release from the school.
In her three seasons at the helm, Woodard led the Eagles to a 24-70 overall record and a 16-43 Big South record.
In her first season, Woodard’s team won three games. In 2018-19, her team won 10.
There was a noticeable improvement in her final season in Rock Hill: At one point late in the conference schedule, the Eagles sat at 9-9 overall and 6-3 in conference. But Winthrop ended its season losing eight of its final nine games, including in the first round of the Big South tournament in Winthrop Coliseum on March 10.
“We are in the process of identifying new leadership and are excited about the future of the women’s basketball team,” Winthrop athletic director Ken Halpin said in a statement.
The search for a new coach will begin “immediately,” the release said.
Woodard is a pioneer in women’s basketball. In her four-year career at Kansas University (1978-81), she scored 3,649 points and was the first woman to have her Jayhawk jersey retired. She left Lawrence as the all-time women’s basketball DI scoring leader.
In 1984, she won a gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, and in 1985, she became the first woman on the Harlem Globetrotters.
Since then, Woodard has won several awards that have obtained national recognition — including earning a spot in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
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